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Pag-IBIG Loans: Interest Rates, Penalties And Defaults, Part 2 of 2

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This is the second part on this series of articles about the Pag-IBIG Interest rates, penalties and defaults, as the title clear suggests.

In part 1, we mentioned about the going rate of Pag-IBIG Housing Loan. In case you missed it, please click here to read the article.

In this article, we’ll touch on the following subjects:

  • Housing Loan Re-pricing
  • Late Payment Penalty on Housing Loan
  • Interest Rate for Pag-IBIG Multi-purpose Loan (MPL)
  • Penalty for Late Payment on MPL Loan

These topics will be discussed in the succeeding paragraphs.

Pag-IBIG Housing Loan Repricing

Pag-IBIG Fund says that Housing Loans over 400,000 and up to 3,000,000 is subject to re-pricing every three years at the rate at par with the prevailing market rates. The re-pricing shall be based on the outstanding balance of the loan. The interest rate to be used shall not exceed the following:

Pag-IBIG Housing Loan Repricing Interest Rate

Original Loan Amt Int. Rate
Over P 400 k to P 750 k 9.00%
Over P 750 k to P 1.0 M 10.50%
Over P 1.0 M to P 1.25 M 11.50%
Over P 1.25M to P 2.0 M 12.50%
Over P 2.0 M to P 3.0 M 13.50%

Question: What about the housing loans P 400,000 and below? Are they going to re-price it also?

Answer: Yes, Pag-IBIG may still reprice the balance every three years, but the rate to be used is still the original rate.

Pag-IBIG Housing Loan Penalty

pag-ibig housing loan repricing rateAnd what if you miss a single payment?

Pag-IBIG Fund imposes a penalty on non-payment of a full monthly amortization including the other obligations (such as membership contributions, insurance premiums, interest due and principal) which are already tucked into the monthly amortization due. The penalty is set at “1/20 of 1% of the amount due for every day of the delay.”

That’s not much for a single month, but if it becomes a habit, it could lead to a default which will be explained below.

Pag-IBIG Housing Loan Default

When you get a loan, you actually agree to pay all the obligations that go with it. In the case of Pag-IBIG Housing Loan, that means paying the monthly amortization, membership contributions, the insurance and all.

In case you fail to pay three consecutive payment dues, your account is already considered in default. If that happens, the entire balance becomes due and demandable. And since Pag-IBIG Housing loan is secured by the land title, Pag-IBIG will also indorse your property for foreclosure. Plus, it also puts a lien on your TAV – that’s your savings with the Pag-IBIG Fund.

Now the word default is a nasty thing when applied to a housing loan. You want to avoid it as much as possible.

Multi-Purpose Loan Interest Rates

The Pag-IBIG Multi-Purpose Loan is among the cheapest loan available on the market. But this loan depends on the amount you have contributed so far. The longer you have contributed and the bigger the contribution, the more loan money you can get.

As to the interest rate, it is a mere 10.75% per annum at the time of this writing. And you can pay this loan in 24 months time.

Multi-Purpose Loan Penalty For Missed Payment

Small at it may be, for some reasons, some members who availed of the Pag-IBIG MPL Loan miss paying for amount as scheduled. In such cases, the Pag-IBIG Fund imposes a penalty equivalent to 0.5% of the unpaid amount for every month of delay.

If you want to know more about the Pag-IBIG Multi-Purpose Loan, the following articles are very helpful:

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This is the second and final part of a series of articles on Pag-IBIG Loan Interest rates, penalties and defaults. This article is written by Carlos Velasco.

Pag-IBIG Loans: Interest Rates, Penalties And Defaults, Part 1 of 2

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There’s more to loans than just getting the money and paying for it. If you have been a frequent visitor to this website and you are constantly in the look out for new articles, you should already know that Pag-IBIG Loans (both Housing Loan and Multi-Purpose Loan) come with interests.

Borrowing Money Comes With A Price

No one in his “right mind” will take the risk of lending you money knowing that you won’t pay it back! Well, only friends and relatives do that. And I can’t tell you the number of horror stories I’ve heard related to that. Someone puts it best, “A fool and his money are soon parted.”

