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Comment by distantaidenn | Hacker News Reader

> That’s normal. You don’t live in the US so American banks have zero recourse if you decide to default.

I'm American, and have no reason to believe the credit reporting services are aware of my physical location. This is evidenced by conversations I have had with various agencies (governmental, credit bureaus, etc.) over the past year.

> For comparison, I had a very easy time getting 3 unsecured cards back when I was a student with nearly zero income. It also helped that I had checking/savings accounts with the same banks and years of deposit history.

I've used the same primary bank for 20 years and counting.

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> have no reason to believe the credit reporting services are aware of my physical location

So did you lie about your address on the credit card application? If not, that’s how the bank knows you don’t live in the US and that’s why you were rejected.

Lemme simply: Either you need credit history in the US or you need to live in the US. You fail both criteria. Maybe your rejection letter only mentions the first reason, but banks definitely issue cards (with very low limits like $2k) to students with zero history. Speaking from experience.

> same primary bank for 20 years

Then walk in there and apply for a card after you get back in the US.

You seem hostile. Not sure if it's your intention, but ease up.

> So did you lie about your address on the credit card application? If not, that’s how the bank knows you don’t live in the US and that’s why you were rejected.

I didn't lie on anything, and frankly a bit offended you would even assume such. I travel back and forth to the US, often. My home address (one of the properties my family owns, and where I lived my entire childhood) is the one I use on everything US related. It's my actual physical address in the US.

People can have multiple residences across countries. Is that "simple" enough to understand?

> You seem hostile

Not my intention. IMO my tone matches your first post re “The entire system is broken”.

> It's my actual physical address in the US.

Ah I wish you mentioned that. In that case I’m not sure why you’d be rejected by every bank. My understanding is that if you don’t get auto-approved based on your credit history the bank has to use its own homegrown risk assessment which is a lot more conservative. Maybe the internal tool instantly rejected the application because your IP address didn’t match your address? Try calling and asking them (not the front line CSR, but a credit analyst that can override the software):

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/credit-cards/credit-card-reco...

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Applications/Ba...

The models are complex and get data from many sources. If we assume they really do believe you live in the US, then it's odd for you to suddenly pop up and want a credit card with no other credit. Students get credit cards b/c they are student age and fit a risk model. It sounds like you're older.

Is your name on any of the house items like utility bills, deeds, etc...? Where do you pay taxes? How do you pay for things while living outside the US? Are you employed by a US company?

Keep in mind the people you speak to on the phone have no idea what goes into the model. They mostly read the same score/rejection that you do. My guess is the model is picking up signals you aren't in the US and that's causing the rejection.

You are being very cagey with where you actually live. "My family owns a house in the US" doesnt make you a resident. Do you pay US taxes?

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