Labor Day is a few days away, so I thought we could explore a special edition this week. 

Most employees treat SSS like a tax. Money leaves your paycheck every month, you never think about it, and you assume you'll deal with it when you retire.

But SSS has benefits you can use right now that you may have never heard of. Here's what you've already paid for.

In today’s edition, we’ll go over:

• SSS Salary Loan

• SSS Sickness Benefit

• SSS Unemployment Benefit

TLDR;

The Bottom Line

SSS isn't just a retirement fund. You can borrow from it at 10% interest, claim sick pay on top of your company leave, and collect unemployment cash if you get retrenched. Check your contribution history on My.SSS this week. The money is already there.

The content

SSS: It's Not Just For Retirement

SSS Salary Loan

You can borrow up to two months of your average monthly salary credit at 10% interest per year (one of the lowest rates you'll find anywhere). If you need short-term cash, this beats a personal loan from a bank or worse, a credit card cash advance.

To qualify: you need at least 36 posted monthly contributions, with at least six in the last 12 months, and your employer must be up to date on their remittances.

How to avail: Log in to My.SSS at my.sss.gov.ph, go to E-Services, and apply for a salary loan online. No need to go to an SSS branch. Processing takes about three to five banking days.

SSS Sickness Benefit

SSS will pay you 90% of your average daily salary credit for every day you're sick and unable to work. This is helpful when you’ve used up all your sick leaves in the calendar year. 

How to avail: Notify your employer within five calendar days of getting sick. Your employer then files the reimbursement claim on your behalf through My.SSS. If you're currently unemployed or between jobs, you file directly at an SSS branch. 

One thing to note: the five-day notification window is important. Miss it without a valid reason and your employer can deny the claim. If you're too sick to notify them yourself, have someone do it on your behalf.

SSS Unemployment Benefit

This is the most underused benefit in the entire SSS catalog, and ironically, the one you'd need most in a crisis.

If you were involuntarily separated from your job  (retrenched, made redundant, company closed) SSS will pay you 50% of your average monthly salary credit for up to two months.

To qualify: at least 36 months of total contributions, with at least 12 posted in the 18 months before your involuntary separation. You also need to file within one year from your separation date. After that, the benefit expires and you can't claim it anymore.

How to avail: File online through My.SSS under the Unemployment Benefit section. Check here for the full details. Click on “How to Apply”

Before Any of This: Check Your Contributions

None of these benefits work if your contributions aren't being posted correctly. And the uncomfortable truth is that some employers deduct SSS from your salary and don't actually remit it. It's illegal, but it happens.

Log in to My.SSS and pull up your contribution history. Cross-reference it with your payslips. If there are months where you were deducted but nothing was posted, your employer owes SSS, and you can file a complaint directly with SSS to compel them to remit.

Final Thoughts

SSS is a financial safety net with real, usable benefits. You've been paying into it since your first job. This Labor Day, spend 20 minutes on My.SSS and actually find out what you have.