Member choice!

It may be a good thing to mention that the winners (at least for this round) can have vouchers applied! Funny how I'm now out of vouchers x_x

:O cool cuz all I got left is vouchers.

Yeah, Paypal takes like 7 working days to clear because I don't have a back up credit card. It's really f**king annoying actually, it seems that these days you MUST have some sort of credit card, yet they bitch about the fact that most people are in debt.

I don't know about Canada, but the US economy is based on debt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_currency

I read somewhere that if everybody in America paid off all the money they owed, there would be $0 in circulation. That's probably not precisely true, but it's close enough to give you an idea. Another fun fact: inflation is actually created - as in, purposely - by the Federal Reserve.

So, yes, they want you to have credit cards, and to rack up huge charges, and yes, most people are in debt of some sort.

Jet - Not going to help you for these sales but in the future (like when they start the PA sale in November) you can buy yourself a gift certificate with paypal and buy at daz using that. Set like $20 or $50 or whatever aside for spending at Daz and it will nibble away at the gift cert until spent. Or, transfer the funds into your paypal account so they're available instantly at whatever store you buy at.

There are ways to get around almost anything =)

This is true

We havent used credit of any sort in over a decade.. our house is paid in full, our cars are paid for, and we dont use cards except for debit. ( which works as a visa in a pinch Jet)

So now that we are thinking of moving back to AZ, hubby goes to see what its gonna take to get a loan for a house, and hes told we dont have a credit score.. at all.. because we havent used credit in so long. So now we have to get credit cards ( secured cause noone will give us credit) and find some other ways to borrow money so we can work up a credit score again. It will take anywhere from 6 months to a year, apparently.

Another thing to help build credit fast, and that will boost your score is to go to your bank or credit union (a better choice) and buy a small CD for a few hundred dollars then have them give you an installment loan with that as collateral. Pay it off over 6 months or so so you don;t have a lot of interest but you have several months history. It gives you a mix of loan types in your history which improves your score significantly over just having credit cards. They score those in the same category as car and home loans I believe.

The higher you can get your credit limits, the better. Low limits is used against you since it (quoting Experian here) :
Having low credit limits on your accounts and loans counts negatively against your credit score. Having a high amount of credit is a positive factor because it indicates to lenders that other creditors have trusted you by lending you money in the past. However, since your major credit card limits are generally low, lenders may think you don't have enough experience with high limits.

I've worked hard the last several years to get my score from barely over 600 to a now 725. It just takes time =/The low limits thing is hurting me right now too, but there's not much to be done and right now people are not too keen on increasing limits.

Be careful how many credit cards you apply for at once. They'll deny you if you all of the sudden apply for a ton of cards. Happened to us when we first got married. Just anything where you can show you are making payments monthly - that helps.

Yeah I have a bank account but that is it. I've toyed with asking them to make my Debit card a VISA (like I had in the UK) but I'm afraid they'll ask too many questions. I'm technically an illegal immigrant now, but I'm so fucking scared of being deported that I haven't yet applied to stay. I don't need a visa to ENTER Canada because I am British, but I'm supposed to get something to STAY in Canada for good. My bank account is the only thing I have in my real name here, everything else Guy gets for me, like car insurance etc. Basically, I am in deep shit. I don't want to stay hiding all my life, but at the same time I couldn't bear to go back to the misery I was in. I don't think I'd survive it again.

I have tried to integrate fully and completely and for the most part I've been very successful. I make a conscious effort to speak Canadian (eh? ) partially because no-one understood me for the first few months, and partially because I want to fit in. I can't quite shake my accent off completely, but most people can't place where I'm from either. I think of 'us' being Canadian, and the UK are 'them'. I know the National Anthem of Canada better than that of the UK. I sing it with the same passion true Canadians do. I want my children to be born here, to grow up here. In my heart I am home, but Immigration wants figures and bits of paper and shit.

I am in SOOOOO much shit. Really.

And I probably didn't need to tell you all this but oh well.

Why can't you get whatever "something" is? Can you not go back to wherever to get whatever? You can apply for Italian citizenship online if you have any relatives who were born in Italy after a certain date. It can't be all *that* difficult to make your stay in Canada legitimate... can it?

My ex-roommate was from France, but for some legal reason or another (supposedly he threw firecrackers through the window of some old woman and she had a fatal heart attack, but I don't know if I believe that... I think he might have skipped out on the French military), couldn't go back there, and ended up paying one of our mutual friends $20,000 to marry him for long enough for him to become a US citizen.

I guess where there's a will, there's a way! And the fact that most countries are probably happy to take your tax money is helpful.

I'm pretty sure if you speak to whomever works at whatever department is responsible for keeping track of immigration in your state in Canada they can help to put you on the right track. I kinda doubt they would say omg you're so many months late you need to get deported.. now!

You could probably have one of your friends call them and ask "what if" questions to get your answers, if you're really worried about it.