The Social Security System (SSS) will extend relief to pensioners who paid their loan dues two years ago, with up to two months’ worth of payments to be refunded starting Jan. 30.
In a Jan. 20 circular, SSS president and chief executive Aurora Cruz-Ignacio said the policy-making Social Security Commission (SSC) last Jan. 12 approved the one-time, 60-day refund of monthly pension loan payments in line with the implementation of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 Law in 2020.
As such, the grace period applied to existing, current and outstanding pension loans when Bayanihan 2 took effect in September 2020, Ignacio said.
October and November 2020 payments for loans that were amortizing or falling due on or before Dec. 31, 2020 during the implementation of Bayanihan 2 will be refunded.
Pension loans approved in August 2020 whose amortization started in October 2020 will have payments for the months of October and November of that year refunded. Loans approved in September 2020 and whose amortization began in November 2020 will be refunded for payments in November and December.
Under the SSS’s enhanced pension loan program for retiree-pensioners, the first monthly amortization becomes due by the second month following loan approval.
As for pension loans approved in October 2020 and started amortization in December 2020, only that month’s payment will be refunded, as the Bayanihan 2 Law already expired during the same month. Also, loans approved in November and December 2020 will not be eligible for refund.
Ignacio said refunds will be automatically credited to pensioner-borrowers’ savings accounts by Jan. 30 of this year, as they will no longer be required to apply nor request for the refund.
For those still with outstanding pension loans, “the refunded amount shall be deducted from the monthly pension of the borrower on the extended term of the loan” with no additional interest nor penalty, Ignacio said.
“All pension loan borrowers eligible for refund shall be allowed to apply for loan renewal after the expiration of their original loan terms. The remaining balance of the loan shall be deducted from the proceeds of the new pension loan,” Ignacio added.