Get a US credit card

A US credit card is a line of credit from a bank. The money is the bank's, not yours, which is what makes it different from a debit card. You spend against a limit, the bank pays the shop, and you pay the bank back by the date printed on your statement.

Pay the full statement balance each month and you owe no interest. Leave part of it unpaid and the bank charges you the Annual Percentage Rate (APR), which on the cards named in this guide runs between 18.24% and 29.99%.

Three differences from a debit card matter for a new arrival.

• It builds a credit file. Every month the bank reports your balance, your limit, and whether you paid on time to Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Your FICO score is calculated from that report.
• It carries stronger fraud protection. The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) caps what you owe on a charge you did not make at $50. While the bank investigates, you can hold back payment on the disputed amount. A bank can waive the $50 as its own policy, and Discover promises $0 fraud liability on its cards.
• A bank decides whether you get one, at what limit, and at what rate. That is why someone with a steady salary can still be turned down in their first year here.

Your credit record from home does not follow you. Lenders here read US credit reports, and on your first day there is nothing in yours.

A credit score in the US is a prediction of how likely you are to pay a loan back on time, calculated from what your credit reports hold. Scores run from 300 to 850. Lenders use them to decide whether to lend to you and on what terms.

An empty report is not a bad report. It gives a lender nothing to price, so the answer comes back as a decline, a higher rate, or a request for a cosigner. Lenders call a report with little or no history a thin file. Getting out of one is ordinary work: hold one account that reports every month, and pay it on time.

FICO needs two things in your report before it will produce a score. One account has to have been open for six months or more. One account has to have been reported to the bureau within the past six months. A single card can satisfy both.

With no US file, the premium cards decline you automatically. Chase Sapphire Preferred, American Express Gold, and Capital One Venture X all sit outside this list. What is left is short and it is enough.

Secured cards

You pay a refundable deposit and that money backs your credit line. Capital One Platinum Secured and Discover it Secured Cash Back both set the deposit at $49, $99, or $200 depending on your credit. Both open a credit line of at least $200 and charge no annual fee. Quicksilver Secured from Capital One takes a $200 minimum deposit, charges no annual fee, and pays 1.5% cash back on every purchase.

Starter unsecured cards

Chase Freedom Rise is the mainstream one. There is no deposit and no annual fee, and the APR runs from 18.24% to 29.99%. Chase says a combined balance of at least $250 in a Chase checking or savings account improves your chances. Chase also states plainly that the balance is neither a requirement nor a guarantee of approval.

Credit-builder cards

These fund the credit line out of savings you pay in. Self Visa takes a $100 minimum deposit, which you can fund with a debit card, a bank account, or a Self Credit Builder Account. The annual fee is $0 for the first year and $25 after that, and the APR is 27.49%.

Cards that read your history from home

American Express calls this Global Card Transfer. Your existing card must be issued by American Express and you must be the primary cardholder. You must have held it for at least 3 months, with the account open and in good standing. Chase does the same thing through Nova Credit, for credit built in the United Kingdom and Canada only, on the Freedom Unlimited and the Freedom Flex.

Student cards

Discover issues the it Student Cash Back and the it Student Chrome, and states that no credit score is required to apply. You need to be at least 18, meet the income requirement for your age, and send proof of enrollment showing your name, your school, and your enrollment dates.

Store cards are a separate thing. The Target Circle Card works at Target and nowhere else, so it does not do the job a first card has to do.

Mainstream card issuers ask for the same four things: a US tax number, a US street address, income you can state, and a US credit history or an accepted substitute. Miss one and the list of realistic cards gets short fast.

On the tax number, an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) is accepted more widely than people expect. Capital One says applicants can apply for both the Platinum Secured and the Quicksilver Secured with an ITIN. Citi lists a Social Security Number (SSN) or an ITIN as the identification it needs. Chase lists an SSN or an ITIN on its application guidance, but Freedom Rise itself asks for an SSN, so treat that card as an SSN card.

With neither number, the path is a card that underwrites on something else. Zolve issues a US card without an SSN and reports to US bureaus. What it asks for instead is a work or study visa with at least 12 months of validity left, your passport, and proof of your current address.

With an SSN, a US address, and no credit history at all, a secured card or Chase Freedom Rise is the normal starting point.

The exact list moves with your status and with the issuer, but the core set repeats.

