Permanent resident needs help to get a credit card application approved

[Anonymous]

I need some help. I am relatively new to the USA, I have a permanent resident card for almost 5 years now but other then a two year small loan I paid on time, I have never done anything to get my credit score up. I never had any depth in my life. Never had a credit card before. I applied for a British Airways personal card (Chase) and a United explorer business card (also Chase) which got denied. I am still waiting for the status on the personal card. Can I try the United Explorer personal card?

Does it have a negative effect that I got denied on the business card? What can I do to get a personal card? Before I try another, like the US Airways card....I have a credit scor of 704 (freecreditscore.com)

Thanks a lot! It's quite hard to understand the system for someone not grown up in the country.....

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I need some help. I am relatively new to the USA, I have a permanent resident card for almost 5 years now but other then a two year small loan I paid on time, I have never done anything to get my credit score up. I never had any depth in my life. Never had a credit card before. I applied for a British Airways personal card (Chase) and a United explorer business card (also Chase) which got denied. I am still waiting for the status on the personal card. Can I try the United Explorer personal card?

Does it have a negative effect that I got denied on the business card? What can I do to get a personal card? Before I try another, like the US Airways card....I have a credit scor of 704 (freecreditscore.com)

Thanks a lot! It's quite hard to understand the system for someone not grown up in the country.....

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You have done the right thing joining the board and welcome.  For starters, most credit card companies use FICO scores as one of the ways of determining if someone is qualified for a credit.  In your case, you best bet is to start with a secured card and you can use Capital One or Bank of America.  You can also get your FICO scores from this board.

A secured card is a card where you have to put money down to get the card.  Once you have that for about 6months to a year, you should be able to graduate that to a normal credit card.

[ojefferyo]

If your files is clean and thin try Discover, they seem to like those.