Ventaja Philippines: Making online SSS payments easier for OFW’s

I’ve put off writing about Ventaja for the longest time. It wasn’t a scoop from a press launch or a dinner invitation to try out their service. In fact the circumstances to meeting up with them was brought about by a whole day workshop I gave for ITMC many months ago.

I was amazed that a service like this existed. And quite glad too that at the very least we have someone, who is not from the government, taking care of this effort. So here’s the deal. Ever since I went freelance, I had stopped paying my SSS contribution. It was one of the things I wanted to pay independently, and going through this transition is in theory very easy to do. But the government officials who I talked to behind the desk made payment so hard to do! Talk about making things difficult. I mean, I’m already giving you my money and you’re making it hard for me to do so (click here for radio drama)!

This is why I find SSS payments to be so not worth it. For something that could give you a little cash when you retire, you have to go through so much trouble. What’s stopping me from getting other forms of security instead (mutual funds, time deposit, etc)? And what more if you live overseas? It’s really not worth it because you’ll be earning so much more money compared to the measly amounts you’ll be getting in return if you had paid for SSS (I think the total pay amounts to about P16,000 to P20,000 across your working career if I’m not mistaken).

SSS has its benefits. Among all the government services, others pale in comparison because these guys can deliver.

The guys behind Ventaja explained their service carefully to me. In a nutshell, they wanted to make SSS payments easier for OFW’s who really won’t see the benefit of availing because the traditional system takes 10 months (!!!) to propagate payments (ikaw nga nagbayad, ikaw pa yung na-hassle!).

Social Security System is part of the Philippine government effort to increase collection of contributions from its members based overseas. The coverage of the SSS program are primarily for retirement, disability, sickness, maternity, death/funeral and loan assistance. Every Filipinos including overseas workers may avail of the membership and it will remain active for lifetime.

SSS On-line Payment is a web based technology that records contribution payments via our website, is it part of the service available within Ventaja’s Remit Load system. Every transaction will have a unique Reference number from SSS. The system is directly link to SSS server for automatic upload of all records of payment every end of day. Transactions are posted within five (5) working days. The system will have an inquiry tool and provides payment history of customers, it is 100% electronic and completely paperless.

Guess what? I asked them a favor if they could help me with my SSS so I could pay. Tadah. Done. No hassles.