Check your credit score

Back in October, I applied for a loan with Spring Financial. I didn't get the approval, which was eye-opening. I was also thankful that I didn't. I ended up getting a consumer proposal and focusing on fixing my finances.

Spring Financial recommended that I go with its plan of taking out a tradeline. It is kind of a loan, except that you pay a monthly fee to have this company report good things to Canada's two credit bureaus about your credit history.

I remember getting digital forms from Spring Financial. I declined signing them. I felt that this tradeline was a waste of money. I'd rather get a secured credit card and have that credit card company report my progress to the credit bureaus without paying a fee.

I went on Spring Financial's site and chatted with someone. I asked whether not signing would confirm that I didn't want the loan. The person said yes.

I had a feeling that it wasn't the case. Sure enough, I looked at my credit report that I get through Credit Karma. It's free, which is why I like it.

Spring Financial created a tradeline account for me on October 11. It reported that I was late with my payments for both November and December.

What?

First, I don't have a loan with this company. I never signed any paperwork. Second, it claims that I have a $5000 loan. I don't. Funds were never deposited into my account. Third, I missed payments for two months. I didn't know that I needed to because I don't have a loan.

A couple of days ago, I went back on Spring's chat. I got disconnected the first time. I got the same representative the second time. I wanted this alleged loan closed. I also wanted this company to fix the erroneous credit reporting to both bureaus.

Well, I got a response from Spring Financial yesterday:

We are reaching out to notify you of an issue we have identified regarding a tradeline created on your credit bureau from Spring Financial.

When you applied with Spring Financial, an account was created under your name; however, due to an error, the file submitted to the credit bureaus included inactive accounts. We have since corrected this and will be sending a revised file to the credit bureaus, informing them of the error. We have directly contacted both Equifax and TransUnion with an urgent request to address this matter promptly, however we have been informed that the update can take up to 30-60 days to reflect on each respective credit report.

We sincerely apologize for this oversight and want to assure you that once the incorrect tradeline is removed, it will have no adverse impact on your credit report or history.

We appreciate your patience as we work to resolve this matter. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us directly.

Thank you,

Customer Service

The wording is poor. I identified Spring Financial's issue that directly affects me. I had to tell you about it so that you could investigate it further. Let's be clear. Had I not reported it, Spring Financial would be ruining my credit rating and other people's credit ratings.

I'll be watching my credit score and report like a hawk to make sure that this issue is fixed. Otherwise, I have no problem following up with Spring Financial. It should not be erroneously reporting to credit bureaus when I don't have any products from this company.

I recommend checking your credit score. You don't want a company ruining your score because it is erroneously reporting details to credit bureaus.

In a credit card bind and having to reach out to my ex

A couple of Thursdays ago, I drove up from the Twin Cities to Winnipeg. There was a snowstorm with reduced visibility. I managed to get to Winnipeg safely.

I had a problem checking into my hotel. I had a one-night stay before flying home on Friday. I also booked a hotel near Toronto Pearson International Airport in case I was too tired to drive home. My flight would get in late that night.

At the hotel in Winnipeg, my credit card was declined. I didn't understand why as I had just used it all day for fuel, food, and more. 

I didn't have a backup credit card. My other credit card was in the mail. Canada Post was on strike. The strike is over, but it will take some time to get it.

I had to find someone to bail me out. It was 9:30 pm Central time. It was 10:30 pm Eastern to figure out who could help me out at this time of night.

I did something that I didn't want to do. I texted and called my ex. Naturally, he didn't pick up or respond.

He did text me over 24 hours later. I said that it was urgent. He didn't respond, so I moved on. All I got from that text exchange was a thumbs-up reaction from him.

He was too late. The usual.

It reinforced the fact that he has never been there for me when I needed him. I managed to find a friend who was willing to e-transfer $400 to me.

The hotel room was just over $200 a night. I needed to supply a security deposit, which I felt was ridiculous being almost twice the amount of my hotel room.

I checked out the following day. I immediately sent an e-transfer to my friend for the security deposit. Today, I sent the remaining funds that I owed to her for the room rate.

I am thankful that I have friends who are kind and trusting. I am truly grateful for their help.

It turns out that the hotel by the airport prematurely charged my room and deposit to my card. It explains why I couldn't check in at the hotel in Winnipeg.

I cancelled my reservation at the hotel by the airport. The funds were released. I wasn't impressed by this premature charging move.

What I should have done was to prepay for my hotel in Winnipeg. It would have guaranteed my stay without the hotel in Toronto getting to my card first with a premature hold.

I hope that I never have to reach out to my ex. I expected that he wouldn't jump at helping me. Sadly, I was correct.

