The Weight of Two Roles
Marites Soriano wakes up at 5:00 every morning in their modest home in Caloocan City. Before the sun is fully up, she has already packed two school bags, prepared breakfast for her children Nico (16) and Aika (13), and reviewed her lesson plans for the day. She is a Grade 10 Filipino teacher at a public high school in Quezon City — and she has been doing this alone since her husband passed away six years ago.
"Ang hirap maging lahat sa isang pamilya," she says softly. Hard to be everything to a family. "But I made a promise to my husband. Our kids will finish college. Whatever it takes."
That promise sat alongside a home loan she had been paying for nine years — a ₱2,800,000 mortgage she took out with a bank back in 2015, now repricing at 9.50% per annum. Her monthly amortization had just jumped to 28,400 pesos. On a teacher's salary of around 32,000 pesos a month, that left almost nothing for Nico's looming tuition fees.
The Repricing Shock
Every five years, Marites knew her interest rate would be reviewed. But knowing it intellectually and opening the repricing notice are two different things. When her bank sent the new terms — 9.50% for the next five-year fixed period — she sat at the kitchen table for a long time after the kids were asleep.
"Hindi ko alam kung kaya pa," she recalls. I didn't know if I could manage anymore. "Nico will be in college in two years. Aika right after. I was looking at the numbers and I couldn't make them work."
She had 16 years remaining on her loan. At 9.50%, she would pay roughly 3,070,000 pesos in total interest over that remaining term. She started researching alternatives — bank transfers, refinancing, anything. But every time she called a bank, she felt overwhelmed by the paperwork requirements, the confusing terms, and the sense that loan officers were speaking a language she hadn't been taught.
"I'm a teacher," she laughs. "I'm supposed to be good at learning things. But mortgage finance? It felt like they didn't want you to understand."
A Colleague's Suggestion
It was a fellow teacher, Grace, who mentioned Nook during a faculty lunch break. Grace's brother-in-law had used the platform to refinance his condo loan and saved a significant amount every month. "Libre naman," Grace told her. It's free anyway. "Just try it."
Marites submitted her details that evening after helping Nico with his research paper. The process felt surprisingly simple — no branch visit, no intimidating loan officer across a desk. Within a day, she received a callback from a Nook mortgage advisor who walked her through exactly what refinancing meant, what documents she would need, and which banks were likely to offer her competitive terms given her employment status as a government teacher.
"Yun ang nagulat sa akin," she says. That was what surprised me. "They explained everything. They didn't make me feel stupid for asking basic questions."
The Numbers That Changed Everything
Nook compared offers across multiple Philippine banks on Marites's behalf. Because she was a regular government employee with a stable salary and nine years of clean payment history, she was considered a strong borrower profile. The best offer that came back was from Security Bank: 5.99% per annum for a three-year fixed period, with competitive repricing terms thereafter.
The difference in black and white:
- Current rate: 9.50% p.a. — monthly payment of 28,400 pesos
- New rate: 5.99% p.a. — monthly payment of approximately 21,200 pesos
- Monthly savings: approximately 7,200 pesos
- Annual savings: approximately 86,400 pesos
Over the remaining 16 years of the loan, the total interest she would pay dropped from an estimated 3,070,000 pesos to roughly 1,930,000 pesos — a difference of over 1,100,000 pesos.
"I kept reading it over and over," Marites says. "7,200 pesos a month. That's Nico's college allowance. That's Aika's tuition installment. That's the education fund I thought I would never have."
From Paperwork to Approval
The refinancing process took about six weeks from application to approval. Nook's team guided Marites through every document requirement — her Certificate of Employment and Compensation, payslips, tax returns, and the existing loan documents. When the bank had follow-up questions, Nook acted as the go-between so she didn't have to take time off school to visit a branch.
"Bilang isang ina at guro, wala akong oras para mag-ikot-ikot ng bangko," she explains. As a mother and a teacher, I have no time to go running around banks. "Nook did all of that for me. And they didn't charge me anything."
The one cost she did need to budget for was the refinancing closing cost — legal fees, appraisal, and documentary stamps — which totaled approximately 45,000 pesos. At 7,200 pesos in monthly savings, she would recover that cost in just over six months. After that, every month becomes pure savings.
Building the Education Fund
It has now been eight months since Marites completed her refinancing. She opened a dedicated savings account the same month — what she calls the "Pangarap Fund." Dream Fund.
Every month, 5,000 pesos of her 7,200-peso savings goes directly into that account. The remaining 2,200 pesos gives her a small buffer she never had before — for school supplies, medicine, the occasional family dinner she used to feel guilty about.
"Nico knows about the fund now," she says, and her voice brightens. "He asked me how much was in it. When I told him, he said, 'Ma, kaya na.' Ma, we can do it."
By the time Nico starts college next year, the Pangarap Fund will have approximately 100,000 pesos in it — enough to cover his first year of tuition at a state university with room to spare. Aika's fund will continue growing for three more years before she follows her brother.
Marites is not naive about the challenges ahead. A government teacher's salary does not stretch easily, and college costs rise every year. But for the first time in a long time, the numbers work. The promise she made to her husband feels less like a weight and more like a plan.
What Marites Wants Other Solo Parents to Know
When asked what she would tell other single parents — especially those also carrying home loans at high interest rates — Marites doesn't hesitate.
"Huwag kang mahiyang magtanong." Don't be ashamed to ask questions. "I thought refinancing was only for rich people, or for people who already had a lot of options. I didn't know it was for someone like me."
She also notes that many of her colleagues don't realize how much their interest rate has changed since they first took out their loan. Some have been paying rates above 8% or even 9% for years without knowing there are better options available. "Your bank will not call you to offer you a lower rate," she says with a teacher's directness. "You have to go find it yourself. Or let Nook find it for you."
For Filipino families juggling multiple financial goals — a home loan, school fees, daily expenses — even a modest reduction in monthly payments can reorder what is possible. If you are an OFW supporting a family back home with a property loan, refinancing options for overseas workers may offer similar relief. And if you worry that your debt obligations might disqualify you, it is worth knowing that solutions exist even for borrowers with higher debt ratios.
For Marites, the story is still being written. But the chapter where she couldn't make the numbers work? That one is finished.