By Jekki Pascual, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — The Social Security System (SSS) and the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) launched the SSS Loan Lite, which offers microloans to SSS members.
A memorandum of agreement was signed in Makati on Tuesday. The partnership aims to make formal credit more accessible, convenient, and secure. Eligible members can apply for a loan via the RCBC DiskarTech app.
“Ang target nito is Gen Z, mga Gen X in the formal sector. Roughly, I would estimate 1 to 2 million should avail of this privilege,” said SSS President and CEO Robert Joseph de Claro.
Lito Villanueva, RCBC’s Executive Vice President and Chief Innovations and Inclusion Officer, said this will help a lot of Filipinos who need cash immediately. This loan also does not need approval from the employer.
He added that this could also give more options to Filipinos so they can also avoid illegitimate online lending practices.
“We could easily now avail of the loan without any dependency from the employers. The good thing as well is even if you have existing loans with the SSS, you can still avail of this loan,” Villanueva said.
Members need to have contributed for 12 months for them to qualify. They can access short-term cash loans ranging from P1,000 to 20,000 with flexible repayment options of 15, 30, 60, or 90 days. It also has lower interest rates compared to other online lending services.
“Maliit lang yung interest: 8 percent divided by 12 is .67 [percent]. So .67 [percent] per month. If you take out a 15-day loan, mas maliit pa dun ang interest na binabayad,” said de Claro.
The program also offers real-time eligibility validation, immediate loan decision, and instant disbursement.
SSS has allotted funding for the Loan Lite program, and it will also partner with other banks in the coming months. Loan amount may also be increased depending on the data they will get from the initial months of the program implementation.
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