BLOGGED PHILIPPINES

The purpose of this article is to inform the public about this policy of the Social Security System (SSS), the government-owned insurance company for those employed in the private sector. I just learned about this a few months ago when my company announced a workforce reduction program. Among the sad discussions is about this policy of SSS regarding loans in cases of resignation or retrenchment. Section G-2 of the SSS Loan Terms and Conditions (at the back of the loan application form) explicitly says the following: "The employer shall deduct the total balance of the loan from any benefit/s due to the employee and shall remit the same in full to SSS, in case the member-borrower is separated voluntarily (e.g., retirement or resignation) or involuntarily (e.g., termination of employment or cessation of operations of the company)." In other words, y ou will be required to pay the rest of your loan (including the interest) when you change employer or employment statu...

Update: As for Thursday morning (June 8, 2017), all online system of BPI are fully operational and errors in deposit accounts has been corrected. Several people claimed Wednesday morning that they have lost money from their BPI account according to the report of ABS-CBN News Website. The report further stated that BPI took responsibility to the errors calling it "internal data processing" error and is currently working to resolve the issue.

EON Visa Debit Card is a product of Unionbank of the Philippines that allows you to transact online. Simply put, it's an internet-based deposit account. It also offers zero maintaining balance, just pay 350 pesos annual maintenance fee and your card is up. But many are attracted to this product because it's one of the very few bank accounts that allows withdrawal of your PayPal funds. With the advent of internet home-based jobs, EON has become very popular. How to Apply for EON Visa Debit Card Living to its name as an internet-based debit card, applying for it can be done online. Just to the link below (or visit unionbank website). EON Debit Card Application Form

As a young professional, time is so precious to me. With a lot of things in my plate everyday, I cannot afford to lose a minute of it. And one of the most frustrating waste of time is lining up for my bills payment. Thank goodness there are alternative ways of paying bills such as online payment. In this article, I will show how to pay your Sunlife Insurance using BPI Express Online Facility. Enroll Your Sunlife Account to Your BPI Express Online Account This step assumes that you already have an Express Online account. If you haven't done so, please check this article first. [Read: How to Enroll An Account to BPI Express Online Banking? ] 1. Log-in to BPI Express Online . 2. In the menu bar, select Payments and Reloading >> Bills Payment >> Enroll All Other Bills 3. Fill up the form. In the Bill Information, look for SUNLIFE OF CANADA (SUNLIF) In the Reference Number, enter your 10-digit Policy Number. If you don't know your Policy Numb...

As a maintenance fee for your card, Credit Card companies will charge you an annual fee. Depending on the card that you have, it can range from few hundreds to a few thousands. But did you know that there are ways to have your credit card annual fees waived? Here are some situations in which you can legitimately request for it. Credit Card companies charge an annual fee for the upkeep of your account. You've spent a lot during the past year.  When you see your latest statement and you notice that you are charged with an annual fee, do not pay immediately. Call them and ask how to have it waived. This is especially acceptable if you've spent a lot in the past year. Depending on the amount and the credit card company, you can have 50% off your annual fee or have it totally waived if you met the spending requirement. The key here is, ask for it.

Are you a BPI account holder? Is your account enrolled to BPI Express Online? Do you want to access your account and transact using your smartphone and tablet? If your answer to all these three questions is "yes", then I would suggest you to try BPI Express Mobile App. BPI Express Mobile is the official mobile banking application of Bank of the Philippine Island (BPI). It allows registered customers to access their accounts using their smartphones and tablets. Here's a brief review: User Interface and Functionality The user interface was great. It was intuitive and easy to use. Although lacking of other functionality compared to that of the web-based express online, it has the basic functions that majority use: branch/ATM locator, balance inquiry, fund transfer, and bills payment.

This tutorial will teach you how to enroll another Bank of the Philippine Island (BPI) account to your existing BPI Express Online Account to be able to transfer money. But before that, please see the following requirements: 1. Your account should be enrolled to BPI Express Online 2. You have stable* internet connection (just to be safe). *The second requirement is just for convenience. BPI Express Online doesn't require huge internet bandwidth, but at least your connection should not be intermittent. Steps in Enrolling Other BPI Accounts (1) On your web browser, go to www.bpiexpressonline.com BPI Express Online is BPI's online banking facility that operates 24/7. (2) Click the menu "Fund Transfer", and then click on the "Enroll Third Party Accounts". - Normally, you are only allowed one BPI Express Online account, even though you also have accounts in BPI Direct and BPI Family Savings Bank. So, the "third party accounts" here r...