That’s why banks, non-profit foundations and other lending companies always impose interest on loans. Well, it will not be called a loan if it doesn’t come with an interest.

Going back to the topic, the interest actually serves as an incentive to the one loaning you the money. Think of it this way: When you borrow money from someone, you are actually using his money for your own purpose and the other guy is risking his money to you in the hope of getting a reward as an exchange. In this context, the interest serves as the reward, or incentive for lending you the money.

On the part of the borrower, the interest is also the cost of borrowing the money in the first place. And naturally, the cost of borrowing money is directly affected by three important factors: loan amount, loan term and interest rate.

time value of money -- pag-ibig loansAfter using the Mortgage Calculator presented here on this website, one visitor concluded as follows: “I see it’s better to buy a property in cash than finance through PAG-IBIG. The interest almost exceed the principal, you can even buy another house with that interest!”

He was right about his observation on the “interest almost exceed the principal“. But if such is the case, why would people still use a Mortgage Loan to finance their property investment? One answer is that, most people can’t afford to pay a house in a single Spot Cash payment.

(See also: Pag-IBIG Housing Loan 101.)

Housing Loan Interest Rates

The Pag-IBIG Housing Loan Interest Rates have been presented here on this website for quite a while already. (As far as I can remember, way back when the site was still in its pre-launch stage.) You can find it at the Right Sidebar of this website, just directly above the Mortgage Calculator.

But for your convenience, and since we are already on this topic, we are presenting them below.

Housing Loan Interest Rates Table

Loan Amt Int. Rate
Up to P 400 k 6%
Over P 400 k to P 750 k 7%
Over P 750 k to P 1.0 M 8.5%
Over P 1.0 M to P 1.25 M 9.5%
Over P 1.25M to P 2.0 M 10.5%
Over P 2.0 M to P 3.0 M 11.5%

From the table, it is clear that the interest rate for Pag-IBIG Housing Loan is 6% per annum for loan amount of up to P 400,000. And the maximum housing loan amount that you can get from Pag-IBIG is P 3 million with a corresponding interest rate of 11.5% per annum.

Note: The minimum amount that you can get from Pag-IBIG Housing Loan is PhP 100,000.

A reader of this website once dropped us a message: “Is the interest rate of Pag-IBIG Housing Loan fixed for the whole duration of the loan term?”

Good question and every Pag-IBIG Member who plans to avail of the Housing Loan should know about it.

The answer? That’s reserved for the next article of this series, plus the following will also be discussed:

  • Housing Loan Defaults
  • Pag-IBIG Multi-Purpose Loan Interest and Penalties

So stay in touch for the part 2 of this series and all the other articles we will be posting soon.

Update Notice: Part 2 has just been posted. Check out to learn more about Housing Loan Repricing, Defaults and Penalties for late payments.

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This is the first part of a two-part series of articles on Pag-IBIG Loan Interest rates, penalties and defaults. This article is written by Carlos Velasco.

5 Ways To Pay The Pag-IBIG Fund

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Pag-IBIG Fund members can be grouped roughly into two:

  • those based locally in the Philippines, and
  • those based overseas (The Filipino Overseas workers, Filipino Expats, Immigrants and the sea farers)

For the first group, sending their payments and contributions to the Pag-IBIG Fund should be easy. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Not every place in the Philippines has a Pag-IBIG branch where they can go to anytime. For practical reasons, many of these offices are still located in strategic locations of the country — like the key cities and some capital towns of the provinces. Some people are also not aware of other ways of sending their payments to the Pag-IBIG Fund.

As for the OFW’s, the reasons could be obvious. They are not here in the Philippines so this quite presents a little problem to them.

In this article, let’s explore the many ways of sending your payment to the Pag-IBIG Fund. After reading this, you should be able to learn the payment option that’s best for you. Whether you are based in the Philippines or in any part of the globe, not paying your dues and contributions to the Pag-IBIG Fund should not be an excuse anymore.

Method #1: Salary Deduction for the Locally Employed

Locally based employees are somewhat lucky that Pag-IBIG is implementing this kind of collection scheme.

