Just receive an email from Union Bank warning me about Phishing. I guess other UnionBank client especially those who got the debit card from them which is called EON Card got the same email too.

Here’s the content.

Dear UnionBank Client,

As an Internet user, you should know about phishing emails. They can appear to be from a well-known company but may put you at risk.

A phishing email generally asks you to click a link in the email and provide, update or confirm sensitive personal information. It may refer to a supposedly urgent or threatening condition concerning your account.

Please note that UnionBank will never send you an email asking for your personal information. You should NOT respond to such email or reveal your PIN or PASSWORD to anyone. Also, Do NOT visit the phishing site, as it is likely to contain a virus or otherwise compromise your confidential information.

I posted it here just to let you know their advise on how to avoid getting phished by phishers.

Question related to paying the SmartBro Internet Connection using the Smart Money

Hello, I have my own Smart Money account and it’s already activated and I already have my Smart Money card. At the same time, I am also a subscriber of SmartBro Plan 999. My question is: How could I pay Smart for my SmartBro Internet connection using my Smart Money through my mobile phone?

Answer

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Open the Smart Money menu on your cellphone.
2. On the available options, choose Pay Bill.
3. The choose Others.
4. Then on the Bill Code blank field type 06012 and then press OK.
5. Then on the Account blank field, type your SmartBro account number which could be found in your SmartBro Statement of Account. Then press OK. Usually, the Account Number has the first digit number of zero while the Reference Number’s first digit is one.
6. Then on Pay From choose the name of your SmartMoney.
7. Then on the amount blank field type the amount you want to pay for your SmartBro Internet subscription. Then press OK.
8. Then you’ll be prompted to verify the transaction. If there’s no error on what you entered, just press OK.
9. Then you cellphone will send the transaction. You’ll receive a verification SMS from Smart.
10. Once your payment is received by SmartBro, you’ll then receive a SMS from SmartBro telling you that they already received your payment. However, this message will be sent to the cellphone number you had given them when you applied for a SmartBro connection.

The AIR or Annual Information Return is previously filed by politicians in the Philippines. But now, the BIR or Bureau of Internal Revenue require every private citizens of the Philippines to file the Annual Information Return starting this April 2011 for the taxable year of 2010. The AIR will be filed along with their ITR or Income Tax Return.

Who will file Annual Information Return or AIR?

The AIR is for  individual taxpayers, estates and trusts and will use the BIR Form No. 1705. It should be filed in triplicate copies by the following:

1. An individual with respect to pure compensation income, as defined in Section 32(A)(1), derived from sources within the Philippines, the income tax on which has been correctly withheld under the provisions of Section 79 of the Tax Code, as amended, whose annual taxable income exceeds Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php 500,000); Provided, That an individual deriving compensation concurrently from two or more employers at any time during the taxable year shall file an income tax return;
2. Individuals, estates and trusts whose sole income has been subjected to final withholding tax under Section 57(A) of the Tax Code, as amended, with aggregate final tax withheld exceeding One Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Pesos (Php 125,000) annually, whether or not remitted to the BIR: and
3. Individuals whose sole income is exempt from income tax and whose total annual income (exempt) exceeds Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php 500,000.00)

The return shall be filed with the Revenue District Office (RDO) where the individual, including estates and trusts, is required to register or where the individual has his legal residence or place of business on or before May 15 of each year covering the income for the preceding taxable year.

Few questions raised about the expiration date printed on the credit card.

Credit Card Expiration Date, Question 1: Why is there an expiration date?

Credit Card has expiration date because of the following reasons:

1. Credit Card even if its plastic card can last longer, but its magnetic stripe does not.
2. If you are not using the credit card, the expiration date serves as the way so that the card supplier can contact you and remind you about the credit card.
3. Credit Card expiration will also let you update your personal information with them. This is to avoid the longer use of your credit card by those thieves if ever your card has been stolen and you haven’t reported it to them.
4. Expiration Date is also used for securing transaction. A buyer using a credit card with right card number but has wrong expiration date is usually rejected.
5. Expiration date will also help you as credit card holder evaluate what are you paying for every month. You might have subscribed to different services and it’s quite prostrating if you’re paying $10 every month for a services that you are not actually using. So, soon as the card you supplied them expires, all the billing made by them will also be rejected, except of course if you updated the card information with them.

Credit Card Expiration Date, Question 2: What does it mean if the expiration date says: 12/2010?

Usually, you’ll find it in a card written: Expires thru 12/2010. It means that the credit card will expire through December 2010 or at the last day of December 2010.

You can still use your credit card on December 2010 up to the 31′st day of the month. However, all the transaction made after the 31′s day of the expiration will be rejected.