You need a US tax number: a Social Security Number (SSN) for most applicants, or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) if you are not work-authorized but file US taxes. Enter it exactly as it is printed.

You need a US street address. Federal customer identification rules require a residential or business street address for an individual. If you do not have one, the same rule names two substitutes. An Army Post Office or Fleet Post Office box number works, and so does the street address of your next of kin or another contact person.

You need a US checking account for autopay, and for a secured card, to send the deposit.

You state your gross annual income. A card issuer may count income and assets you have a reasonable expectation of access to, which covers a salary paid into a joint account. If you are under 21 the rule is stricter: you show independent ability to pay, or a cosigner aged 21 or over signs for the account.

You need your identity documents: your passport, plus the immigration document that matches your status, such as an I-94, an I-797, an I-20, a DS-2019, or an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). Keep them as PDFs. Some banks ask for them part-way through the application.

Pick on what you have today, not on which card looks best.

If you have a US tax number and a US address but no credit history, start with a secured card. It ties up $49 to $200 as a deposit, the deposit comes back, and approval does not depend on a file you do not have yet.

If you already bank with Chase, Freedom Rise is worth trying first because it asks for no deposit. Chase says a combined balance of at least $250 in a Chase account improves your chances without being a requirement. Expect to show your passport and immigration documents in a branch.

If you held an American Express card at home for at least 3 months, or you built credit in the United Kingdom or Canada, apply through the route that reads that history. That is Global Card Transfer at American Express, or Nova Credit on the Chase Freedom Unlimited and Freedom Flex. It is the shortest path from no US file to an unsecured card, and only people who already hold that history can take it.

If you have no US tax number yet, a card that underwrites on your visa and passport, such as Zolve, is the option that stays open.

Three numbers decide whether a starter card is a good one.

The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is what the bank charges on anything you do not clear by the due date. Capital One Platinum Secured and Quicksilver Secured both charge 28.99%. Self Visa charges 27.49%. Chase Freedom Rise runs from 18.24% to 29.99%. Pay the full statement balance every month and the APR never costs you anything.

The annual fee comes next, and on a first card it should be zero. Capital One Platinum Secured, Quicksilver Secured, Discover it Secured Cash Back, and Chase Freedom Rise all charge $0. Self Visa charges $0 for the first year and $25 after that.

Rewards come last. Quicksilver Secured pays 1.5% cash back on every purchase. Discover it Secured Cash Back pays 5% on rotating categories you activate, up to a quarterly cap, and 1% on everything else. Take the rewards if the card was already the right one. Do not pick a worse card to get them.

Also read the cash advance rate, which is higher than the purchase rate, and the foreign transaction fee if you still spend outside the US. A first card should have a short, plain fee table. If the table is long, the card is not the one.

Most banks answer online applications immediately. A branch is slower, and it is the better choice in two situations. The first is when your Social Security Number (SSN) trips an identity check the automated system cannot clear. The second is when someone needs to look at your documents by hand. Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo take branch applications. Capital One, Discover, and American Express work online first. For Chase Freedom Rise, expect to go in and show your original passport and immigration documents.

Bring your passport and the immigration document that matches your status, such as an I-797, an I-20, a DS-2019, or an Employment Authorization Document (EAD).

If an application comes back pending, do not submit it again. A second application means a second hard inquiry on your report, and the bank still has the first one open. Apply to one card at a time and let each answer land before you start the next.

A soft pull shows you which cards a bank would consider you for, without putting an inquiry on your report. For a short credit file it is the safest first move, and every bank named here offers one.

Capital One shows its offers at capitalone.com/apply/credit-cards/preapprove and says the check takes as little as 90 seconds with no harm to your credit score.

Chase has a public check at creditcards.chase.com/check-for-preapproved-offers that needs no login and states it has no impact on your credit score.

American Express has its own check at americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/credit-card-prequalify.

Discover puts a pre-approval check on the it Secured Cash Back page itself.

A negative result costs you nothing. A positive result is not a promise, because the real decision still runs when you submit, but the hard inquiry only lands at that point.

A decline on a thin file is common and it is not permanent. Two things follow it.

First, the bank has to tell you. Under Regulation B a creditor must notify you of the decision within 30 days of receiving a completed application. The notice names the creditor. It either gives you the specific reasons for the decline, or tells you that you can request them. If it is the second, you have 60 days to ask and the bank has 30 days to answer.

