Pension fund SSS tapping cooperatives as collection agents
THE SOCIAL Security System (SSS), the pension fund for private sector workers, is tapping cooperatives as additional collection agents for members’ contributions and loan payments.
“Members may pay their regular contributions and remit loan payments through SSS-accredited cooperatives, giving them an easy and convenient remittance and fast posting of payments,” SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Emilio S. de Quiros was quoted as saying in a statement yesterday.
“Self-employed and voluntary members who don’t have employers to facilitate their payments every month [may go to accredited cooperatives],” he added.
Cooperatives can apply at any SSS branch nationwide for accreditation.
“They just have to submit an accomplished application form that they can get from any branch with the 14 supporting documents...,” Mr. de Quiros said.
Articles of cooperation, by-laws, certification of registration with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), endorsement from any government agency, audited financial statements for the last three years, names and addresses of present members of the board are a few of the required documents.
“An SSS accreditation is an opportunity for cooperatives to earn additional income because SSS will pay them a service charge per transaction,” Mr. De Quiros said.
In a text message to BusinessWorld, Mr. de Quiros said, “[SSS] is paying each cooperative P6 per transaction, but we have not accredited any cooperative yet and the accreditation period is ongoing.”
He stressed that a cooperative applying for accreditation must be registered with the CDA as a primary cooperative and must have been in existence for at least three years immediately preceding the date of its application.”
“The cooperative must pass our financial evaluation and should be in good standing with SSS as a registered employer, which means it has no delinquent contributions and loan amortizations,” he added.
CDA data shows there are a total of 78,611 registered cooperatives in the country, of which 23,800 are active and have a combined membership of over 5.8 million. -- Ann Rozainne R. Gregorio
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CARLOS ANI - SEEDFINANCE Corporation - http://www.seedfinance.net
Email: carlosani@seedfinance.net
Landline: +63495010127 Cellphone: +639152919580
DEVJOBS - http://www.devjobsmail.com
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