The way it works is really quite simple: the employer deducts a portion of the employee’s salary for his/her monthly Pag-IBIG contribution. Philippine-based companies are already required to register with Pag-IBIG and share on their employees’ monthly Pag-IBIG contribution. These same companies will send their combined employer-employee contributions to the Pag-IBIG Fund month after month.

If an employee has a Housing Loan from Pag-IBIG, he may also request his employer to deduct from his salary an amount equal to his monthly amortization plus his membership contribution to the Fund. Take note that in case the employee has an outstanding loan with Pag-IBIG, that is solely his own responsibility to pay for the loan. That is, the employer is not anymore required to chip-in with the loan payment.

The Salary Deduction Scheme may be the most popular and preferred payment option by the employees here in the Philippines. Unfortunately, some companies don’t want to be bothered anymore especially if the employee has a loan with Pag-IBIG. If such is your case, you may want to consider the other payment options discussed on the succeeding paragraphs.

[See also: How Your Income And Contributions Affect Your Housing Loan Entitlement.]

Method #2: Over The Counter Payment

Almost every Pag-IBIG Office here in the Philippines has an over-the-counter cashier where you can pay for whatever dues you may have. The primary advantage of this method is that you can be very certain that you are dealing with the right entity and that your payment really goes to where it is intended to go: the Pag-IBIG Fund.

The result is instant. Your transaction is posted sooner, if not immediately. And you also get the chance to receive the Official Receipt from the Pag-IBIG Fund with your name on it plus other details about your payment.

But this method can get a little toxic in some cases especially if you are far from the Pag-IBIG Office. You may have to do the legwork and commute to the office, or endure a long line together with other Pag-IBIG Members waiting for your turn at the counter.

If such is not possible, the Bank Payment Option discussed below may be for you.

Method #3: Bank Payments

Online Banking in the PhilippinesThanks for this initiative, paying for your Pag-IBIG Fund dues is made even more convenient with Pag-IBIG’s tie-up partnership with the country’s biggest bank. These banks have the most branches scattered all over the country and even abroad so making your payment should not be a problem anymore.

Listed below are the current partner banks of the Pag-IBIG Fund.

  • Allied Bank
  • Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)
  • Land Bank of the Philippines
  • Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metro bank)
  • Philippine National Bank
  • UnionBank of the Philippines

If you think visiting these banks to pay the Pag-IBIG Fund is already so convenient to you, wait until you experience in action the Internet Banking Servicesprovided by the BPI and the UnionBank.

Note On Paying From The Bank:

Please inquire at the bank first if they are accredited to accept Pag-IBIG Payments (for Housing Loans, Contributions and others). The list of accredited banks may change from time to time.

As of last update, only Landbank of the Philippines (all branches) are accepting payments for Housing Loans for locally based clients.

Method #4: Using Remittance Companies, Other Agencies

Most Overseas Filipino Workers are so familiar with remittance companies. You can inquire from your favourite remittance company if they ever have an arrangement with the Pag-IBIG Fund that allows them to be an accredited agency that accepts Pag-IBIG Payments.

So far, the Pag-IBIG website has listed iRemit as one of its accredited remittance agencies.

Hint: Locally in the Philippines, you can also tap the services of SM Business Service Centers to send your payments to the Pag-IBIG Fund!

[See also: Pag-IBIG International Directory.]

Method #5: Issue A Set of Post Dated Checks

This one is actually very simple and very handy. Sadly enough, not everyone is familiar with it.

A Checking Account, sometimes called a Current Account, is very similar to your regular Savings Account that comes with an ATM card or a passbook. With a Checking Account you will be given a set of checks, called a booklet, that you can use as payment. With each check that you issue, you write down the following details:

  • The Payee — the entity that you are paying to; it could be a company or an individual person
  • The Amount — this is the amount of money that you are paying out.
  • The Date — the date when you want to pay for the transaction. Make sure that you have enough fund on your Checking Account to cover the Amount on the Date that you indicated.
  • Your Signature – Very important. This makes a checking account much more secure on your part.

