DECOMPRESS

M. Need to vent and decompress

C. Sure. What’s up?

M. I had to deal with two hassles this morning that are really bothering me

C. Tell me

M. First, I found out that an account that I thought had been settled would no longer show up on my credit report. I had to look through a bunch of bank statements, which I find unnerving. Always gets me rattled.

C. Go on

M. This is significantly hurting my credit score. It’s not showing in one report, but is in another. 100 point difference. Very frustrating. Plus, I had the firm I used look into it. Feel like I wasted their time.

C. So, what are you going to do next?

M. The current program is to make monthly payments, which I’m doing but they’re not reporting, which is frustrating because I thought once we settled and got on the program that this would positively affect my credit score.

C. Go on

M. Well I’m not planning on taking out any loans or credit cards that will impact my score, so I’ll keep making the monthly payments. At least, I now know that I can raise my score by over 100 points once I payoff the remaining balance.

C. Yeah, it doesn’t make sense to make a large payment right now because you got a no interest payment program. Keep making the payments the next several months and finalize payment when you have more funds.

M. Makes sense. Had another issue yesterday. N mistakenly used an old account so I had to call CS to correct the issue. I always get tense around money issues.

C. My advice is to continue to watch your spending. I’d also suggest you stop using US for A payments. Simplify your financial life.

M. That’s good advice. I’ve been meaning to do that. All I have to is switch A from US to CS. I will do this the next time I place an order. I’m having my bookkeeper update my statements.

C. What was the other issue?

M. I needed to activate my new modem with f’ing Comcast. I found a way to do this online and now it’s taken care of.

C. Good. At least, you now have this off your plate.

M. I had to spend close to three hours dealing with this BS.

C. Well, you just got two big things off your plate.

M. Just found out the DMV is open on Saturday, so I’ll be there at 730am tomorrow to get that out of the way and then I’ll go to X store afterwards to return the old modem and cable boxes.

C. Good. What else is top of mind?

M. Want to get the SDPM AX plan taken care of. I also want to get a new phone because mine is broken.

C. Okay check TM out. They might have good deals and you might be able to do all this online.

M. Will do

C. Did this help?

M. Surprisingly, yes. It amazes me how helpful it is for me to use this venting exercise to help me calm down.

C. It’s not good for the brain to have all these negative and highly emotional thoughts racing through your mind. So, venting and journaling is a proven and effective stress management and mental health management technique. Keep it up. I appreciate your resilience.

M. Thanks. Appreciate that. Couldn’t do it without you!