TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Following today’s Credit Surety Fund (CSF) Roadshow and Contributor’s Orientation Seminar organized by the City Cooperatives and Enterprise Development Office (CCEDO), the CCEDO and cooperatives in the city have expressed their willingness to organize a Credit Surety Fund Cooperative to avail of the credit enhancement program offered by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Eleanor Ramos, manager, Financial Inclusion Office of BSP said CSF is a credit guarantee program that enables enterprises and cooperatives to gain easier access to loans from banks without providing collateral.
Ramos claimed that CSF is advantageous and that she is pleased that the CCEDO and the local registered cooperatives are eager to set up the CSF Cooperative, which is a demand-driven endeavor that depends on the enthusiasm and dedication of all stakeholders.
She emphasized that the CSF enables cooperatives and businessmen with sound business plans but little capital to secure bank loans even in the absence of tangible collateral by issuing a surety agreement.
Ramos claims that the CSF offers up to 80% surety coverage for bank loans made to borrowers who would otherwise find it difficult to evaluate such credit facilities because of a lack of collateral, a short credit history, or insufficient financial documents, among other obstacles.
As a credit innovation for people who cannot access bank loans due to a lack of appropriate collateral and credit information, the BSP launched the CSF initiative in August 2008.
One of the speakers from the Cooperative Development Authority-CAR, Ms. Felicidad Cenon, noted the CCEDO’s statistics showing that 70% of Tabuk’s residents are cooperative members.
“Wala pa akong na-encounter na lahat ay miyembro [of COOP]. It means, kapag lahat tayo ay dadalhin ang [cooperativism] at CSF, walang dahilan na hindi tayo aahon,” she added.
Engr. Ryan Jose, program development officer of the CCEDO said that with the CSF, more members of the cooperatives can avail bigger loans even without presenting a collateral, thus providing more security. By Darwin S. Serion and Rio Bassong