The term “Post Dated Check” (PDC) is not very familiar in other countries because that is not practiced very often, but here in the Philippines, this is the preferred choice especially by businesses, big and small.

What it means is that, you issue a number of checks with some future dates (The Date) on each one. Now, “The Payee” should only encash or deposit a check to his account only on the exact date indicated in check or some time later — and, of course, never prior to that date.

As The Payor or the issuer of the check, all you have to remember is to deposit an amount of money that is at least equivalent to The Amount you put down on the check. This one is very important because this lead to a lot of complications and even lawsuits — the main reason why people are afraid of using checks.

If you get a chance please try to inquire from your bank how you can have a checking account.

“5 Ways To Pay The Pag-IBIG Fund” is written by Carlos Velasco.

Mortgage Calculator and Amortization Schedule… Plus, How To Save On Your Loan Payments

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In the previous article about amortizations, you learned how to determine the monthly amortization given a particular loan amount, loan term (in years) and interest rate (per annum).

It is very important to bear in mind that these three factors primarily determine the scheduled amount of the monthly amortization.

This article somehow extends on the previous one and here I’ll discuss the following topics with the help of an online mortgage calculator, which is also included here:

  • How to generate the Monthly Amortization Schedule.
  • The two components that go into the monthly amortization: interest and principal dues.
  • As the title of this article says, “How to save on your loan payments.”

The Mortgage Loan Calculator

With the help of the Mortgage Calculator shown below, let’s see how the amortization schedule looks like on a monthly basis.

Important Note When Using The Mortgage Calculator: When you click on the Calculate Button, the result displays in a pop-up window. To close the window, simply click the Close Button located at the upper right corner of the resulting pop-up window.



Powered by Auto Loan Calculator

As you can see, the tool has some default values already and if those values perfectly match your loan, all you have to do is click on the Calculate Button to show the results. But for most of us, our cases are of course different from the default example.

Let’s say your property costs P 2,000,000 and you are to put 20% down payment up-front — that should be P 400,000 out of your pocket. Furthermore, let’s say that the going interest rate in the market is 10.5% per annum and that you plan to pay the PhP 1,600,000 loan in 3 years only. From here, you want to determine the following:

  • Monthly Amortization Amount
  • Monthly Amortization Schedule

If you have entered the right values from the calculator shown above, you should get the monthly amortization at PhP 52,003.91 and that the total amount paid in interest for the whole 36-month duration of the loan should be PhP 272,140.75 (see at the bottom part of the resulting Amortization Table).

Here are some graphics to visually guide you on the results.

Monthly Amortization Schedule Table

Figure 1 : Monthly Amortization Table for P 1.6M loan payable in 3 years at 10.5% interest rate.

The Amortization Table above only partially shows 9 months out of a total of 36 months amortization schedule.

You will find the total Principal and Interest Payments at the bottom of the Tabular data when you scroll it down. It should look like this on your screen:

Pag-IBIG Loan Table

Figure 2 : Monthly Amortization Table continued from the previous Table. This time, only the last part of the amortization schedule is being shown.

If your results don’t match with this one, please do it all over again until you get it right. This is a very powerful tool of analysis right at your disposal.

More On Interest and Principal Dues

Take another look at the resulting Amortization Schedule Table.

If you add up the Interest amount due and the Principal amount due at any row, it always results to 52,003.91.

That magic number is not at all magical. That’s your monthly amortization!

In other words, the amortization consists of two components, namely: the principal due and the interest due. Each payment that you make against your scheduled amortization, a portion of it goes to the principal payment and the other portion goes to the pay the interest.

From the example above, your first monthly payment of 52,003.91 pays for the PhP 14,000.00 interest and the PhP 38,003.91 principal. On the second month, PhP 13,667.47 is allocated for the interest payment and PhP 38,336.44 for the principal payment.

How To Save on Your Loan Payments

Have you noticed that at the early part of the schedule – that’s the first few rows of the tabular data – so much goes into the interest payment and only a small portion goes into the principal payment? And at the later stage of the schedule, a small amount is now allocated to the interest while the bigger part now goes to the principal.

