The deal with the banks here

Well last post ended without me telling you the news I got from the bank.

First you have to understand how loan and credit stuff works here. There is something that's called credit history. Credit history is a record of all your transactions made with the banks here, spendings on your credit card, any loans you'd taken, and the payments you pay back.
Your credit history is used to calculate what is called your credit score, this is basically a number, the higher the number, the more it means that you're a good guy who can be trusted with credit, loans, and mortgages.
The system works very well as it removes the subjectiveness from the assesment of your eligibility for loans and how much interest you pay. Only problem isfor people starting from ground zero like me. Credit history is not transferable from anywhere in the world, not even Canada. So I have zero credit history and no credit score here. That means that according to the banks here, I am in the high risk category. That means I get very strict and low limits on how much I can get, and I get it with very high interest (due to the "high risk" factor)

So normally I'd only be able to get up to 15K with 9% APR (annual interest), but there is this bank here that again has special deal for Microsofties and hence could give me up to 25K (maybe 30, not sure yet) with 5.9% APR, which is a much better deal but a far cry from what I should be normally able to get here with good credit history (70K with as low as 2% APR)

So what this means to me at the moment is that I can't get those cars I was considering, every single was of them was above 35K, so now I'm reconsidering my options.

I looked around for used cars, and also cheaper new cars. I am still undecided. I tried a new Mazda RX-8, used 2003 TT, used 2002 BMW 330ci, and a 1995 M3 (this is the cheapest and one of my best options right now)
Either that or leasing a z4 2.5 or a 2006 325.......

The plan is to have something for a year or two (either leasing or financing over short period) and then get my dream car then when I'd built up good credit history and score.

More details later...


P.S.
I miss everyone back in Egypt.