In the Know: Home Guaranty Corp.

Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC), a government-owned and -controlled corporation, is a key shelter agency under the supervision of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay.

While housing agencies such as the Home Development Mutual (Pag-Ibig) Fund and National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. lend money directly to housing developers and individual or group borrowers, the HGC encourages financial institutions to lend to individual home buyers and housing developers by extending guaranty lines to lenders.

Its clients include banks, building and loan associations, investment houses, trust companies, insurance companies, lending institutions, cooperatives, microfinance entities and housing developers that provide funds for home buyers and housing developments.

In September, the HGC said it granted P18 billion in guaranty lines to 18 conduit lenders in the first semester of the year. The approved lines will guaranty new housing loans for the purchase or construction of about 10,900 housing units.

The guaranty line is a facility in which housing-related loans and financial transactions may be enrolled for guaranty coverage.

Loans granted for the development of subdivisions, townhouses, dormitories, apartments and other dwellings are covered under HGC’s developmental loan guaranty program.

The retail loan guaranty program covers loans and credit facilities provided for the purchase or acquisition of a single family residence while guaranty for securitization programs provides coverage for securities and financial instruments or the receivables backing up the securities.

Republic Act No. 8763, or the Home Guarantee Act of 2000, extended the agency’s corporate life for another 50 years and increased its capitalization to P50 billion from the previous P2.5 billion. It also renamed the agency Home Guaranty Corp. from Home Insurance and Guaranty Corp.

Its board of directors include the secretary of finance as ex-officio chair, HUDCC chair as ex-officio vice chair, National Economic and Development Authority director general as ex-officio member, HGC president as member and three other members appointed by the President with a term of five years.—Inquirer Research

Sources: hgc.gov.ph, Inquirer Archives