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Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (BARO Act) FAQs

The Bayanihan to Recover as One Act gives you a one-time sixty-day (60) grace period for all your existing, current and outstanding balances / loans with principal and/or interest, including amortizations, falling due from September 15, 2020 to December 31, 2020 (“effectivity period”). You can choose not to pay your balances / loans during the 60-day grace period without incurring interest on interest, penalties, fees, or other charges.

No, only accounts that are existing, current and outstanding on the Effectivity Date of the BARO Act are qualified to avail of the one-time 60-day grace period. The effectivity date is on September 15, 2020 (“Effectivity Date”).

Definitions:

“Existing” – This means that your HSBC Credit Card or HSBC Loan account is not cancelled/not terminated on the Effectivity Date.
“Current” – Current means not past due. This means that we received at least the minimum payment due/monthly amortization on or before your most recent due date as of September 15, 2020.
“Outstanding” – For credit cards, this refers to unpaid balances or transactions before the Effectivity Date (ie. balances as of September 14, 2020). For loans, this refers to loans granted before the Effectivity Date.

No, your account is not qualified to avail of the 60-day grace period under the BARO Act because only those with transactions before September 15, 2020 are qualified.

For loans, newly approved loans from September 15, 2020 onwards are not qualified to avail of the one-time 60-day grace period under the BARO Act.

You can avail of the one-time 60-day grace period for due dates falling due from September 15, 2020 to December 31, 2020. We’ll consider your account to have availed of the grace period at the first instance that we don’t receive payment on any due date within the effectivity period of the BARO Act. T he 60-day grace period will no longer be available after December 31, 2020 due date.

Example:

If your due date is on September 19, 2020 and you choose not to pay your due amount on this day, then your next due date will be on November 19, 2020. For loans, the maturity period will be extended by 2 more months – if your current loan is supposed to mature/end by September 19, 2024, then you’ll have a new maturity date which will be on November 19, 2024.

The above example means that you’ve fully availed of the one-time 60-day grace period and that you’ll have to pay for at least the minimum amount due / your monthly due amount starting November 19, 2020.

Credit Cards

No, you don’t need to call us to avail of the one-time 60-day grace period. We’ll consider your account as having availed of the one-time 60-day grace period at the first instance that we don’t receive a payment on any of the due dates falling due within the effectivity period of the BARO Act.

For example, we received payment for your September 24, 2020 due date, but we didn’t receive payment on your October 24, 2020 due date. We’ll consider you to have availed of the one-time 60-day grace period for your October and November 2020 due dates. Your next payment will then be on your December 2020 due date.

Personal Loans (regular)

Please send us an email at banking@hsbc.com.ph to let us know if you are not availing of the one-time 60-day grace period for your account on or before October 20, 2020. If we don’t hear from you on or before this date, we will automatically enroll your account to avail of the 60-day grace period on your next 2 due dates after October 20, 2020.

Mortgage, Assetlink and Personal Loans under the Employee Privilege Program (EPP)

Please call your Relationship Manager to discuss your options and the changes to your loan if you avail of the 60-day grace period.

Yes, you can. You’ll have until October 20, 2020 to let us know if you wish to make this request, just follow the instructions found in Annex A of this FAQ. Requesting for payment reversal in September 2020 within the effectivity period of the BARO Act means that you don’t need to pay for your October 2020 due date to complete your one-time 60-day grace period for your account/s.

Yes, you can, since October and November 2020 are within the effectivity period of the BARO Act.

If your account is current (not past due) as of 15 September 2020 and you availed of the one-time 60-day grace period during the effectivity of the BARO Act, then your account will retain its current status.

Yes, your availment of the 60-day grace period will be reflected on your credit bureau records.

Yes, there will be accrued interest if we don’t receive payment during the 60-day grace period. This will be billed in your statement of account with the new due date after the 60-day grace period.

For credit cards, we’ll reverse the full accrued interest if you pay for the Total Due Amount on your new due date after the 60-day grace period. We’ll reverse the interest on interest if you pay less than the Total Due Amount on your new due date.

We’re giving you the option to pay for the new principal amount and accrued interest of your credit cards in 2 monthly installments after the grace period. We’ll get in touch with you separately within 2-3 weeks before your grace period ends if you want to apply for the installment.

For Regular Personal Loans (non-EPP), the accrued interest will be spread equally for 2 months in your monthly due amount / amortization after the grace period.