(Actually, this will become more apparent at longer loan terms, say 15 or 30 years.)

This is always the case for mortgage loans: it follows the Declining Balance Model. That is, assuming your payments are religiously made on schedule, the principal balance is reduced over time and the next schedule is also smaller since the interest is always applied on the remaining balance.

So in other words, if you make a payment that is greater than the scheduled amount, the excess value is deducted from the principal, reducing the remaining balance further.

Actually there is a two-fold effect when you make advanced payments against your mortgage loan:

  • you save on the interest payments
  • you pay off your loan earlier

From here, we can say that one of the ways you can save on your loan payments is to make advanced payments. This way, you are actually save on paying the interests.

There are methods that help you determine the effects of advanced payments at any period of your amortization schedule, but we won’t discuss that in this article yet. Suffice it to say, that making advanced payments is almost always to your advantage.

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This article on Mortgage Calculator and Amortization Schedule is written by Carlos Velasco.

Pag-IBIG Housing Loan Amortization Demystified

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This is one of those topics that a lot real estate buyers are clueless about. Many of them just don’t know how the monthly amortization is determined. This is true for both the first time as well as the seasoned home buyers — and a few real estate agents I’ve met. They simply let the bank, or any lending institution for that matter, handle the computation for them.

Take this particular question shown below which is commonly encountered by real estate sales people.

“How much is the monthly payment for this house which is priced at P1.2M?”

First, any attempt to give a figurative amount to answer that question is meaningless. For one, the question itself is already wrong.

Home Loan Computation: The Amortization Formula

The monthly amortization — or the monthly payment, if you will — is a figure that is dependent on three factors:

  • Loan Amount. The actual amount borrowed, usually the selling price less the down payment.
  • Interest rate. This figure is usually expressed as per annum value, likewise known as annualized interest rate. If you are familiar with bank financing, you have probably noticed that the interest rate is different for each bank. In the case of Pag-IBIG Housing Loan, the interest rate is dependent on the loan amount.
  • Loan term. This tells how long the loan is going to be fully paid; also normally expressed in terms of the number of years. In Pag-IBIG Home Financing, the loan term is usually 15 years or 30 years, though, you may also opt for a shorter loan term.

To determine the monthly amortization, we can simply use this equation:

Amortization Equation -- For Pag-IBIG Housing Loans or Bank Loans

Essentially, this amortization formula says that

  • Given a fixed interest rate and loan term, your monthly amortization is directly proportional to the amount of loan. The bigger the loan amount, the bigger the monthly amortization due.
  • Given a fixed interest rate and a particular loan amount, the monthly amortization is inversely proportional to the payment period. The shorter the payment period, the larger the amortization; the longer the payment period, the smaller the monthly payment due.

In other words, while you may be paying a higher monthly amount for a 15-year mortgage compared to a 30-year mortgage, the primary advantage to you is that the loan if fully paid in a shorter period of time.

The main advantage of using the formula above is that it is very handy and versatile. Anyone can use it given any amount of loan, loan term and interest rate.

However, a lot of people are simply lost with Mathematical equations. And not amount of explanations will ever want them to use any formula to determine any figure.

Luckily for them, there is also another way of determining the monthly amortization and that is by using an Mortgage Factors Table such as the one shown below.

The Pag-IBIG Mortgage Factors Table

Take note that this table is made especially for The Pag-IBIG Housing Loan with interest rates effective at the time of this writing (April 2011). You can use it for loan terms starting from 1 year to a maximum of 30 years loan term.

The annual interest rate shown is only the following: 6%, 7%, 8.5%, 9.5%, 10.5% and 11.5%. For interest rates other than these, the table is not applicable anymore. It’s best to use a Mortgage Calculator – a tool which will become available on this website soon.

Pag-IBIG Home Loan Amortization Factors

Given the table above, it is now very easy to determine the monthly amortization by simply following this understandable formula:

Monthly Amortization = (Loanable Amount) x (Factor Rate)

Sample Computation

Consider this hypothetical case: You are buying a Pag-IBIG Home worth P 1.2M and you are planning to put a down payment of P 240,000 which is 20% of the selling price. How much then would be the monthly amortization if you are to pay it is 15 years? How about if the loan is to be paid in 30 years?

