Rough waters that are calmer now

My love interest and I have had a few rocky days. He is stressed out at work. We had our first major disagreement last Friday.

In a nutshell, he signed an employment contract where if he is contracting equipment and it is faulty, he needs to foot the bill to fix it. I found that odd. Why doesn't his employer help him out?

He basically needed $4500 to repair a crane, including labour. He didn't have that much money and didn't tell me about his problem it until I was his last resort.

I lost it. I like when people are open with me. He shouldn't have left things bottled up inside.

So, I told him off. I went one step further and said that it wouldn't work between us. He doesn't think straight when he is stressed out, which was another red flag. He wasn't the person that I thought I knew.

We both were upset with each other. We also realized that we are a good fit when we take a step back.

I told him that I felt disrespected. He wouldn't take no for an answer about my helping him financially. I like helping people out. I don't like the pressure. He realized that he was wrong.

I overreacted being dismissed in this whole ordeal. I took some time to think things through. He was under so much stress that I added more stress for him than was necessary. He is a decent person. He has just had a ton of bad breaks.

I thought of a better financial solution to help him out. I have been working on reducing my debt for a while now and did not budget to lend money out. I managed to juggle a few things around and can lend him money. Basically, he can't proceed with his construction work until he pays for the crane repairs. It also means that he doesn't get paid until he completes his construction work. It's a vicious circle.

Here's hoping that he negotiates a better employment contract for him and a better customer contract down the road. Lessons learned on so many fronts for both of us.

Credit update, including a credit card renewal

I have lots of good news about building up my credit rating. For a good year, I have been working hard to rebuild it. I am slowly seeing results as I continue to pay off my debt and make more than the minimum payment each month.

I got a free account through TransUnion to check my credit rating at my convenience. Since I have been monitoring my credit rating, it has improved from being very poor to poor. Although it's still not great having a poor rating, I am out of the very poor rating level, which is a huge step. I am so pleased with my progress. I hope that a year or so from now, my credit rating will be considered fair. I'll then work my way to making it have a good rating again.

Baby steps. So far, so great.

A while back, I posted about whether a credit card company will renew my card. It expires next month. I got my replacement card on Friday. I am thrilled!

When one bank decided that I was a risk and didn't renew my credit card with a low limit ($1,000), it was quite a blow to my credit-rebuilding confidence. Even though I never missed a payment with this card, this bank decided to shut down my account because my credit rating wasn't great. My track record meant nothin at all.

With the other credit card company that decided to renew my card, I am thankful. I was hoping that it would because I do like what this card does for me. As a customer, this bank has made me feel good that it's trusts me. I can only think of a couple of times where I was late with payments, but only by a couple of days. It has given me some slack, which I appreciate.

I am pleased that I have two credit cards. They serve my needs well. I won't repeat my mistake by getting multiple credit cards when my credit rating improves. It was a trap that I won't fall for again.

Anyway, I wanted to share my good news about my financial situation. Things are looking up and I am happy.

Grateful to dig myself out and have folks take a chance on me financially

I feel grateful. I got a leased car.

My credit rating took a dive roughly two years ago. My rating was stellar before I ended up being late on a few payments for nearly three months. I have been mending my credit rating for the last year.

The combination of my being with the same car dealership for nine years and having a track record of always making my payments on time helped. I like that I am trusted even though I have made mistakes with my credit in the past.

I have had one financial bank fail to renew my credit card. The credit limit was $1,000. I was never late with my payments with this card. Yet, due to my credit rating, I couldn't be trusted by this bank. I have since paid it off.

I am down to two credit cards. One of them expires in a few months. Part of me has a feeling that this credit card company will do the same thing and not renew my card. The other part of me is hopeful that it will keep me on. However, if it does let me go as a customer, I won't be hurt by it. I would be okay with a single credit card and will reconsider having a backup card down the road.

The toughest part right now is getting my downpayment on my new car paid. I was expecting to do this exercise in January. The fact that it has been moved up by half a year took me by surprise. The good news is that I was able to negotiate a lower downpayment and still have lower lease payments.

Again, I am grateful. It's amazing how you are treated when your credit rating plunges. Your payment history or track record doesn't matter to most places. Your credit rating labels you. Occasionally, there is a glimmer of hope and I got it.