Credit Card Expiration Date, Question 3: When will the credit card supplier send me my new credit card?

The credit card supplier usually send new credit card on the month stated on the card’s expiration. The card will be send via the postal office. However, other suppliers send the new credit card through express mail.

It will be better if you visit the bank or establishment that supplied you the credit card and ask them for the new credit card with the new expiration date.

Philippine Peso is becoming stronger, right?

Yesterday, when I withdrawn money from my Paypal account to my Metrobank account, the exchange rate used by Paypal is only PhP42.4312 in every one Dollar. Which means that in the market, the US Dollar is actually in between PhP43 and PhP44. The rate is still high but it’s not really that high compared to the time when the rate was still at PhP55.00 in every one Dollar.

Authorities from the Italian Financial Police seized $30 million from a Vatican bank account, Monday and investigated two top bank officials. According to the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, it started when the Bank of Italy told authorities about the possible violation of the Vatican Bank of the anti-money laundering laws.

The Vatican is said to have asked the Credito Artigiano to carry out two wire transfers without providing enough information regarding the transfer to comply with the law. The two wire transfers are: (1) $ 26 million for the JP Morgan in Franfurt and another (2) $4 million for the Banca del Fucino.

The two top officials of the Vatican Bank are bank’s chairman, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, and his director general, Paolo Cipriani. They are currently under investigation through the Rome prosecutor’s office.

The Vatican Bank is also called Institute for Works of Religion, or IOR. It is  considered the most secret bank in the world as revealed by a money laundering expert, Jeffrey Robinson, because there’s no way to find out how much money the institution controlled.

The Vatican Bank was created through an order of the Pope who is the head of the city of Vatican. Its purpose is to carry on the activities that are related to the Pope. It accepts deposits from the top officials of the Catholic Church and uses its funds for the purposes as designated by the Pope.

This money laundering scandal faced by the Vatican Bank is not actually the first scandal happened. In 1982, the Banco Ambrosiano in which Vatican Bank is the major shareholder of it collapsed.  The head of the Vatican Bank at that time, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, was indicted as the accessory of the bankruptcy, although he avoided the conviction due to his diplomatic immunity as a Vatican prelate.

I guess everybody wants to become a millionaire and I understand that the road to riches is not that easy. So to prepare my self before taking my first step on that road, I read first books on financial freedom and of course tips on how to become millionaire and what should I do if I am already a millionaire.

Mr. Tyrone Solee published a blogpost, “How to Become a Millionaire“, here’s what I learned by reading and reading and reading it:

1. I need to learn to pay my self first. Currently, I am the boss of my self, and at the same time, my own employee. So, as an employee, I have the right to receive salary. I can pay my self by setting aside savings for me before spending my money.
2. I need to learn to  stay simple. If most of the millionaires live in a simple life, then I should learn how to stay simple.
3. I need to know how to budget. This is the most important thing that I need to learn. The remaining money after I’ll take my savings should be assigned to each useful expenses.
4. I need to know how to invest. I should not allow my money to stay in a place where there’s no room to grow.
5. I need to have a lot of income streams. I should not be contented in just one source of income. I need to have more sources of income so that If I fail on one way, I still have other way around.
6. I need to start as early as I can. Just like what I said above, becoming a millionaire is not easy and there’s no short-cut to reach that status because the processes take time.
7. I should have goals. Becoming a millionaire is like climbing up stairs. Consider each of the steps of a stairs as your goal, and stepping on a step is equivalent to accomplishing a goal. Reaching the final step of the stair will be accomplished if you take step by step.
8. I should have mentor. Reading the books written by those real millionaires is considered taking those authors as your mentors. Mr. Tyrone, the blogger who wrote the article “How to become a Millionaire” might not be a millionaire yet, but the thoughts he wrote on that blogpost is the one he learned from his mentors. In that way, Mr. Tyrone and I, became the apprentices of the author of the books he read.

Hope that after a year or two, I will be as what I am dreaming of.

Visitor’s Question

The email below was sent to us via the Contact form of our blog.

Dear Kabayan,

We have formed a paluwagan in my workplace wherein many Filipinos have joined including whites and blacks. One day somebody have questioned the legality of our paluwagan scheme he asked if this is legal/illegal?

Thank you so much for your help.

Answer

The Paluwagan is a system wherein members pool money every week or every month, depending on their agreement. Each of the members will take turn in receiving the money.

To better understand it, let’s consider this an example.

3 wives agreed to form a Paluwagan of which each member should contribute $500 every week. Wife A will be the first to receive the money. Wife B will receive money on the following week. And last to receive money will be the Wife C.

On the first week, Wife A received $500 from Wife B and another $500 from Wife C.