Please be guided by the formula above and the interest rates of Pag-IBIG Housing Loan shown below.

Pag-IBIG Housing Loan Interest Rate

From the case in point and looking at the Factor Rates shown at the Table, we can gather the following:

Loan Amount: 960,000 (this is Price 1,200,000 less Down Payment of 240,000 )

For 15-Year Mortgage, the Factor Rate = 0.00984740.

Monthly Amortization (in 15 years) = (960,000) x (0.00984740) = 9,453.50

For a 30-year mortgage, the factor rate = 0.00768913

Monthly Amortization (in 30 years) = (960,000) x (0.00768913) = 7,381.56

When using this formula, take note we are not putting into consideration some other trivial payments like fire insurance, mortgage redemption insurance, membership dues and others. We are leaving that for the sake of simplifying the illustration.

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Update: A more detailed article about the Amortization and Mortgage Calculator has been made on this website. Please check it now.

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“Pag-IBIG Housing Loan Amortization Demystified” is written by Carlos Velasco.

On Collateral And The Pag-IBIG Housing Loan

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Can you imagine life without mortgage loans?

To say the least, only a very few families would be living in their own homes. The reality is, most people can’t really afford to pay Spot Cash on a piece of property. Even a 2-year interest-free, installment payment is still hard on the average family’s budget.

But thanks to financing programs like mortgage loans (or housing loans), many families now enjoy having a roof over their heads while still paying the property over a series of monthly payments on a longer term.

The concept is actually very simple. Given the appraised value of the property, a lending institution can assist the buyer in purchasing the property by financing part of the price. Normally, the lending company may shoulder up to 80% of the property’s price and the borrower should be able to raise the 20% cash down payment.

See also :

Pag-IBIG Member Benefits and Responsibilities

As a member of the Pag-IBIG Fund, one of the benefits you can enjoy as member is becoming eligible for Pag-IBIG Housing Loan and paying it in longer periods of up to 30 years.

One of the most important things you need to understand about Pag-IBIG Housing Loan, or any mortgage loan for that matter, is that, it is a secured form of financing. This means that when you sign a housing loan with Pag-IBIG, there are two points that you need to keep in mind:

  • You promise to repay loan on time as set in the agreement.
  • You put the property as collateral to backup your pledge.

The moment you fail to pay on the scheduled monthly amortization, that’s when the Foreclosure clock starts to tick.

It’s a very stressful event and you should do everything in your capacity to contact the Pag-IBIG Fund branch where you applied for the housing loan before it’s too late.

Collateral Requirement of Pag-IBIG Housing Loan

You should already know that Pag-IBIG Housing Loan is only applicable to residential types of properties; not commercial properties.

The collateral requirement of Pag-IBIG Home Loan is very simple: A clean Title (TCT/CCT) issued by the Registry of Deeds.

Important points to remember:

  • The tax on the real property must be updated.
  • The borrower is required to submit a copy of tax receipts.

Furthermore, the following properties / Titles are not acceptable as collateral:

  1. Free / Homestead / Miscellaneous Sales Patent Titles
  2. Properties with Encumbrances
  3. Properties with Liens

See the following related articles:

Buyer, Beware

Take note of the above-mentioned list of “unacceptable collateral” because they are very important especially if you are buying from individual sellers; that is, not from developer corporations.

When buying a property, insist on getting a copy of the Title — (TCT for Lot, or CCT for condominium unit). Once you have it, verify its status at your local Registry of Deeds. Always avoid buying properties that belong to any of the three categories mentioned above.

Foreclosure properties are another type of properties you should avoid at all costs until you have educated yourself already on the whole idea. However, if you are not that confident yet, forget about all those money-making schemes they preach in Foreclosure Seminars. These properties are much more complicated and a much more painful investment than seminar experts would want to believe.

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“On Collateral And The Pag-IBIG Housing Loan” is written by Carlos Velasco.