Real Estate Finance

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

Thanks 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.

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.