Paid off a credit card

On Friday, I paid off a credit card that I've had for over a decade. It felt good.

I actually had to call customer service to get the final payoff balance. I had to wait another seven minutes on hold to have the woman calculate it.

I was on hold for nearly half an hour. At least I got the payoff total that I needed.

That's one problem about Canadian banks. They aren't upfront with your final balance. You are expected to pay what you owe on your statement. You then wait for another statement that calculates the interest.

I like how my bank in the US does it. There's the payoff balance and your statement balance for credit cards and lines of credit. You know exactly how much to pay off. You don't need to call customer service to have someone calculate the payoff balance for you.

Weird, Canada.

I'm happy that I have got rid of a loan and a credit card so far this year. My financial situation is looking better.

Long weekend, with a stiff neck and truck protests

It is a long weekend here, with Family Day on Monday. Due to putting in a ridiculous number of extra hours recently, I decided to take this past Thursday and Friday off from work.

I have enjoyed this extended long weekend, except that I tweaked my neck, so it feels stiff and also affects my left shoulder. All this weirdness happened on Friday. The stiffness and pain has subsided a bit, so things are mending

On Saturday, I was supposed to pick up an order of food downtown. The problem was that the police decided to put blockades up to limit the truck protests. Due to these blockades, I couldn't get to this eatery to pick up my food. I spent a good 1.5 hours in traffic and decided to give up. I let the eatery know and the woman was nice to credit my account for a future food purchase. How nice!

I had bought crispy pork belly and vegan coconut jelly desserts. I am a bit bummed about not having them, but I hope to order them again when they are back on the menu.

Thunderstorms, a weird transaction, and telehealth

It's thunderstorming hard right now. We are under a severe thunderstorm warning. Here's hoping that it's not as bad as it sounds outside.

I noticed earlier yesterday that I have a pending transaction on my credit card that I do not recognize. I can't dispute it because the transaction hasn't gone through my account. It's a bit of a concern.

I am going to try telehealth soon to see if I can renew a prescription online. We'll see how that goes.

Team lunch and a budget

In a couple of days, I am having a team lunch. I haven't seen many of these folks in person in 1.5 years.

I look forward to seeing most of them. There are a few people that I could do without, but you can't win 'em all!

I had a one-on-one online meeting with my manager yesterday. He asked if I could pay for our entire meal. It was an odd way to make a request without my follow-up question. I asked whether I was to expense it, too. Yes.

Here's where I put my foot down. I don't think it should be my responsibility to put the charge on my personal credit card. Frankly, my manager doesn't have a backbone to charge and expense things himself because it goes to his manager for approval. He'd rather hide that fact and have me do it. I have a budget. This request was unplanned in said budget. I'm not dipping into my emergency fund. It's not an emergency.

I suggested charging it to my corporate credit card. He indicated that he went out with his management team and two people had their corporate credit cards declined.

My thought is that there is a limit for charging expenses on this card for restaurants. I called the credit card company to ask what limit was established. I had to answer eight questions, with some of them being ridiculous, to get an answer to check with my plan administrator.

Not helpful. I tore a strip off this guy. He said that he asks many customers for a verification ID and none of them know what that is. Neither did I. So, why not get rid of that question?

Asking for my work phone number is also ridiculous. I don't call myself. It's a virtual number. Why not ask for my cell phone number first?

Finally, asking for my employee number, when I feel that providing my name, date of birth with the year, my cell phone number, and mailing address are sufficient to verify that I am who I am for a single question about my account. I do not want an interrogation when I call. Posing eight questions is excessive.

Anyway, I had to open a ticket at work to ask what my limit was on restaurant transactions on this corporate credit card. We'll see if I get an answer later on today.

It's painful trying to get an answer to what I believe is a straightforward answer. Things shouldn't be so complicated.

Credit update - great news!

I haven't talked about my finances for a while. All is great!

Last hour, I checked my credit score. My credit score went up by 60 points on the Canadian scale!

It is a big deal. I have been in the poor category for a few years. I am now in the fair category. Yay!

My goal is to get my credit score in the good range. I need a credit rating of at least 713, which is doable as I continue my journey to repair my credit rating.

I'm pleased. It does take a lot of work. It's nice to see results.

Loans update

Yes, loans is plural. 

For the last two years, I have been paying off a secured loan. The idea is to pay money towards this loan and build equity. The regular payments, in turn, contribute to building your credit history and score.

I realized that I truly didn't need this loan. I was doing fine steadily paying my my debt of regularly. I wanted to simply pay off this loan. It was a huge lesson learned.

Well, I had the opportunity to get out of this loan by taking out a regular loan. I don't get why I needed the second loan, but I did it.

I have officially closed the first loan. I got my equity back, which I immediately put in my RRSP  (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) account. 

