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.

On the receiving end of road rage

Hello! It has been a while.

I recently when back to re-reading posts that I wrote years ago on another personal blog. I wrote about concerts. I wrote daily, similar to what I used to do here. I loved the level of detail that I had in each post.

I'd love to return and do the same thing here. It was inspiring. It was nice to read what I had written. I realized that I was a decent writer then.

This post is about a road rage incident that happened to me last Thursday.

I have so much to say about a company that I didn't expect to write about. If I could give this business zero stars on any business review platform, I would. The only positive aspect of my experience was talking to Eugene when I reported a disturbing road rage issue. Highlight Motor Group needs to highlight his excellent listening, reporting, and investigative skills. Otherwise, I have a tainted, disturbing impression of this company.

On Thursday, after work, I left work to head to Mississauga. I decided to take highway 401. Normally, I do the 407 heading there and backroad it home. Part of me regrets doing my norm.

I was in the express lanes. Avenue Road has construction and is down to two lanes. I needed to stay in the express lanes. I signalled, found a reasonable space to merge into the right lane.

The truck behind me took offence to my move and leaned on the horn for maybe five seconds. I waved to him, thanking him for letting me in. Another car did the same move as I did and was now between me and the truck.

What I didn't expect was this truck moving into the left lane. It ran parallel to my car. The guy in the passenger seat lowered his window and threw an object at my car door. The object looked like a full can of soda, but it was shorter height-wise and wider in the middle.

A friend recently told me that I'm an extremely calm person in crazy situations. I was definitely shocked when I heard the thud. My first thought was wow. My second thought was to document the situation. I'm a writer. I tell stories. This one is mine to own.

Road rage is real. It was my first time experiencing it at this escalated, physical level.

The two men in the truck are obviously not gifted intellectually. Do you think that you can throw a tantrum because you have no grace letting someone into a lane and get away with it? You're on the 401 at rush hour. You can't flee and not have me take photos of your truck, your freight number, and licence plate.

I took three photos. I called the toll-free number, and got the compliance and safety department. I talked to Eugene, who was a good listener and was understanding.

I took this photo seconds after the trailer in the left lane threw an object at my car

Trailer details

Third photo capturing licence plate details and more

He asked me what colour the truck was. At first, he thought it was a trailer and the truck may be leased to another company. That's when I said that it was indeed a truck and I could send him photos.

He wanted to give me his cell phone number. I said that I was driving. It would be best that he take my cell phone number and text me. This company has call display. He sent me a text. I sent him my photos. He confirmed that the truck was theirs.

He said that he would have the folks dispatched to get the scoop on what had happened. I appreciated it.

I let him know how I felt. Both men needed anger management help. No one is safe being on the same road with these men who are jerks. Why launch an object at a vehicle because you're immature, you don't know how to handle your emotions, and you can't be courteous on a highway? You are unprofessional and are unfit to drive on any road.

These men picked the wrong person to target their road rage. I am not afraid to report you. If I really wanted to seek legal counsel, I could. It's illegal to throw objects on any 400-series highway and cause mischief.

You targeted me. You didn't feel the same rage with the person behind me who made the same move. Why? Do you want me to pull the female, Asian card out? I could. You've proven to be dense with your stunt that it wouldn't surprise me that you're also biased and full of hate.

You both were cowards. You realized that you couldn't pull ahead quickly in time for me to get your truck information. You moved in front of the trailer in front of me after this detailed hit you. Too late.

You should have thought about the consequences of your actions. You're dealing with me. You tried to cause harm to me and my vehicle. You're in for an unpleasant ride.

Today, I followed up with Eugene. He let me know that the driver had a meeting and "we will come to a solution on how to best resolve the situation."

Texting with Eugene from the company's compliance and safety department

As long as this company doesn't sweep this incident under any rug. I'll be pleased. I truly want them to get help with their anger or get training on how to be respectful drivers. Their actions were unwarranted and need corrective action.

I read this company's reviews on Google. You get a mix of employees who give high praise. Reviews with five stars automatically get a response of thanks from the owner. It seems wrong to review your own employer. If you have a rating that isn't five stars, the owner doesn't acknowledge it.

One word: suspect.

There was one review in which a driver had both feet up on the dashboard, on an interstate, driving. There were photos. The owner never acknowledged the need to talk to this driver about how unsafe it was to drive this way.

