PAG-IBIG Fund raises housing loan

CEBU CITY - The Pagibig Fund said it has raised to P6 million from P3 million the housing loan its members can avail.

Fermin Santa Teresa, Vice President for Home Lending Visayas and Mindanao, said a member can also avail of more than one unit as long as it does not go beyond P6 million.

The interest rate for End User Financing was already decreased to 5.5 percent annually instead of the 11 percent.

“We had also improved insurance for the Housing Loan borrowers giving them a feeling of security and assurance,” Santa Teresa said.

These include the reduction of premium rates from 0.41% for every P1,000 to only 0.23 now.

Santa Teresa said they also gave a burial benefit of P20,000 and the extension of full payment of housing loan extends not only upon the occurrence of death of borrower but also upon Total Permanent Disability.

“For the insured, there is also an Amortization Support up to P500,000 in case of terminal illness,” he said.

There is also an Experience Refund equivalent to 20 percent of the Insurer’s Profit refunded the insured and all claims processing within 24 hours. Furthermore, there is an additional number of Accredited Developers from 15 to 63 for this year.

Santa Teresa said they were able to grant housing loans to 6,858 borrowers in the Visayas equivalent to P5.8 billion.

This is 82 percent accomplishment of this year’s target of granting 7,955 units with a loan value of P5.7 billion. He said the numbers are likely to increase as they lay out the updates favorable to their members.

Pag-ibig is also offering full decentralization of service delivery thru creation of more member services branches and creation of Business Development Services Department for more personalized services to Institution Clients. It is also a means to strengthen the Fund’s dealings with its partner developers.