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Comment by FireBeyond | Hacker News Reader

"I felt pretty "trusted by definition." Citi gave me a credit card with a $3,000 limit as a college freshmen. A few years later I had an $8,000 limit card and a $10,000 limit card."

As a recent immigrant I felt pretty untrusted. In my late 20s, despite being able to show a year of income in the six digits, no overdrafts, I had to go to four separate banks before finding one that was willing to give me a $300 limit card.

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Find a secured credit card. I was able to get one from USAA with a $5,000 limit (you just deposit $5,000 in a CD to cover it). Not many people realize this, but you do not have to be in the military to bank with USAA (you do if you want their insurance products, but not for banking).

Also in my late 20s, in the US temporarily and nowhere near six digits (academia, sigh) and I've found it okay. You just have to be selective where you apply. I got an unsecured $1000 from Discover (since been increased) and an unsecured $300 from Capital One. I applied for those cards because they both have a reputation for being more friendly to people with empty credit files, and my credit score is now around 715 (TransUnion).

I mean, it's not great, but you have to start somewhere, and I've only been here 9 months. Was very frustrating to have to start from scratch when I have good credit in my home country, but completely understandable.

The really frustrating thing is how your credit score influences everything - apartment hunting, mobile phone contracts, etc. That's the only reason I'm trying to build my credit at all here. It feels like having a bad credit score puts you at a distinct disadvantage in the US, which is something I've never felt before.

You can get any store credit card easily. Your limit will be like $400 but it's enough to get you a history.

As a Canadian expat, my experience was nearly identical to FireBeyond's upon moving to the US. As you suggest, I was able to get a store credit card, then it was over a year (during which I never used the store card at all) before I was even considered for a regular credit card. If that's not symptomatic of a broken process, I'm not sure what is...

I honestly don't think it's broken. If I'm going to loan you money it makes sense that I'd like you to have a history of successfully managing debt and access to debt. You are more risky if you don't have a history.

It makes logical sense. Is it fair? I don't really think so, but its at least logical.

Yet other countries have no issue doing it differently.

So there are other ways than the US one.

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