LANDBANK TES Card Frequently Asked Questions

IMPORTANT:

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From the Regional Caravan for the LANDBANK TES Card orientation, to the start of the actual applications of TES grantees, here are the questions I have gathered all throughout my stint in UniFAST. Browse through and find the answers to your questions.

If you haven't watched the How to Apply for LANDBANK TES Card video, watch it below. I have also provided the common questions students asked in this video. Use the timestamps to jump directly to what you want to know.

Now, if you have watched the video and you still got questions, maybe I can answer it below.

If you have received LANDBANK email regarding Mastercard Portal, it means your Application is Approved

For grantees who have submitted and finalized their applications in the LBP TES Card application portal in the UniFAST website, if they have received the email from LANDBANK regarding the Mastercard Integrated Cardholder Portal for activation, it means their applications were approved and ready for exporting to LBP for processing of their cards. They'll just have to wait for LANDBANK to deliver the cards to their selected location.

Problems logging in Mastercard Integrated Cardholder Portal

If the grantees are having problems in logging in to the Mastercard Integrated Cardholder Portal emailed by LANDBANK after applications, thus, they are unable to activate their Mastercard portal, rest asssured, they can still receive their LBP TES Card and still be credited their grant. Inactivation on this Mastercard Portal just means they can’t use the extra features of the TES card mentioned in my video.

No email received from LANDBANK

Also, there are cases that the LANDBANK's email notification does not push through and the grantees receive no email. What you can do is, contact your school's TES focal person, and ask for the status of your TES card application. If the status is "Exported to LANDBANK" it means your application was approved, and therefore being processed in the LANDBANK for delivery to your selected location. If the status is "Finalized" it means your application is successful. Just check back again to check for the "Exported to LANDBANK" status.

Only 2 MB file size can be uploaded?

Yes. Strictly only up to 2 MB is the file size you can upload as an image in the TES Card Application portal.

Updated information of the grantee

In the case a grantee marries or relevant cases where the relevant information like middle name or last name of the grantee is changed, the grantee should notify the Regional Coordinator to update their information in the database to avoid conflict in data that might cause them to be delisted. Then, in applying for the LBP TES Card, make sure that updated info entered in the application is consistent with the supporting documents attached.

Liquidation under LBP TES Card

For HEIs, in lieu of the payroll, a certified list from the LANDBANK will be provided that the stipend was credited.

Disbursement

Monthly disbursement if we are in a full and real-time distribution of the TES grant. But of course, if the distribution is late (Ex: 2nd Sem AY 2020-2021 grants were given on the 1st Sem of AY 2021-2022) it will now be a reimbursement, thus lump sum amount will be credited to the LBP TES Card. (Although this might change if the guidelines are updated. Please check with your Regional Coordinator.)

Amount for School and for Grantee

Share of the HEI will directly be disbursed to the HEI. Share of the student direct to the student. LBP TES Card implementation will strictly follow the sharing agreement provisions in the TES guideline approved by the UniFAST Board.

"If the share of the private HEI is less than the actual TOSF or unpaid TOSF for the current term, the student shall be obliged to pay the difference in accordance with the policy of the private HEI. In no case shall the unpaid TOSF be automatically deducted from the TES share of the grantee.

If the grantee has fully paid the TOSF for the term, the private HEI shall no longer be entitled to its allotted share. Hence, the grantee shall be given the full amount of the TES."

The HEI cannot and should not go beyond this provision approved by the UniFAST Board. The Region should monitor if this provision is implemented properly.

Distribution of LBP TES Card

The student have two options to be safe in this pandemic. They can pick up in the LANDBANK branch near them or in the HEI (Landbank will coordinate with the school to conduct distribution in the school). The grantee has this option when applying in the UniFAST portal.

Timeline

As soon as LBP receives the application from UniFAST, it will take a minimum of 10 days and maximum of 40 days to get the LBP TES Card. So the schools must assist their grantees to apply as soon as possible, so UniFAST can then validate and transfer it to LBP to start the ball rolling.

HEI’s Concerns on the Direct Disbursement to the Student

Implementation of the LBP TES Card is just following our already existing guidelines. As the provision stated above, the original intent of the guidelines is the share of the student will be received by the student, and the share of the school to the school. With this, the guidelines specified that the student is obliged to pay the difference if the share of the HEI is less than the actual Tuition and other school fees (TOSF) or unpaid TOSF. BUT, IN NO CASE, shall the unpaid TOSF be automatically deducted from the TES share of the grantee.

If the grantee has fully paid the TOSF for the term, the private HEI shall no longer be entitled to its allotted share. Hence, the grantee shall be given the full amount. Thus, just staying true to this guideline thru the LBP TES Card implementation since this is being overlooked for a long time by the HEIs. This provision applies to both HEI and student, that the student is obliged to pay the HEI despite the funds being directly disbursed to them. Plus, the school now has the monitoring capability since we need a monthly updated list of grantees to check if they are still enrolled because of the monthly disbursement of funds.

The mechanisms and policies the HEI implements to oblige their regular students to pay the TOSF is how they should also oblige their TES grantees.

What if the grantee has an existing LBP account already?

The grantee is still required to get the LBP TES Card. LBP TES Card is the official card for disbursing the TES grants as approved by the UniFAST Board. This is a joint project by LBP, CHED, and UniFAST to have a safe and direct way of disbursing TES grants. Since the disbursement is centralized now, no other cards will be used to disburse the TES grants. One of the reasons behind this is, the regular LBP savings account is a Visa card, while the LBP TES Card is a Mastercard Prepaid card. That’s why it’s much better and faster to disburse fund if only the Mastercard prepaid card will be used.

Notification of LBP TES Card availability

Aside from a notification from the HEI or the LBP Branch that their card is ready to be picked up, a message panel will be added also to the grantee’s portal to inform them that their LBP TES card is ready and being shipped. The student may also call their school's TES focal person to check the status of their LBP TES Card. The school has access to the dashboard where they can see your card's status. Or call your Regional Coordinator here.

Can the HEI be authorized to apply their grantees on their behalf?

No. Since we are dealing with the opening of a Bank Account, LANDBANK does not allow anyone but the grantee to apply and open an account.

How can the school be notified of their grantees receipt of TES?

There will be a Certified List from LANDBANK of credited HEIs and students. A dashboard is also added in the RC portal, Grantee Portal, and HEI Portal to notify that their grantees has received the grants.

If other grantees are unable to successfully register for the LBP TES Card

UniFAST will process those grantees that have already have their LBP TES Card, and will not suspend it to wait for the other grantees. Once this rolls out, the only mode of disbursing TES stipends is only through the LBP TES Card since the implementation will be problematic if there are more than one mode of disbursement. (This might change if UniFAST's guidelines changes.) Thus, we need to help and guide our grantees to be able to apply and acquire LBP TES Card. The applicants can resubmit their applications thru the portal with the same credentials if for some reasons they were rejected by LBP. They can report an issue or request to unfinalize if their applications were rejected or encountered error.

How to Unfinalize or Reset TES Card Application

There are two ways you can reset your application:

1. Contact your school's TES focal person. They are usually in your Office of Student Affairs. Request to unfinalize or reset your application. They have access for the resetting of your application.

2. You can also contact your Regional Coordinator here and request to unfinalize your application.

The first option is the easiest and fastest way to reset your application.