Pag-ibig housing loan experience

Posted on July 8th, 2008

My husband and I just took out a Pag-ibig Fund loan to acquire a house and lot unit at a subdivision in Lapu-Lapu City.

While the property is not brand new, it’s a unit foreclosed and reacquired by Pag-ibig from its previous owner who failed to pay the required amortization, we still followed the same steps enumerated in the fund’s housing loan guidelines.

The first step in the process of taking out a Pag-ibig housing loan is attending a counseling session. Pag-ibig holds regular counseling sessions at its branches. In our case, we attended loan counseling when Pag-ibig held a housing fair in Lapu-Lapu City.

After the counseling, the Pag-ibig personnel gave us a certificate of attendance, a housing loan application form, and a list of documents that we needed to submit so we could avail of a housing loan.

One of the requirements was a membership status verification slip (MSVS), which we had to request from Pag-ibig. Processing of the MSVS takes seven days but in our case it was even longer because we had a salary loan that was long overdue.

Pag-ibig released our MSVS a week or so after we paid off the loan. We filled up the housing application form and submitted this with the other requirements, which included the MSVS, certificate of employment with salary breakdown, latest 1 month payslip, Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the last two years, photocopy of a company ID or any valid ID with signature, proof of billing, community tax certificate, and 4 pieces of 1×1 picture.

Aside from these requirements, we were also asked for certified true copies of the transfer certificate of title, sketch plan, and tax declarations for the house and lot unit. Since the property we were buying had been foreclosed and reacquired by Pag-ibig, the housing agency had all these documents in its keeping.

There are additional other requirements for housing loans covering new buildings such as permits like occupancy, building, and electrical, among others, and a building plan.

After we submitted all the requirements, the Pag-ibig personnel told us they will call us once our loan gets approved. When I did not hear from them for almost a month, I called the Pag-ibig office and I was asked to call again after three days because they were still processing our loan.

When our housing loan was approved, we were asked to go to the Pag-ibig office. There, we entered into a contract to sell with Pag-ibig and the agency’s legal officer notarized the document.

Listed in the contract to sell is the description of the housing unit, the manner of loan payment, monthly amortization amount, and some other considerations.

Whether it’s to pay for a brand new housing unit, purchase a lot and construction a house thereon, or acquire any of the properties being sold by the housing agency, feel free to share your own experiences with Pag-ibig’s housing loan program.