Second, a hard inquiry lands on your report. You cannot undo it, so use it.

Read the reason before you do anything else, because it decides your next move. If the reason is identity or documents, call the number on the notice and ask for the file to be reviewed by a person. That review is where a passport and an immigration document can change the answer, and it costs no new inquiry. If the reason is that you have no credit history, stop applying for unsecured cards and open a secured one instead. A deposit answers the exact objection the bank raised.

Do not send applications to other banks in the meantime. Each one is another inquiry on a report that already shows a recent decline.

When the card arrives in the post, three things are worth doing the same day.

1. Activate the card online or by phone, using the instructions in the envelope.
2. Link your US checking account inside the bank app. You need your routing number and your account number.
3. Turn on autopay for the statement balance, not the minimum payment.

While you are in the app, turn on card lock and transaction alerts. Both are free on every mainstream US card and both surface a fraudulent charge within minutes instead of a month.

FICO scores run from 300 to 850 and weigh five things. The two heaviest are the two you control from your first statement.

Payment history is 35% of the score. Pay on time, every time. Autopay set to the statement balance takes care of this one and it is the reason to set it on day one.

Amounts owed is 30%. What FICO reads is the balance your bank reports when the statement closes, not what you spent during the month. Paying the card down before the statement closes is what lowers the reported figure, and you can make a payment mid-cycle in the bank app to do it.

Length of credit history is 15%, and it counts the age of your oldest account and the average age of all of them. Your first card is the one that carries this number, which is why closing it later costs you.

New credit is 10% and covers recent applications and new accounts. Credit mix is 10% and covers holding both cards and instalment loans over time.

You can read your own reports from all three bureaus for free at AnnualCreditReport.com, and it is worth doing once your card starts reporting.

A secured card is a starting point. The deposit comes back, and how it comes back differs by bank.

Discover returns the deposit on the it Secured Cash Back in one of two ways. It can come back as a statement credit once you have built a positive record with the card. It can also come back as a refund when you close the account and pay the balance in full. When Discover returns it, the account becomes unsecured and every other term stays the same, so the account age you have built survives.

Capital One says that with responsible use on the Platinum Secured you may improve your credit score and be considered for a credit line increase in as little as six months. Bank of America reviews its Customized Cash Rewards Secured periodically rather than on a published date.

Do not close the card once you have an unsecured one. It is the oldest account on your file, and length of credit history is 15% of your FICO score. If it charges no annual fee, leave it open, put one small recurring charge on it, and let autopay clear it.

A credit card is the safer way to pay online in the US, and the reason is the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA). Federal law limits what you owe on a charge you did not make to $50, and a bank can waive even that as its own policy. Discover promises $0 fraud liability. While a dispute is open you can hold back payment on the disputed amount and on the finance charges attached to it. The money is not gone from your account while the bank works.

To dispute a billing error:

1. Contact the shop first for a plain error such as a wrong amount or an order that never arrived.
2. If that does not settle it, write to the bank at the address it gives for billing enquiries, not the payment address. Include your name, address, account number, and what is wrong. Your letter has to reach the bank within 60 days after the first bill carrying the error was sent to you.
3. For a stolen card or charges you did not make, call the number on the back of the card straight away.

Once the bank has your complaint it must acknowledge it in writing within 30 days, unless it has already fixed the problem. It must resolve the dispute within 90 days.

Six things damage a new credit file, and every one of them is avoidable.

• Letting the statement close on a high balance. Spending $400 on a $500 limit and paying it the next day still reports $400 against a $500 limit, because the bank reports the statement figure. Pay it down before the statement closes.
• Missing a payment. Payment history is 35% of your FICO score, the heaviest single factor. Autopay removes the chance of forgetting.
• Closing the first card after an upgrade. It is the oldest account you have, and length of credit history is 15% of the score.
• Applying to several cards at once. Every application is a hard inquiry, visible to lenders for two years and counted in your score for one.
• Paying only the minimum. It is allowed, and it leaves a balance charged at 27.49% to 28.99% on the secured cards here, which costs more than any cash back returns.
• Never reading your credit report. You can pull all three for free at AnnualCreditReport.com. An account that is not yours, or a balance that is wrong, is fixable through a dispute once you have seen it.