SSS opens 16-hour call center for members’ inquiries

Members of the Social Security System (SSS) can make phone inquiries about their contributions, benefits, loans and other SSS concerns beyond regular business hours with the new SSS call center, which is open to callers for 16 hours every weekday. SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Emilio de Quiros, Jr. announced that SSS service personnel are now available to respond to members’ inquiries through SSS hotline numbers 920-6446 to 55, Mondays to Fridays, from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. "Employees manning the call center are trained to address a wide range of SSS inquiries. With a 16-hour window for calls, we can entertain more phone queries so more members can avoid problems such as having incomplete requirements or not knowing the location of their covering branch when filing loan and benefit applications," he said. The 16-hour SSS call center is the newest among the agency’s line-up of services for members’ queries. Inquiry facilities that provide round-the-clock services to members include the SSS website (www.sss.gov.ph), Text-SSS and the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS). De Quiros said over 164,000 members and employers have enrolled at the SSS website during the first quarter of 2012, which reflected a jump of 84 percent from only 89,000 new web registrants for the same period last year. "The number of transactions coursed through the SSS website reached more than 129,000 in the first three months of this year. The most popular website transactions are submission of employers’ reports of newly-hired workers and online applications for salary loans," he noted. Text-SSS, an inquiry facility that enables members to receive SSS membership data through their mobile phones, recorded nearly 265,000 transactions during the first quarter of 2012, up from only 96,600 for the same period last year. De Quiros said the expansion of Text-SSS services to cover inquiries on claim status, branch location and requirements for loans, benefits and registration helped boost the number of transactions and registered users. About 220,000 members have registered in Text-SSS as of May 2012. "We plan to extend call center hours to provide 24/7 service to members, especially for overseas Filipino workers who will then be able to call up SSS despite the difference in time zones. In the meantime, we offer members residing in the country our IVRS facility for simple phone inquiries," he added. The SSS received more than 474,000 calls under the IVRS, an automated phone-based system for members’ inquiries, during the first quarter of this year. Members key in information such as their SS number and birthdate and follow the voice instructions to make inquiries. Members can call IVRS hotlines such as 917-7777 (National Capital Region); 446-5902 (Baguio); 982-8739 (Tarlac); 562-9289 (San Pablo, Laguna); 472-7776 (Naga); 253-0690 (Cebu); 433-9476 (Bacolod); 727-707 (Cagayan de Oro); and 992-2014 (Zamboanga). "Those residing outside NCR who are Globelines subscribers can also call 917-7777 toll-free," de Quiros said.

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