> However, I qualify for zero unsecured credit cards.
That’s normal. You don’t live in the US so American banks have zero recourse if you decide to default.
For comparison, I had a very easy time getting 3 unsecured cards back when I was a 18 year old student with nearly zero income. It also helped that I had checking/savings accounts with the same banks and years of deposit history.
> they do a credit check, which for some reason has a negative impact on your credit score
You lose a few points, but hard pulls are the smallest component of your score. You can easily apply for 6 cards (2 per bureau) every 6 months before you start getting rejected. The “some reason” is obviously because people with many hard pulls are slightly more likely to default. IMO there’s no point complaining about losing 5 points from hard pulls when you’re losing 500 points because your AAoA (average age of accounts) is zero and no bank wants to take a leap of faith with someone they’ll never be able to put pressure on.