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First I would like to thank myfico members for their guidance. I came to US last year and applied for a CapOne Newcomer card and was rejected. I had no idea about recon at that time. Search engine revealed myfico and realised best way to start is through secure credit card. Applied for a PNC secure card in December 2012 for a limit of $900. 3 months later I increased the limit to $2000. PNC customer executive talked me into applying for a unsecured card also which was rejected. She did apply for a recon which was again rejected.
Through myfico I came to know about Chase generous policy for existing checking and saving customers. I applied for Chase Amazon card in April 2013 and was rejected. Recon resulted in a $500 limit. I also applied for CapOne Newcomer 2 weeks later and was rejected. Recon to CapOne EO proved successful resulting in $1000 limit. In May 13 applied for Citibank credit card and was again rejected. During recon cc mentioned atleast one year of credit history. A recon to Citi EO proved fruitful as I have an a annual fee visa signature card from Citi India and have been Citi India customer for 8 years. After one month of to and fro, I got Citi Dividend card with a limit of $2000. I emailed Chase EO and got a cli to $1500 without an enquiry based on my checking and saving relationship with them.
Now I had to garden for 6 months but discover and Amex card promotional mails resulted in 2 more apps in July 2013. I was told to call customer care during both apps. Got a limit of $1000 on Discover IT and $2000 on Amex BCP. I got a 50000 bonus SW points offer from Chase by end of Jul 2013 so after 10 days in garden I applied for Chase SW card. My first approval of a card above $5000 credit limit at $6000. I also got 3x cli at Amex in Sept 2013.
I then became a member of garden. I contacted CapOne EO again which resulted in cli to $2000. Got a feedback from them that now I should wait for 6 months before contacting them again. Another offer from Chase Marriott got me out of garden in Oct 2013 and received a $12000 limit. I was shocked for a minute. Celebrated with my wife at Cheese Cake Factory. I got auto cli on CapOne card to $2500 and Chase Amazon to $2000 in November 2013. Recently BofA bonus motivated me to apply for one more card and I got an instant approval of $5000. In most recent statement Chase auto cli SW card to $10000.
In the most recent Discover statement my fico score was 721 so I think I have made good progress in past 15 months in US. I could not have done it without myfico members. Now it is time for my seedlings to grow.
Any foreign national in US I would recommend apply for a Amex credit card immediately through a special customer care number. you are approved based on payment history on local Amex card in past 6 months. I would also recommend applying for a secure credit card. 6 months after that Discover IT, CapOne and Chase Freedom are good bets.
Sorry for such a long post. I hope my experience helps other establish credit history in US.
Edit: small readability change --Rev
My story is quite similar so I won't go into the details.
But I second the AMEX suggestion for foreigners even contemplating moving to the USA: having an AMEX in your homecountry pretty much garantuees you will get an AMEX here, and that carries a LOT of weight with starting up your credit file here!
Congratulations... the detailed post was helpful.