Pag-IBIG Fund for OFWs: a plain guide

Pag-IBIG Fund (the Home Development Mutual Fund) is the government savings and housing fund set up under Republic Act No. 9679. If you work abroad for a foreign employer, membership is not optional: Sec. 6 of the law makes coverage “mandatory upon” “Filipinos employed by foreign-based employers”, as well as employees covered by SSS and GSIS.

In return, a member gets three things:

1. Savings that earn a yearly dividend. Your monthly contributions are your Regular Savings, which earned 6.62% for 2025. That is a past rate; Pag-IBIG declares a new one each year and it may be lower.
2. Loans: housing, multi-purpose and calamity loans, all based on your savings record.
3. Your money back when your membership matures after 20 years, when you retire, or on other grounds such as leaving the country for good.

On top of that you can save more in MP2, Pag-IBIG’s voluntary five-year savings scheme.

Joining and getting into your account from abroad

• Register online if you are not a member yet. Pag-IBIG’s membership page says to go to Virtual Pag-IBIG, choose Be A Member, then Register. See Pag-IBIG online registration.
• Find your MID number, your Pag-IBIG membership number. If you have lost it, the same page says you can ask by email to contactus@pagibigfund.gov.ph, through Pag-IBIG’s Facebook page or at any branch. See how to find your MID number.
• Open Virtual Pag-IBIG, the online account where you check savings, pay, enrol in MP2 and file claims. See Virtual Pag-IBIG from abroad.

Pag-IBIG also has Overseas Service Desks in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Milan, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait, Qatar and Riyadh, listed with addresses on its OFW page.

Monthly savings (Regular Savings)

Since February 2024, Pag-IBIG contributions are worked out on a Maximum Fund Salary of PHP 10,000, up from PHP 5,000 (Circular No. 460, 15 January 2024). The rates in that circular:

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So an employee earning PHP 10,000 or more pays PHP 200 a month and the employer adds PHP 200. Pag-IBIG’s Regular Savings page says OFW members now pay PHP 200 a month and self-employed members PHP 400, since the self-employed pay both shares. Circular No. 460 also lets members pay more than the required amount.

How to pay from abroad is in our guide to paying Pag-IBIG online.

The full contribution rules are in Pag-IBIG contributions.

MP2, the voluntary savings scheme

MP2 is a separate savings account with a five-year term. You put in at least PHP 500 at a time, up to PHP 20,000,000 across all your MP2 accounts. Its dividend is tax-free under Sec. 19 of RA 9679 and is set higher than the Regular Savings rate: Pag-IBIG declared 7.12% for 2025. That is a past rate, and it does not promise the next one.

Pag-IBIG’s Circular No. 487, dated 26 February 2026, changed the MP2 rules. Start with these:

• MP2 savings explained: who can join, limits, payouts and the new rules.
• MP2 calculator: an estimate for monthly or one-time savings.
• MP2 dividend rates: every official rate since 2021.
• How to open an MP2 account, online or from abroad.
• How to withdraw MP2 savings, at maturity or early.

Loans

As Pag-IBIG’s own loan pages describe them, checked on 20 October 2026:

• Housing loan. Borrow up to PHP 10 million, for up to 30 years. Work out the monthly payment with the housing loan calculator. See Pag-IBIG housing loan for OFWs.
• Multi-Purpose Loan. Up to 90% of your Regular Savings (Pag-IBIG’s loan forms call this your Total Accumulated Value, TAV), at 1.4583% a month, once you have at least 12 monthly savings. See the Multi-Purpose Loan guide.
• Calamity Loan. Up to 90% of your Regular Savings (Pag-IBIG’s loan forms call this your Total Accumulated Value, TAV) at 5.95% a year, with a three-month grace period. You must apply within 90 days, as Pag-IBIG’s Calamity Loan page sets out. See the Calamity Loan guide.

Rates change with new circulars, so check the loan page on the day you apply.

Getting your money back

Regular Savings come back to you as a provident claim. Pag-IBIG’s claims page lists these grounds: membership maturity after 20 years with 240 monthly savings; retirement at 65, or at 60 with at least 120 contributions; permanent total disability or insanity; leaving work for health reasons; death; permanent departure from the country; critical illness; and optional withdrawal after 15 years of continuous savings. See the Pag-IBIG provident claim.

MP2 savings are claimed separately, when the five years end or early on the grounds Pag-IBIG allows: see how to withdraw MP2 savings.

The Loyalty Card Plus

The Pag-IBIG Loyalty Card Plus is a member card that also works as a cash card: loan money, claims and MP2 yearly payouts can be paid onto it, and it gets discounts at partner shops. You apply at a Pag-IBIG branch. See the Pag-IBIG Loyalty Card.

Where Pag-IBIG fits in a retirement plan

Pag-IBIG is one of three government programmes that OFWs commonly pay into. Each does a different job:

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None of them is meant to cover retirement on its own. Our retirement planning hub looks at how they add up. Our working abroad guides cover what changes in each country.