Dennisse bought a house in a private development in Guayaquil three years ago and has an active mortgage loan of USD 45,000 with the Bank of the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (Biess). He has two children, who are still minors. He says that the house will be their inheritance.

The thought crossed her mind several times what would happen to that big debt if she died. “Sometimes it’s inevitable not to think about death, but if something happens to me, I don’t want to leave my children with a debt as heavy as a house”says the woman.

According to Juan Carlos Martínez, assistant manager of Biess Creditsboth of you Mortgage loans such as uninsured are covered by lien insurance. That is, in case of death, this policy covers the debt and prevents the inheritance of family members or guarantors. And this happens for the deceased who were retired, active members and volunteer members.

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“All loans granted by Biess are covered by tax credit insurance. In this case, when he dies, the relatives or relatives have to go through a simple process,” says Martínez.

And this process, in a mortgage loanconsists of the delivery of a loss notice letter, death certificate, depreciation schedule and actual possession of the property Hispana Seguros, the insurer with which Biess works.

The family can prepare the letter themselves; the death certificate is the usual procedure in these cases; The depreciation table can be found on the Biess website by entering the ID and password. In this same chart, you can see the lien insurance fee, and in Dennissa’s case, it is $18.91 per month.

For the acquisition of real property, in which the heirs of a deceased person are determined, a notary public is used, the average value of which is 230 USD.

“Submit the documentation to Hispano Seguros… and once you receive it, within 30 to 40 days at the most, the claim is fully covered,” explains Martínez.

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while with him an unsecured loan is different. Here, the process is faster and more digital. “It’s easier in the chirograph. It’s a digital process. What the system does automatically is a check against the civil registry database, where deaths are registered and cross-checking claims for insurance deductions takes place automatically.“, points out Martinez.

According to Biess, in 2020, there were 596 deceased pensioners, active associates and volunteers for whom mortgage loan insurance was applied. In that period, the compensation amounted to 16.7 million dollars, which was covered by the insurer for that debt. In addition, this item also includes coverage for total and permanent disability and catastrophic illness of the member and volunteer. “A permanent disability such as a stroke where the member has no mobility, with the medical history the claim is presented to the insurer and (the debt) is covered,” Martinez says.

In 2021, there were 948 people with an amount of $27 million, and in 2022, there were 787 citizens with mortgage loans in the amount of $24.4 million.

Regarding of unsecured loans, in 2020 there were 2,627 of them branches and deceased pensioners and the compensation was made. In 2021, there were 7,270, and in 2022, 4,920 people.

“In fact, because it is covered and protected by the policy, when someone accesses an unsecured loan there is an item that the same branch will cancel in favor of the policy in the event of death, which is a tax benefit. We keep the position of the funds, if they are covered in the event of an eventuality, be it death, catastrophic illness or permanent disability,” says Martínez.

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The official points out that on certain occasions there is a delay on the part of the relatives in these procedures, especially in the actual possession of the property, the procedure of which, he says, is simple. And he adds that such information is marketed.

“We run constant campaigns both in the promotion of our products and in the handling of insurance claims, so we have published a claim on our website in the case of debtors who are subject to a mortgage. We also manage the system call center”, says Martinez.

The Hispana Seguros deductible policy document also appears on the website, covering deductible, death, total and permanent disability, and catastrophic illness. Here is the link: https://www.biess.fin.ec/servicio-al-cliente/seguros. It is a ten-page document.

Meanwhile, in the first two months of 2023, Biess delivered $556.3 million in approximately 400,000 unsecured loans. 45% of unsecured loans are intended for emergency expenses, 38% for debt repayment, 10% for education, and the remaining 7% are allocated to the purchase of household goods, travel and alimony.

And in mortgages, Biess financed $10,635 million between October 2010 and December 2022. And there were 234,890 operations.