I'd stay away from doing any business with this company. It's in your best interest to stay alive. If I spot any vehicle from Highlight Motor Company, I'm steering clear from it.

Travelling to Minnesota and COVID-19 tests

My trip back to Minnesota was great. I worked remotely and started each workday at 7 am. It was great ending my workday at 3:30 pm. It allowed me to be a tourist.

I may need to write a how-to for Canadians travelling to the States. I needed to get an antigen COVID-19 test to fly into the States. It had to be administered within 72 hours of my departing the country. I got a check-in counter guy at the airport who said that it was 24 hours. He was wrong after consulting with a colleague.

With the recent changes by the US administration, this check-in counter guy is now correct. It's now 24 hours. It means that for my next trip, I'm taking my antigen test hours before I board my flight. It all works out fine. I have booked my appointment.

To get into Canada, I need to do a PCR or molecular COVID-19 test 72 hours before boarding my flight in the US heading back home. I actually did a NAAT test at a local CVS pharmacy. I got to self-administer the test at the drive-thru and drop my swab in a tube in a special box. I got my results in just over a day. It was also free. Had I done a PCR test at the airport, it would have cost me $200 USD.

I am glad that everything worked out. I fly again in over a week, so I'm more comfortable now with the experience that I have gained.

Hit-and-run bumper scratches

On Friday night, I went out for a drive-thru event. After it was over, I went to order some pizza for dinner.

I parked in a plaza that I hadn't been in over a decade. It was raining and windy at around 8:30 pm. I got my goods and headed back to my car. The rain had stopped.

There was enough light for me to notice that my passenger front bumper had yellow scratches on it. A yellow vehicle must have grazed my car.

On Saturday, I went to file an accident report. It went smoother than I had anticipated. I then went ahead and called my car insurance to create a claim. I am waiting for a link to upload photos of my car's scratches and then find out when I can get my car fixed.

Ah, the joys of a hit-and-run incident. Luckily, I wasn't in the vehicle and this issue can be fixed.

Team lunch and expense predicament

Our team get-together was a lot of fun. We spent over three hours eating, drink, and chatting on a hot, humid day on a shaded patio. Eventually, the humidity dropped a bit and it was more comfortable.

The good news is that my corporate credit card worked to pay for our outing, which was nearly $400 

CAD. The downside is that my manager shouldn't have asked me to expense this meal. There's a corporate rule that if the manager is a part of a group activity that needs to be expensed, he needs to file it, and not someone on his team whom he manages.

It opens quite the can of worms to get my money. He doesn't like using e-transfer. I don't want to meet him somewhere to get the funds in cash, hit a bank machine, and deposit them. Ugh.

Anyway, we'll see how diligent the expense folks are in figuring out my expense report.

Technical support - hit and miss

I have made this observation in the past, but the various helpdesks that I have at work suck. I dealt with one guy who was incredibly useless.

In a particular software application, there is a field called Area. It's essentially your department's name. I clicked the dropdown field and none of them matched what I belonged to. On top of that, the documentation had a broken URL to the application, so I had to ask about both issues.

I got the proper URL. The guy told me to select one and let my colleagues know what I had selected. Huh? He was so out of it that I asked if I could connect with a subject matter expert instead. I did (at least he got that right) and she was a ray of sunshine. She answered my questions and created an area just for me with all the proper access rights.

It's nice when I go from frustrated to happy. That guy needs to go, though. Even the woman told me that!

Opposites attract to a certain degree - expenses and timesheets

My guy and I get along because we are similar. There are a few exceptions, though. One of them is doing expense reports.

I am diligent when it comes to completing expense reports. I just want to get them over with, get my money back, and move on.

Then, there's my guy. 

Yesterday, he told me that he has four trips to expense. He spent some of his evening completing two of them.

"I hate doing expenses. I have to find all my receipts and enter them all," he complained.
"I don't mind helping you, provided that your money gets deposited directly into my bank account," I stipulated.

He chuckled. We are complete opposites when it comes to expenses. 

Similarly, when it comes to logging our time in our corporate timesheet application, I do mine every Monday and I don't have to think about it for the rest of the workweek. My guy forgets about doing his timesheet all the time, often getting warnings that he needs to do it after a month has elapsed.

He's sweet. I love who he is.