For Mortgage, Assetlink and Personal Loans under the Employee Privilege Program (EPP), please call your Relationship Manager to discuss your options and the impact/changes to your monthly due amounts when you avail of the one-time 60-day grace period.

You won’t be billed your monthly due installments during the grace period. After the grace period, you’ll be billed with 2 monthly amortizations under the same installment transaction in your next SOA after the 60-day grace period, and this will form part of your Minimum Payment due. The tenor of your installment will be extended by one more month.

For example: You availed of the 60-day grace on your September and October 2020 due dates. You have a monthly amortization of P1,000 which you don’t need to pay (and you didn’t pay) during the grace period. On your November 2020 statement of account, you’ll be billed 2 X P1,000 (P2,000) amortizations which will be part of your Minimum Payment Due that needs to be paid on the new due date. If your loan tenor was supposed to end on January 2021, then this will be adjusted by one more month to end on February 2021.

If you availed of the one-time 60-day grace period, you’ll see your outstanding balance, a late charge and finance charge in your monthly SOA. The Minimum Payment in your SOA will be zero (0) because you’re not required to pay for your due amount within the 60-day grace period. You will see the corresponding reversals in your SOA at the end of the grace period on your next SOA.

Yes, you can. Paying your Total Due on your due dates from September 15 – December 31, 2020 means that there won’t be accrued interest on your outstanding balance. Please visit our Credit Card and Personal Loan Payment Channels page to learn more about convenient ways to pay.

Credit Card

After availing of the 60-day grace period, your next SOA will reflect your new due date, unpaid balances, late fee reversal and finance charges. The finance charges that you’ll see in your SOA is already net of all reversals. The Minimum Payment field will no longer be zero (0) and will show the minimum amount that you’ll have to pay on the due date.

Loans

We’ll send you a new statement of account with your new due date. The SOA will show the accrued interest computed on your outstanding balance during the 60-day grace period. The accrued interest will be spread equally for 2 months in your monthly due amount / amortization after the grace period.

You can view BSP’s Memorandum 2020-068 (PDF) and Memorandum 2020-074 (PDF) to read the full Bayanihan to Recover As One Act.

HSBC's instructions on BARO Act implementation

View Annex A of the BARO Act (PDF, 24KB) Please follow the instructions for us to process your request on time. We’ll process your requests within 5 -7 banking days from receipt of your request. Download link

Post Payment Holiday FAQ

The Payment Holiday will end once the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) or enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is lifted by the government. This has been lifted on 01 June 2020, which means that the Payment Holiday ended 31 May 2020.

This means that you need to resume your monthly payment (or at least the minimum payment due amount) if you have Statement Due Dates starting 01 June 2020.

Credit Cards

Your minimum payment will be computed the same way it was before which is based on a percentage of your outstanding balance.

Once you resume making credit card payments, try to pay off as much as you can each month to limit the amount of interest you’ll be charged.

Loans (excludes salary loans)

If you availed of the Payment Holiday, your monthly due amount in June2020 will be equivalent to the monthly due amount that you were paying prior ECQ period (March 16, 2020).

We’ll send your updated monthly amortization schedule one month after the Payment Holiday ends (i.e. July 2020), which you may refer to when paying for your succeeding monthly due amount. The updated monthly amortization schedule will include the accrued interest earned during the Payment Holiday.

If you didn’t avail of the Payment Holiday, your monthly due amount didn’t change. Please continue paying your monthly due amount as reflected in your monthly amortization schedule that you received when you applied for the loan.

Please click here (PDF, 24KB) to know more on how you can pay for your credit card balances or your loan’s monthly due amounts.

You may refer to your latest statement of account to know your outstanding balance that needs to be paid in June. We encourage you to pay at least the minimum due amount or your monthly loan amount on your due date.

Your ADA will take effect immediately on your next due date after the Payment Holiday. Please ensure to fund your HSBC accounts to avoid inconvenience.

The Payment Holiday has ended last May 31, 2020 and will no longer be extended. We are following the guideline issued by BSP in Memorandum No. M-2020-045 that states that “the 30-day mandatory grace period under the Bayanihan Act shall no longer apply.” It further explains “with the lifting of the ECQ in majority of the provinces and cities, the condition for the grant of the 30-day grace period under Section 4(aa) of the (Bayanihan Act) is no longer present” which means given that only Cebu City and Talisay City are on ECQ and MECQ, respectively, Payment Holiday will no longer be applied.

