SSS Loan Shock: What to Do When You Get a Surprise Text

Admit it or not, when we think that we are to get some assistance from the government our mindset is conditioned that the employees will be rude and sarcastic.

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Yesterday April and I left our home to visit the Social Security Systems (SSS) in San Pablo City. 25th of May Saturday afternoon she got a text message that she had a past due loan that needed to be paid in full completely.

We remember that we paid for everything in full when we left our company in 2016 and having a loan somewhere is sketchy. So what she did is to check her online account and to behold yes she had 1 outstanding loan from way back in 2014.

Thoughts were running through our heads as we scrutinized the screen for the details. The application date and the release date of the loan are the same 08/18/2014, there's no check # nor check date issued.

The scary stories of SSS sharing that someone they do know have an outstanding loan because of some internal people from SSS filing a loan for them resurfaced. We never believed in such but our minds were playing tricks as we could only assume what was happening back.

Being someone who works with processing refunds. I first checked the check # and check date as they are vital. If someone issued a check, and it was cashed, the system can detect it and will have an image available internally. In this case, there's none, and if it wasn't cashed, then no one used it. The payment history was a mess too as some payments were made in 2022. April stopped being a part of the workforce since 2021, so that shouldn't happen too, and the one who reflects as the remitter of payment was our employer from 2016.

Everything was too sketchy, and I told April that we would visit the branch to find out what was going on. We will never pay for 29k for something that was not used nor we do not have an idea.

After securing our schedule in the website we visited the branch to get the details of what happened. As usual, a huge pile of people was coming in, we arrived around 8 in the morning, and a designated representative was assigned for public assistance as there were a lot of concerns within SSS mostly filing their benefits, loans, and retirement pensions.

The roll call for the number in the public assistance desk is quite slow since it also involves disputes and paperwork that is understandable. The lady in front of us asked what's our agenda in visiting SSS and we mentioned that we got a text that there's an overdue amount that needs to be paid. She mentioned that she also received one over the weekend and she was alarmed by it since she never filed for a loan ever since. She's just a few months away from receiving her pension and if this is not fixed she's worrying that she might not get one as the money for the pension will be used to pay for the outstanding balance.

The lady at my side also said that some SSS employees did that and people were enraged when they found out that it happened. Also, the ones who were affected were liable to pay for the loan that was done internally. I told April that we would dispute it and would not agree if in case that they insisted that we should pay.

We prepared ourselves, and that is also the reason I accompanied her. In case she gets emotional and raises her voice, I will be there to mediate.

Our moment came and we were called. The lady asked what her concern was and April mentioned that there's a loan that she will be disputing. She entered her SSS number on the screen and then advised that most likely her account got affected by the migration process therefore she got a text message. She created a ticket and advised us to monitor her account for 1 month and if in case that it is still showing as overdue just go back to them to have it escalated. A claim stub was given to April, and we were dismissed. Two or three minutes and we are done.

We were preparing for a fight but we got none.

When we left her counter we were just laughing as we had rehearsed some scripts on what to say for the dispute such as.

Who filed the salary loan
Why it is approved on the same day/date
Why did she get a loan in 2016 if she had an outstanding balance in 2014

and many more.

Well, we were relieved that it is the case as we do not have the means to pay extra for such anymore.

So just in case a friend of yours or you received a text from SSS advising of an overdue balance that you recall that never had visited the nearest branch in your place and get more details. Maybe it is also affected by the migration process.