I paid off the new loan immediately. Yesterday, I called the loan folks and got confirmation that it is both paid off in full and closed.

As for paying off my debt, it's still going well. I look forward to seeing the amount that I owe go down. It's satisfying to see my progress. It's like night and day between my financial situation a year ago versus what it currently is.

Loans and my debt

Here's an update on my financial situation. It'll be a medium post in length.

A couple of years ago, to repair my credit rating, I decided to take out a secured loan. Looking back, I shouldn't have done it. This loan company alleges that when you make regular payments to a secured loan, it helps your credit rating. Although somewhat true, repairing your credit rating takes time and dedication. It's not a quick fix like this company had implied. I didn't need to take this loan out.

Luckily, its term is only three years. I was closing in on two years of my loan. On Monday, I received a text message from the loan place saying that I could take out a cash loan thanks to my positive payments on my secured loan.

Now, I didn't want a cash loan. However, it allows the equity for the secured loan to get deposited back into my account and close that loan account. He said that I could pay off the new loan immediately. I decided to do it, as I just want out of both this secured loan and this cash loan that I never wanted.

The guy that I was dealing with was a pain as the process unravelled. I wanted the smallest loan amount possible, which is $2500. His confirmation text said $7500. Huh?

I also didn't want insurance protection, as I was going to pay the loan off immediately. At least he got that detail correct.

I have to call a special department to have my loan completely paid off. Fun! I wanted a specific day to have automatic payments come out of my chequing account to coincide with my payday. Nope, that didn't happen. It's the same special department that I need to get that changed. Even though I am not making regular payments, I'd rather be safe than have money taken out of my account that I have not budgeted for.

He asked for my bank statement overs the last three months. Since we were texting, I sent them that way. He then asked for them sent to his e-mail account. Why not say that to begin with? I actually had to download the statements from my laptop and transfer them over to my phone. I could have avoided the extra work.

During this process, I felt like this guy wasn't clear and upfront. He wanted a pre-authorized form filled out with my banking information. I put the company name in. When he got it, he wanted it blank. Well, why not tell me that upfront? I'm sending you a document with my banking information through the Internet. How safe is that it have any person take that information and authorize taking money out of it when the company name is blank?

Yeah, I had it. I told him off that I didn't appreciate these missing details, including the loan term. He frankly wasn't understanding my point of view. I told him so and said that we need to move on. I was tired of texting him who had the listening skills of a brick wall. I'm sure that I hit 100 text messages just to this guy by the end of this loan setup.

In the end, the loan money has been deposited to my bank account. My secured loan has been closed. I am waiting for the equity to get deposited. I'll call this special department to pay off this loan and close this account later on today.

What I am not thrilled with is the fact that having this loan company do a credit check on me will temporarily make my credit rating go down. It's sad that I simply couldn't pay off the secured loan without opening another loan. Then again, the secured loan was at a higher rate of interest and it's really not worth going through the loan for another thirteen months.

Other than this weird loan situation, I am thrilled that I can make more payments towards paying off my debt and improving my financial situation.

Debt reduction is going well

I like the idea of providing a monthly update on reducing my debt. It is going extremely well.

July is a good month this year. I get paid three times, so I feel that I can pay off more debt.

I paid off my line of credit last month. It felt good. Luckily, the limit isn't huge. However, it took me a year to pay it off.

I still have two credit cards that are mine. I have one corporate card that sits there.

I use a MasterCard for daily purchases, such as groceries and takeout. I typically do debit, which has been helpful in reducing my debt and credit card usage. The other is an American Express card that I detest using. There is a backstory associated with my disgust for this company. The reason why I still have it is that I've been a customer since 2005 and it helps my credit rating.

As of late, I don't like these automated e-mails from American Express, stating in the subject line, "Future transactions may be declined." I am trying to figure out when this automated message disappears. It feels like Amex is being so kind to approve a transaction when my credit card isn't maxed out or close to its credit limit.

My credit score has increased by 16 points from the last score back in May. I am pleased. It has been hard work improving my credit score. I hope that it gets to a satisfactory level in twelve months. At this rate, I have a decent shot at it.

I am working from home for the rest of the year. I will continue to save more money, thanks to not commuting and fuelling my car with gas as often.

Credit cards - a decade ago versus now

I just placed an online order with a store that I have not shopped with for a decade. My account still works, which is great.

The funny thing? Almost all credit cards on file have not been active for years. To me, it was nice to see. I have worked so hard to reduce the number of credit cards that I had. I'm down to two personal credit cards. One of them is an American Express that stays at home.

It's supposed to feel like summer this weekend. I need to haul out my summer clothes. I'm not ready for a heatwave!

