MANILA -- The Social Security System (SSS) is now sending text messages to remind its members to pay their loans monthly.

In a statement, the SSS said it started doing this last month to remind members of the due dates for their monthly loan payments.

"We send loan billing statements to our member-borrowers through their registered email address. However, unlike reading text messages, most members do not open their email inboxes," said SSS Senior Vice President for Lending and Asset Management Group Pedro Baoy.

"Most of them carry their mobile phones wherever they go, so we saw text alerts as a great way to remind them," he explained.

Baoy reminded its borrowers that those who miss their loan payments will be charged a one percent monthly penalty on unpaid principal and interest until fully paid. 

"If their loan remains unsettled for over five years, the incurred penalties will exceed the outstanding principal amount and interest," he said.

Baoy also noted that SSS members must log in to their My.SSS accounts to check their loan records. 

He also invited those with unpaid short-term member loans to avail of the agency's Consolidation of Past Due Short-Term Member Loans with Condonation of Penalty (Conso Loan) program.

SSS to consolidate, waive penalties on past-due loans

Under the program, the 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 would be consolidated and waived upon full payment of the loan.

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