Payment Holiday FAQ

You will be given a 30-day grace period for all loans, with principal and/or interest falling due within the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine / Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ/ECQ) period, without incurring interest on interest, penalties, fees and other charges.

This means we are giving you an extension on the payments due on your Credit Card, Personal Loan and/or Home Loan. The payment extension is 30 days for your due dates that fall during the MECQ/ECQ period (i.e. March 16 to May 31, 2020).

However, the following conditions will be applicable on interest on outstanding balance and minimum payment due:

For your Credit Card(s):

If you paid your total outstanding balance in your statement of account (SOA) prior to ECQ (e.g. Feb2020), you will not be charged any interest during the 30-day grace period.
If you did not pay your total outstanding balance in your SOA prior ECQ (e.g. Feb 2020), we will reverse the interest accrued on the minimum payment due in your next SOA (e.g. March 2020). The interest on your outstanding balance will continue to accrue during the 30-day grace period.

For your Personal Loans and Home Loan:

Your monthly payment due during the MECQ/ECQ period will move to the next due date, effectively moving the last payment due date of your loan by 30 days. (i.e. If the last payment on your loan is due on August 15, 2021, this shall be moved to September 15, 2021.)
We will reverse the interest accrued on the unpaid monthly payment (which is the interest on interest).
The interest accrued (on your total outstanding balance) during the 30-day extension may be paid in lump sum on the new date or on a staggered basis over the remaining term of the loan.

We do not charge our customers with any interest on interest charges if minimum payment due amount is paid every month. Given this, we will waive the interest on your minimum payment due amount, instead, which saves you more money.

Yes, this covers all your accounts with HSBC Philippines and HSBC Savings Bank Philippines Inc. with due dates within the MECQ/ECQ period.

You will see the penalty/late fee and finance charge waivers in your next statement of accounts (e.g. in May / June 2020) respectively.

For Credit Cards:

If we did not receive payments on your due date within March 16 to May 31, 2020, you will see the following adjustments on your next billing (e.g. in May/June):

Adjustments on Statement:

A credit entry equivalent to your minimum amount due
A debit entry equivalent to your minimum amount due
No Late Fee and other fees that are due for posting within the MECQ/ECQ period (e.g. annual fees, overlimit fees, etc.)

The adjustments were done to automatically waive the late fee but retain your outstanding balance. If you see these fees posted in your statement of account, you may request for their reversal.

The finance charge (FC) or interest, if any, is still reflected on your upcoming statement (e.g. April, May). Note that the FC amount in your succeeding statement (e.g. May/June) is already net of the finance charge waiver. There won’t be a separate entry on the FC waiver.

For Personal Loans and Home Loans:

With the 30- day grace period, you have the option not to pay your monthly due amount. You may expect the following when availing of the Payment Holiday:

You’ll not be charged with penalty (late fee and interest) related to nonpayment of the due amount.
You’ll be charged with the regular interest on your loan amount on the succeeding month.
Your last payment due date on your loan will be moved by 30 days. We are doing this so that you don’t need to pay 2 amortizations in a month on your next due date after the MECQ/ECQ period.
There will be additional interest accrued during the 30-day grace period, which you may pay one-time or through a staggered basis (monthly amortization).

For Home Loan customers, kindly get in touch with your Relationship Managers to discuss your options.

For Personal Loan customers, please let us know your preference in paying the accrued interest by doing the following:

Send an email to banking@hsbc.com.ph
SUBJECT: PIL PAYMENT HOLIDAY ON ACCRUED INTEREST
Body of the email:
Your Name as it appears in your valid gov’t ID:
PAYMENT OPTION: <one-time payment OR amortized payment>

*The additional accrued interest will happen due to the 30-day grace period under payment holiday. Since no payment will be received in 30 more days, the interest will be computed on a bigger outstanding loan amount, hence the additional accrued interest in this scenario.

Yes, you will still have finance charges if we didn’t receive payment on your due date within the MECQ/ECQ period, but we will reverse the applicable finance charges on your account in line with the scenarios in FAQ question no. 1.

To avoid incurring additional finance charges, we encourage you to still pay on your original due date if you are able to do so.