On the second week, Wife B received $500 from Wife A and another $500 from Wife C.

On the last week, Wife C received $500 from Wife A and $500 from Wife B.

From the example above, we can say that it’s not a scam as long as the members are loyal to what they’d agreed upon.

If we will analyze the Paluwagan system as shown by the example above, the Wife A who took the money first was actually just borrowing money from Wife B and Wife C. On the second week, Wife A paid her borrowed money to Wife B while Wife B borrowed money from Wife C. And on the next week, Wife A and Wife B paid their borrowed money to Wife C.

However, if we will be talking about the legality of the Paluwagan, I can say that it’s illegal in the sense that the organizer of each Paluwagan group didn’t bother registering their group to the government.

But as long as no one file a complaint, then there’s no problem with it. After all, Paluwagan is part of the Philippine tradition. It’s like a Bayanihan system of the Filipinos.

Do you have any ideas about the Paluwagan?

Kindly post your thought about Paluwagan at our comment section.

Question:

I am a member of the Social Security System (Philippines). I paid my monthly contribution since then and I am getting 60 years old.

My question is: how can I avail the pension from the SSS?

Answer:

The first requirement in availing the SSS Pension is, you should be qualified for it. Those who are qualified are:

1.  A member who is 60 years old, separated form employment or ceased to be self-employed, and has paid at least 120 monthly contributions prior to the semester of retirement.
2. A member who is 65 years old whether employed or not and has paid at least 120 monthly contributions prior to the semester of retirement.

According to you, you paid your SSS monthly contribution since then. Then I think, you are qualified to apply for the SSS pension.

Just visit the SSS Office near you. Bring with you the following documents needed in the application for the SSS pension:

1. Retirement claim application (SSS Form DDR-1);
2. DDR Savings Account form;
3. Certificate of Separation from last employer (for members less than 65 years old);
4. Passbook (if pension);
5. Certified true copies of birth or baptismal certificate of dependent children;
6. Certificate of cessation of business or practice of profession (for self-employed less than 65 years old);
7. Certified true copy of Marriage certificate (if with dependent children)
8. Proofs of filiation for illegitimate dependent children; and
9. SSS digitized or E-6 (acknowledgement stub) with two valid IDs, one of which with recent photo.

Read “SSS Retirement Benefits” for more information.

If you have questions, feel free to ask by sending your questions to us. Use this form.

Question: Is Smart Money Pera Padala better than other Money Transfer Services?

Answer:

Actually, the answer is yes or no. It depends on the availability of the Smart Money users who will receive the money you sent through the Smart Money – Pera Padala.

Sending money to your loveones through the Smart Money will be done either of the following ways:

Smart Wireless Center to Smart Wireless Center

Just visit the  Smart Wireless Center near you and then tell your loveones to go to the nearest Smart Wireless Center. Then fill-up the form and let the Smart Wireless Center people to send the money to your loveones through the Smart Wireless Center they’re in. So, you and your loveones will pay the sending charges and the receiving charges, respectively.

Usually, the sending charge and the receiving charge is PhP10.00 of every PhP1,000 which is of course more cheaper compared to when sending money through the LBC Pera Padala, MLhuillier Pera Padala, Cebuana Lhuillier Pera Padala and other money transfer services.

Your Own Smart Money to Smart Wireless Center

This time, you have your own Smart Money and that you can access your bank account through your  Smart mobile phone.

First, you need to reload your Smart Money the amount you need to send to your loveones. Of course the money you reloaded to your Smart Money came from your bank account of which your Smart celphone has the access.

Then, tell your loveones to visit the nearest Smart Wireless Center. And then send the money using your own Smart Money to the Smart Wireless Center where your loveones are in.

With this, you don’t have to pay anything. But your loveones will pay the PhP10.00 of every PhP1,000.00.

Your Own Smart Money to Other Smart user’s Smart Money

Just like what you did above, you need to reload your own Smart Money the amount you need to send to your loveones.

Then tell your loveones to visit a Smart Money user near them who offer a Pera Padala services. Then send the money to the Smart Money of that person.

With this, you will pay nothing but your loveones will pay (usually) PhP30.00 of every PhP1,000.00.

Other Smart user’s Smart Money to Another Smart user’s Smart Money

This time, you need to find a Smart Money user who could send money. Usually, you would pay 30% of the amount you’ll send. And just like what has been described above, your loveones will pay PhP30.00 of every PhP1,000.00.

Note

You can also send the money from your own Smart Money to the Wireless Center near your loveones. You will pay nothing while your loveones will pay PhP10.00 of every PhP1,000.00 you sent.

If you have questions, feel free to ask. Send the question to us by using this form.