Why You Shouldn’t Pay Your SSS Loan via Banks

I received a lot of inquiries after I published “SSS Salary Loan for Self-Employed or Voluntary Members: A Quick Guide” so I figured I should post more about my SSS saga.

Again, for the third time, the BPO company I was working at filed for bankruptcy. It happens. Sometimes, I feel like I jinxed it but I can’t blame myself for everything. Well, I digress.

Since my ex-company didn’t want to pay for my loan, I had to do it myself. I decided to pay my SSS loan in bulk. I paid the total amount I owed them through my preferred bank.

Yes, you can pay your SSS loan through banks like China Bank and BPI. But I highly suggest you pay directly at SSS office to avoid headaches down the line. As I’m about to tell you.

It’s My Fault

Let’s start with that. I don’t like queues. I don’t understand why I have to skip work just to pay SSS in full. I’m doing them a favor by paying them the full amount of my obligation, why can’t they make payment easy?

So I went to the bank instead of an SSS office. The process was painless and super fast. I did it in less than an hour. This is the essence of true customer service.

Or so I thought.

Sad to say, even after paying my loan in full, through BPI, I was told I had to go to the nearest SSS office to do a manual posting.

I repeat, you have to go to their office to do a manual loan payment posting. I learned about this when I wrote SSS an email. This is the reply:

Double work? Yeah, you could say that.

SSS Loan Payment Not Reflecting on Your SSS Online Account?

So I did what I had to do. I took a day off and visited the nearest SSS office bringing the following documents:

1. Two valid ID’s
2. Photocopy of my ID’s (front and back)
3. Photocopy of the proof of payment (receipt that you have paid through the bank)

I explained my purpose for visiting their office. The teller/staff gave me a form to fill out completely. I was a given a priority number under “loans” and waited for two hours for my turn.

I was there at SSS Osmena at 6:30 in the morning. The line wasn’t too long, but the tellers were absent at 7am. Some of them apparently don’t work as early as 7 am.

I observed that the ‘verification’ queue was moving pretty fast. So I got a priority number under ‘verification’. It was indeed fast. She asked for the same documents but promised me she would hand the papers over to ‘loans department’. Long story short, it’s done.

Now, the Wait

SSS has not updated my account until now. It’s been over a month since I last paid them for every single cent I owed them.

I’ll keep you posted. For now, if you haven’t paid your SSS loan and you’re thinking of paying thru the bank, think again. Just take a personal day off and go directly to SSS office to pay your loan in full.

What was your SSS loan payment experience like? I hope your story is better than mine.