• Hello Members, This forums is for DV lottery visas only. For other immigration related questions, please go to our forums home page, find the related forum and post it there.

DV 2015 KENYA SELECTEES FORUM

GreenCard Winner Expert said:
Hey Avant,my friend used to tell me in order to secure low case number one should apply when the dv is nearly ending in the last weeks or few dasy to closure,But I tend to disagree,this is lottery which means its based on luck so whether you apply early or late,luck is luck you will still get the number God Destined for you.So just pray before you apply.
Click to expand...
To be really honest, this @GreenCard Winner Expert had started giving me creeps with his fundamental religionist and know-it-all attitude.
 
GreenCard Winner Expert said:
Hey Avant,my friend used to tell me in order to secure low case number one should apply when the dv is nearly ending in the last weeks or few dasy to closure,But I tend to disagree,this is lottery which means its based on luck so whether you apply early or late,luck is luck you will still get the number God Destined for you.So just pray before you apply.
Click to expand...

Atheists have won too, without praying, so no it's not a necessary part of the process. Luck, yes indeed.
 
avant said:
Some1 said that the earlier you apply the higher chances of getting low case nyway lets hope its luck.@Sm 1smom is there a likelihood of kcc conducting dv 2017 this year just asking:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yes, DV 2017 will most definitely be taking place. And like I said earlier, selection is completely random, has no bearing on whether one gets selected or not. When one applies equally CANNOT guarantee a low number if selected.
 
This is the strategy I used to increase my chances of winning:

I ENTERED THE LOTTERY: I did not win the first nor second time, but I got it the third time.

I READ THE RULES: I understood what I was submitting before actually filling the form.

I WAS HONEST: I did not lie, I did not submit multiple entries, I did not omit my child or spouse.

I SAVED MY CONFIRMATION NUMBER: Basically, I just emailed myself the DV entry confirmation so I can get it easily when the results are out. One time I actually lost the confirmation number and couldn't check so the next time I emailed it for records.

I CHECKED: When the results were out I logged in and checked.

There. That is my secret out. All new entrants. Good luck and happy dv entry.
 
To successful dv2015 guys going across the atlantic, here is a tip you might wish to carry with you, no credit cards or great care with them- very great care. You might find this unusual there but a good number of Kenyans and Chinese ( a vey large number of good upper middle class ) homeowners who were candid enough, keep off the popular 'beyond your means way of life'. And you will live. Nobody will tell you about their finances unless they feel you are up to it for that kind of talk. try and be up to it Get it right , right from day one so that your dv adventure will be worth it.
You are coming from a save -every- coin- culture- do not abandon that.
 
usamommy2015 said:
This is the strategy I used to increase my chances of winning:

I ENTERED THE LOTTERY: I did not win the first nor second time, but I got it the third time.

I READ THE RULES: I understood what I was submitting before actually filling the form.

I WAS HONEST: I did not lie, I did not submit multiple entries, I did not omit my child or spouse.

I SAVED MY CONFIRMATION NUMBER: Basically, I just emailed myself the DV entry confirmation so I can get it easily when the results are out. One time I actually lost the confirmation number and couldn't check so the next time I emailed it for records.

I CHECKED: When the results were out I logged in and checked.

There. That is my secret out. All new entrants. Good luck and happy dv entry.
Click to expand...

:D Awesome strategy. The only thing I'd add to that list is that you did it yourself without using an agent.
 
usken go said:
To successful dv2015 guys going across the atlantic, here is a tip you might wish to carry with you, no credit cards or great care with them- very great care. You might find this unusual there but a good number of Kenyans and Chinese ( a vey large number of good upper middle class ) homeowners who were candid enough, keep off the popular 'beyond your means way of life'. And you will live. Nobody will tell you about their finances unless they feel you are up to it for that kind of talk. try and be up to it Get it right , right from day one so that your dv adventure will be worth it.
You are coming from a save -every- coin- culture- do not abandon that.
Click to expand...

I agree with the culture of saving and not living beyond your means, however, to be practical you need a credit record for a lot of things in the U.S., including rental agreemeets, insurance etc. If you use a credit card as a convenient payment mechanism - so you don't carry cash around and pay it off in full every month - then you will both build a credit record and live within your means.
 
Thats the point
SusieQQQ said:
I agree with the culture of saving and not living beyond your means, however, to be practical you need a credit record for a lot of things in the U.S., including rental agreemeets, insurance etc. If you use a credit card as a convenient payment mechanism - so you don't carry cash around and pay it off in full every month - then you will both build a credit record and live within your means.
Click to expand...
Thats the point here, careful with credit cards.
I have met Ken-Americans who have accumulated so much debt on those cards, they estn very good money but a hooked to condumerism- fancy life that will inevitably boomerang someday.
My plea, debt is debt and they let you pick n cateledsly pile it up uding those cases cards
I am stil debit with a few scheduled monthly standings ( e.g paid for med. Insurance, monthly college fee chest build up etc) on my us ac.
Yuo certainly can do without credit.
If cannot use it very very sparingly , preferably secured.Thats how they did it
 
I've used credit cards for years, but always viewing as a convenient way to not carry cash around. Pay off in full every month. You also get certain consumer protection using cards which you don't get with cash, plus cash back benefits and of course it's easier to buy things online that way. So I do see lots of advantages to using a credit card over cash actually, but people need to stay in control. Those that get over indebted often don't do it via credit cards anyway but via other types of loans, so it's also not as simple as "don't use credit cards".
 
