Mortgage lifeline for Mindanao homeowners

(Manila Standard Today)

BFS, a mortgage servicer and special asset management company, is zeroing in on homeowners from Mindanao by offering them mortgage financing options to avoid foreclosure.

BFS handles the Balikatan portfolio of more than 52,000 highly delinquent loan accounts from the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC). It has recently reached out to delinquent loan borrowers in Southern Mindanao (Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental) Northern Mindanao (Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Oriental), Central Mindanao (North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat), CARAGA (Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur), Western Mindanao (Basilan, Misamis Occidental, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur) and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao or ARMM (Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi).

The Mindanao roadshow showed that more pressing priorities such as  payment of children’s tuition fees, seed money for business, and placement fees for family members with OFW’s are the main reasons for delinquent payments.

“What we are most concerned is that some of them said they do not know where the amortization should be paid, which redounds to lack of borrower education,” said Federico Cadiz, President of BFS.  “We urge the borrowers to take advantage of the various remedies we offer help get them out of problematic situations.”

BFS can be reached through a PLDT toll-free number outside of Metro Manila and Davao through 1-800-10-2255-BFS (237).