Leafing through magazines and memories

Last night, I found stacks of magazines as far back as 2005. It has been therapeutic throwing them out.

I end up leafing through the magazines before I chuck them out. It's nice to have a snapshot of what things were like years ago.

Some goodies include the following:

• A flyer from Zellers. The final two Zellers stores that remained in Canada closed a couple of months ago.
• A billing statement from Columbia House Canada. Yes, I loved subscribing to that service and getting CDs
• A rather heavy December copy of the Mpls St. Paul Magazine. I also managed to get a paper cut from it.
• A few credit card statements that served as bookmarks. I'm happy to say that all those accounts have been paid off and closed.

Good times on a Friday night. Have a great weekend!

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.

Optimism with finances

Things are looking good with my finances. By the end of this month, I should have paid off a credit card that started my debt issues. It has been a lot of hard work to pay it off. I am glad that I'm nearly there.

I have a loan that should be paid off by late May or early June. It's difficult to predict when the last payment day is. I made extra payments, which is throwing off how the last day is being reported. I dislike how inflexible computer systems are.

Anyway, I estimate that sometime in June, I will have more income to build up my emergency and retirement savings, and continue paying off more of my existing debt such that I don't need to care about maxing out my credit cards.

I'm so happy with my progress.

Tax return and financial health

On Sunday, I filed my tax return. It's nice to get it out of the way. I am roughly 1.5 months early filing it.

I am pleased with how things are going with paying off my debt and getting back on track. This year has some exciting changes:

• Number of credit cards paid off: 2
• Number of loans paid off: 1

I will also be focusing more on saving money. It's sad that I have had to abandon this practice for a while to pay off debt. It's important to have a decent reserve for emergencies. These days, it's my retirement savings and I don't want to dip into it.

I'll need to build up my retirement savings, which I am looking forward to. I'm optimistic and excited! It's nice to feel good about how far I have come.

Bonus pay coming soon to my chequing account

On Monday, it was confirmed that my bonus pay will be deposited at the end of the month. I am excited!

I have a loan that will be completely paid off at either the end of May or early June. I am putting this bonus pay towards paying off a credit card. I will be in decent financial shape come the summer.

It's nice to look ahead and see how bright my financial situation will be. Yay!

New percentage calculation at work

I have a love for numbers. My guy does, too. We are math nerds.

I recently had to do an online course at work. You need to pass a final exam at the end of this course to get credit for enduring it. The course is roughly eight hours in length. Doing a final exam is painful.

You need 90% to pass the test. I ended up with exactly that percentage... or so I thought.

When I got to the very end of the test, it said that I got 9 out of 10 questions answered correctly. The percentage calculated was 89.88%. What?!

I asked the person responsible for creating the course a question on how this percentage is calculated. She admitted that something was odd. I managed to contact the training support group to get credited for taking this course.

I have never seen a weird percentage calculation like what I got. I told my guy this issue and he laughed.

"It doesn't surprise me that you'd be outraged about the calculation. It's what I love about you," he reminded me.
"You're sweet. You'd react the same way," I replied.
"That's true. We love math."

We do.

Bonuses have finally been reinstated

For the past three years, all employees in my department at work have not got a yearly bonus. The company went through a rough patch and decided to halt paying out bonuses for this long.

Needless to say, it doesn't help morale. I work hard. Every performance review has been positive. Yet, I don't have a bonus to show for it.

Last year, all of us did not get a standard of living increase on our base salary. Within the next seven days, three women colleagues will be leaving the company. All are talented and well-liked. Gone.

We got the news on Friday that we will be getting a bonus. That's encouraging news. I am thrilled. However, the damage has been done and many have already left the company.

I look forward to getting my bonus. Naturally, it will go to both savings and debt payoff.

This year will be a transformative one, which I am excited about. I have been working hard reducing my debt and increasing my credit score. I am seeing results, which motivate me.

It would be nice to get my bonus soon. I could do so much with it.

Debt and donations

Here's a quick update on getting rid of my debt. I am optimistic these days.

Last year, I paid off three credit cards. I managed to nab a debt consolidation loan, which has helped me reduce my monthly payments while saving interest costs in the long run. I have also been tracking my credit score more closely. I got my latest results today. My credit score has improved. I'm pleased.

I spent some time on Thursday going through my closet, trying on clothes, and getting rid of those that I do not care to wear anymore. Although I have a long way to go as far as sorting goes, I managed to fill up two bags of clothes. I will be donating them later on today.

My process of sorting clothes may be different. It works for me. I try it on. I determine whether I love it. If it doesn't fit, it automatically gets put in my donation pile. Otherwise, the item stays.

It's nice to declutter, both financially and closet-wise.