The Social Security System (SSS) is urging members with past-due loans to avail of the loan penalty condonation program to help them regain their good standing.
SSS executive vice president for Investments Sector Rizaldy Capulong urged members with unpaid short-term member loans to avail of the Consolidation of Past Due Short-Term Member Loans with Condonation of Penalty (Conso Loan) program, as SSS will waive the penalties of the unpaid loans.
“We listen to the clamor of our members and one of which is to offer a condonation program for those who have past-due loans,” Capulong said in a statement March 6, adding that those qualified to avail of the program are members with outstanding loan obligations in their salary, calamity, emergency, and restructured loans, including the Salary Loan Early Renewal Program (SLERP).
Under the Conso Loan program, SSS will combine the principal and interest of a member’s past-due short-term member loans into one consolidated loan while all unpaid penalties shall be consolidated and condoned, or waived, upon full payment of the consolidated loan.
“We want to persuade our members with unpaid loans to grab this opportunity to pay their past-due loans without penalties through an easy payment scheme,” Capulong said. “We launched this program as a relief to aid our members who find it challenging to fulfill their loan obligations with the SSS. This offer is available while the program lasts.”
Those availing of the condonation should have not been granted any final benefit, such as permanent total disability or retirement; have not been disqualified due to fraud committed against the SSS; and have an active My.SSS account.
Members may submit their application for the Conso Loan program online through their My.SSS account. They may pay their consolidated loan through a one-time payment within 30 calendar days upon receipt of the approval notice, or may also opt to pay through installment.
For the installment scheme, members must pay a down payment equivalent to at least 10 percent of the consolidated loan within 30 calendar days after receipt of the approval notice. They can then pay the remaining balance for up to 60 months, with the length of the installment term depending on the amount of the unpaid loan.
Capulong said that if the member fails to meet the payment terms based on the consolidated loan agreement, SSS will deduct the outstanding balance from the short-term benefits, like sickness, maternity, or partial disability benefit claims; or from final benefits, such as permanent total disability, death, or retirement, as authorized by the Social Security Commission.
The outstanding balance of the consolidated loan can also be deducted from the death benefit of the members’ beneficiaries, or from the actual final benefit claims, Capulong said.
He added that more than half a million members already availed of the Conso Loan program, as of Dec. 2023, with SSS condoning more than P7.3 billion in loan penalties. ||