I have experienced using many bank services in the Philippines but, to date, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Service is still the best . Here's 5 of my reasons. 1. BPI ATMs is everywhere When you have a BPI account whether a savings account or credit card, you can get cash through their ubiquitous ATM booths. You don’t have to use other bank’s ATM to withdraw cash and be deducted 12 pesos for doing so. It’s a little savings but can become bigger when accumulated. 2. No Deposit Charge Other banks charge 50 pesos when you deposit from a branch Visayas to Luzon account. BPI doesn’t have that. You can deposit to any account in the Philippines without having to pay an extra. Again, small savings but becomes bigger especially if you regularly remit money. 3. Encash/Deposit Checks without charge Other banks charge 50 to 100 pesos when you encash your check. Again, BPI doesn’t have that. You can get the value of your check down to 25 cents. And it even works when you depo...

You don’t have to go to the nearest office of Social Security System (SSS). You don’t have to line up into a 2 km line of people. You can do it at the convenience of your own home or office. Yes, with the advancing technology, particularly in communications and information technology, you can now check almost anything using your internet-connected computer. And you can do this with your SSS payments. Why check your SSS Contributions? For one reason: just being vigilant of your hard-earned money. I am not accusing anyone of stealing your contributions but there are cases of discrepancies in the SSS record. It can be an error of your employer who fails (whether intentional or accidental) to remit your contributions. Or it can be at the SSS system. Being aware of your contribution will prompt you to do immediate action when you found any error. The earlier you discovered the discrepancy, the higher the chance that it will be fixed. Always remember that before you can...

Do you want have a savings account but don't want a high maintaining balance? Typically, banks require at least ~3000 pesos average daily balance (ADB) on a savings account. If the ADB falls below that, a monthly penalty amounting to around 150 pesos will be deducted from your balance. If you continue failing to meet the ADB, the penalty will soon deplete your account and eventually, it will be closed. Well, here's a good news! Bank of the Philippine Islands' subsidiary BPI Direct is offering a savings account with a maintaining balance of as low as 0 pesos. Yes, you read it correctly.  The name of the account is BPinoy Savings. But here's a little condition. There must be at least one remittance transaction every three months. If you can't meet that small requirement, there's another type of savings account: BPI Direct Express Teller Savings Account. The maintaining balance is 500 Pesos. How to apply? What makes BPI Direct really nice is that ...

Update: BPI Trade is back online Monday afternoon. BPI Trade , the online stock trading service of BPI Capital notified their clients Sunday night that they will still be offline until Monday, May 19, 2014. This will be the second trading day that the service will be unavailable. During the weekend, the website is accessible but the stock positions as well as other information are not available. To at least minimise the inconvenience, BPI Trade offers alternative ways to post orders. 1. Call them through these numbers:  816-9189, 816-9192  and  845-5617  (Manila) 2. For those who can't call, you can also post orders via email,  bpitrade@bpi.com.ph BPI Trade says that they will take manual orders as early as 7:30 AM tomorrow.

Contrary to what many people think, there are other ways to book a promo ticket online even though one has no credit card. Cebu Pacific, AirAsia Zest and Philippine Airlines have provided many alternative ways to allow more people to access their promo offers. For Cebu Pacific , you can choose to book using your Debit Card, Bancnet Online or Payment Centers. Most ATMs nowadays can also be used as a debit card. If you're not sure if your card is capable of transacting online as a debit card, you can check it through your bank. AirAsia Zest Airbus A320-216 RP-C8971 (Photo credit: /migma/ ) Bancnet Online is an online payment and transaction facility for Bancnet members. Bancnet is the largest network of banks in the Philippines. To know whether your bank is a member of Bancnet, you can visit their website at www.bancnetonline.com .

The first time I've been to NAIA Terminal 4 or more commonly known as Manila Domestic Terminal was back in 2008. That time, Cebu Pacific still operates there. My experience in the place was bad. It was crowded and the aircon cannot support it so everyone was perspiring, most of which are standing due to lack of seats.

BPI Capital , a subsidiary of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is selling Retail Treasury Bonds (RTB). This is another option for those who want to invest their money other than stocks, mutual funds, and time deposits. Here are some Q&As about RTBs.