You can also build credit by getting a postpaid phone line instead of prepaid. In my opinion, you will never need more than 2 credit cards so if someone calls you and says you have been prequalified for a credit card, refuse. Most of these cards have hidden charges. SusieQQQ my uncle was a victim of debt so usken is right to warn people, but as they say experience is the best teacher. I've been using credit cards since I was 17 and have never defaulted. ( Except this one time when Stanbic charged me more for closing my card. I cancelled it because they had all these weird charges. I cleared but they didn't tell me there was a closing fee. After 1 year I got a call from a collector because they were religously charging me 1000 a month for late payment and 1000 account in arrears penalty. I had to pay about 36000 that I didn't use. That's when I learnt not to mess with card companies)
 
I'm talking about building a U.S. credit record, you need more than a phone line.
I have one credit card, I pay no charges on it (because it's a basic card with no frills and I've never gone into arrears) and because I pay in full every month I pay no interest, yet I still get cash back..and I don't have the hassle of having to go to the ATM to draw cash constantly and I have consumer protection cash (and debit cards) don't have. And I've built a good credit record in the process which makes things like car insurance easier and cheaper to get. Why would I not want one?

I absolutely agree never to take an unsolicited offer and not go into debt, but you guys also need to understand how important having a credit record is in the U.S. It is different to many other countries in this sense, where the virtue is no debt at all. You want to live somewhere - it's not easy to get a rental without a credit record and you can't get a mortgage without one. And I'm sure the average DV immigrant doesn't come over with enough money to pay cash for a house, even if they can pay cash for a car. You want to do prepaid on your phone rather than contract, well that's ok, but you end up paying a lot more per call /data than you would with a contract. Etc.
 
usamommy2015 said:
You can also build credit by getting a postpaid phone line instead of prepaid. In my opinion, you will never need more than 2 credit cards so if someone calls you and says you have been prequalified for a credit card, refuse. Most of these cards have hidden charges. SusieQQQ my uncle was a victim of debt so usken is right to warn people, but as they say experience is the best teacher. I've been using credit cards since I was 17 and have never defaulted. ( Except this one time when Stanbic charged me more for closing my card. I cancelled it because they had all these weird charges. I cleared but they didn't tell me there was a closing fee. After 1 year I got a call from a collector because they were religously charging me 1000 a month for late payment and 1000 account in arrears penalty. I had to pay about 36000 that I didn't use. That's when I learnt not to mess with card companies)
Click to expand...


The postpaid phone line (called "contract" in the USA) rarely builds credit. You typically need a credit history to qualify for a contract with the big providers (i.e. they search your credit), BUT unless they report your credit (which they typically don't), a phone line won't build credit history at all (other than registering the initial credit check).

Credit cards are pretty much essential in the USA. But you don't have to carry debt in order to build credit history. Simply paying off the credit cards in full as Susie says will build credit, cost nothing, and in the case of some credit cards will actually earn you money.
 
It will take a fairly discerned while before Ijump into the credit card bandwagon.
By the way a good number of house rentals were ok with kenyan bank acc statements and a bit of cash in the bank, about six months of rent but you are no asked to pay all that upfront.
I Went window shopping forva car.Nobody asked me about credit for a car- just pay and drive away. Car prices are better than in kenya.
 
usken go said:
It will take a fairly discerned while before Ijump into the credit card bandwagon.
By the way a good number of house rentals were ok with kenyan bank acc statements and a bit of cash in the bank, about six months of rent but you are no asked to pay all that upfront.
I Went window shopping forva car.Nobody asked me about credit for a car- just pay and drive away. Car prices are better than in kenya.
Click to expand...

Some people want $50k cars and don't have the cash on hand ;) Some people don't even have 6 months rental in a bank account to show...

So all good that you managed to get a rental, but this is not universal. We had to show that the funds were in a U.S. bank account (were you renting from Kenyans that they were ok with Kenyan bank accounts??) but this usually only works with individual landlords - and there were a few who were not interested in us for lack of credit record - and I also know people that wanted to rent in particular apartment complexes where they were turned away for lack of credit record, where they have guys who manage the whole complex doing all the tenant applications. So yes you can find those where you don't need a credit record, but I'm surprised you say "a good number", we found only a few. And not all of those were places we wanted to live, I think a couple were so desperate to find tenants for their pits they would have taken a bank account from Mars...

In the meanwhile I've happily received hundreds of dollars cash back I got from my card so far :D
 
SusieQQQ said:
Some people want $50k cars and don't have the cash on hand ;) Some people don't even have 6 months rental in a bank account to show...

So all good that you managed to get a rental, but this is not universal. We had to show that the funds were in a U.S. bank account (were you renting from Kenyans that they were ok with Kenyan bank accounts??) but this usually only works with individual landlords - and there were a few who were not interested in us for lack of credit record - and I also know people that wanted to rent in particular apartment complexes where they were turned away for lack of credit record, where they have guys who manage the whole complex doing all the tenant applications. So yes you can find those where you don't need a credit record, but I'm surprised you say "a good number", we found only a few. And not all of those were places we wanted to live, I think a couple were so desperate to find tenants for their pits they would have taken a bank account from Mars...

In the meanwhile I've happily received hundreds of dollars cash back I got from my card so far :D
Click to expand...
They were not Kenyan real estate agents. You need to show the trail (source) of funds transfer . MD realtors are particularly flexible to immigrants housing needs.
The houses are neither pits nor prebein remnants. UMD neighborhoods asking for 550k plus if you are buying - not cheap. We must agree to have the credit cards debate another day.
 
usken go said:
They were not Kenyan real estate agents. You need to show the trail (source) of funds transfer . MD realtors are particularly flexible to immigrants housing needs.
The houses are neither pits nor prebein remnants. UMD neighborhoods asking for 550k plus if you are buying - not cheap. We must agree to have the credit cards debate another day.
Click to expand...

Usken at the end of the day you will need good credit. No one is asking you to buy a Ferrari on loan, but a simple store card on which you spend a few hundred on groceries and repay end month.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top