We continue to accept payments for your credit cards, personal loans, and home loans even during the MECQ/ECQ period, through the following channels:

Credit Cards:

HSBC ATMs, Easypay machines, online banking, mobile banking, phone banking
Automated channels
Unionbank ATMs and online banking
BDO ATMs, online banking, phone banking, mobile banking
Security Bank ATMs, online banking, phone banking, mobile banking
BPI and BPI Family Savings Bank ATMs, online banking, phone banking, mobile banking
Metrobank online banking, phone banking and mobile banking
Bancnet ATM

Personal Loans:

HSBC Easypay machines
Automated channels
Unionbank ATMs and online banking
BPI and BPI Family Savings Bank ATMs, online banking, phone banking, mobile banking
Bancnet ATM

Please click here (PDF, 24.7KB) for other payment options.

Home Loans:

Fund your nominated account for the auto-debit arrangement through:

HSBC Easypay machines
Local payments from your other bank accounts

Credit Cards:

Yes. Your existing auto-debit arrangement will still apply during the payment holiday period. In case the amount from your account is not sufficient to cover the minimum payment due on your card, you will still be eligible for the payment holiday. You have the option to a) request for a refund on the auto-debited amount from your account and b) request to suspend your ADA to enjoy the 30-day grace period. Deadline to submit requests would be on June 7, 2020. Please click here (PDF, 34KB) for more details.

Loans:

We have moved your due date to another 30 days under the payment holiday program. Given this movement, the ADA will not push through since the system will not see a due amount in your account.

It depends. If your account was in good standing prior to the ECQ period, you will not be considered delinquent if you miss the payment on the MECQ/ECQ period.

However, if your account was already considered past due or on delinquent status prior to the ECQ period, your account will remain past due or on delinquent status.

Bayanihan to Recover as One Act Advisory

Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (BARO Act) FAQs

1. What does the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (BARO Act) mean to me as a borrower?

2. Are all accounts qualified under the BARO Act?

3. If I have no credit card transactions before September 15, 2020, and I made new purchases from September 15 to December 31, 2020, am I qualified to avail of the one-time 60-day grace period?

4. When can I start to avail of the one-time 60-day grace period?

5. Do I have to call to avail of the one-time 60-day grace period?

7. If I paid on my September2020 due date covered within the effectivity period of the BARO Act, can I choose not to pay on October and November 2020 due dates to avail of the one-time 60-day period?

8. What happens to my account if I availed of the one-time 60-day grace period?

9. Will my availment of the 60-day grace period be reported to credit bureaus?

10. Will there be accrued interest during the 60-day grace period that I don’t pay for my credit card or loan outstanding balance?

11. What will happen to my credit card’s monthly installment if I avail of the one-time 60-day grace period?

12. What will I see in my Credit Card Statement of Account (SOA) if I availed of the one-time 60-day grace period?

13. Can I still make payments within the effectivity period of the BARO Act?

14. When do I have to pay for my due amounts after I’ve availed of the one-time 60-day grace period?

15. Where can I read more about BSP’s Circular and FAQs on the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act?

HSBC's instructions on BARO Act implementation

Post Payment Holiday FAQ

1. When will the Payment Holiday end?

2. What does the end of the Payment Holiday mean for me?

3. How much is the outstanding balance that I have to pay after Payment Holiday?

4. What happens if I’m on Auto-Debit Arrangement (ADA)?

5. Will I incur fees and charges if I don’t pay on my due dates starting June 2020?

6. How can I apply for a Balance Conversion after Payment Holiday?

7. What if I need assistance after the Payment Holiday?

8. Will there be a Payment Holiday applied to credit card/loan payments given the 15 June 2020 announcement of the President that Cebu City and Talisay City are back to ECQ/MECQ until 30 June 2020?

Payment Holiday FAQ

1. What does “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” mean to me as a borrower?

2. Why are you waiving the interest on my Minimum Payment Due instead of waiving interest on interest?

3. Will the payment holiday cover all my accounts?

4. When will the payment holiday be applied on my card or loan? What will the payment holiday look like on my statement?

5. For my Credit Cards, will I still be charged interest (finance charge) even if I am on payment holiday?

6. How can I pay during this enhanced community quarantine period?

7. If I have an auto-debit arrangement (ADA) to pay my Card and/or Loan and/or Home Loan from my HSBC deposit account, am I still eligible for the payment holiday?

8. Will my account be considered past due or on delinquent status if I don’t make a payment on my due date from March 16 to May 31, 2020?

9. Who can I contact to discuss my personal financial situation?

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