Last year, I attended a free stock investing seminar. This is part of the Philippine Stock Exchange's ( PSE ) campaign to promote stock investing in the country. One of the many things that I learned (and I think one of the best among them) is all about the basic rule of investment. It was illustrated in a diagram called the Investment Triangle . The triangle's three vertex (corners) are labeled with investment characteristics: Liquidity - the ease of converting your investment to cash Safety - low risk; or the chance of losing money/value is low Returns - the profit that results from the increase of value of the investment The Investment Triangle goes like this (see picture below). The opposite of vertex means the opposite of the characteristic. For example, the opposite of Safety is Risky. The investment triangle goes to show the following rules. 1. There's no such thing as a perfect investment. Investment is all about trade-offs of the three characte...

Early this morning, my office mate approached me and asked the contact number of Unionbank. The reason is that he apparently lost some 75% of his money! That's troubling indeed. He found it out after he checked his balance using Unionbank's online facility. I referred him to the domestic toll free hotline of Unionbank Philppines. It can be seen at the back of the ATM card. Unionbank  Philippines Online Facility Hacked Unionbank Account? I also checked my account and to my surprise, it was also reduced by almost the same percentage. I was troubled and began to wonder if the company's network has been compromised. I tried to contact UnionBank hotline but the call was denied due to heavy traffic (as shown in my phone). Gladly though, after a minute or two, my office mate was able to contact them. Unionbank Online Facility Under Maintenance The online teller told us of the possible root-cause of the apparent loss of money. At that time, there's a system m...

What are mutual funds? Simply put it as a collection of money from different individuals and institutions managed by a group fund managers. They invest the money in stocks, bonds, fixed return securities and other investments. Some of the popular Mutual Fund companies in the Philippines are the following: - Philequity Management Inc - First Metro Asset Management Inc. - Philam Asset Management Inc - Sun Life Financials Philippines - A LFM (Affiliated with Ayala BPI) - ATR Kim Eng Asset Management The complete list as well as performances of mutual funds in the Philippines are shown at the official website of the Philippine Investment Funds Association (PIFA) . How much is the return? The quick answer depends on many factors. It is not fixed nor guaranteed. The following are some of the major factors affecting mutual fund performances. Type of Fund There are basically three types of mutual funds in the country: Stock Funds, Bond/Money Market Funds, and Balan...

After more than a month of beta test drive, BPI Trade , the online brokerage of BPI Securities now rolls out to all users the new trading platform. The new BPI Trade features a redesigned interface, improved research including technical and fundamental reports, charting capabilities (for technical analysts), ability to see who made bids in a particular stock, portfolio information including profit/loss summary and many more. BPI Trade new face [Read: BPI Trade Launches Beta Test For Upcoming Upgrade] At Par With Other Online Brokers With this new trading platform, BPI Trade is now at par with other online brokers. The features and capabilities of the new BPI Trade closely resembles that of the First Metro Sec. That is expected though since both are powered by Technistock platform. Stock Trading in the Philippines The Philippine Stock market is on the bull run since last year. PSE Composite Index (PSEi)  has breached several major le...

The previous year has proven to be wonderful for the Philippine economy. The GDP growth figures beat expectations and is estimated to be around 6.5% for the entire 2012. That figure is especially amazing considering the fact the previous year witnessed one of the worst economic crisis in Europe and overall global economic downturn. Yet, the Philippine economy has proven resilient despite the bad economic environment. PSE Index Breaks Boundaries The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is another good story which truly demonstrate how the world views the huge potential of the country. The PSE Composite Index (PSEi), represented by 30 blue-chip companies breached the 5000-point level in mid lad year and as early as January 7 this year, PSEi has already broken the 6000-point mark. Foreign funds keeps the index afloat. How can these developments affect you personally, you may ask? Well, an increased investor confidence will boost P...

Are you an online stock trader? Investing in the Philippine Stock Exchange through online brokerage has been one of the most convenient way of buying and selling stocks. You can do it at home or at work as long as you are connected to the internet. Among the famous online brokers in the country are First Metro Securities of Metro Bank, Citisec Online and BPI Trade of BPI. And you may have known that among the three brokerages, BPI Trade is somewhat lacking in capabilities. First Metro Securities has been improving their service through the years providing interactive chats for "technical" traders. Recently they even launched a mobile app to serve their customers well. Citisec Online on the other hand boosts their customers satisfaction by providing useful research and recommendations. BPI Trade is not excelling even in just one of those. Even their interface looks boring. Now, BPI Trade seems to have awaken and took necessary steps t...