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Background

  1. I’m an international student who is currently on OPT
  2. I just received my SSN 2 months ago
  3. I have never applied for any credit card at any bank in America
  4. I don’t have any student loan or mortgage
  5. I checked at Experian, my credit score was unavailable. I assume I don’t have any credit score at any credit bureau.
  6. I recently tried to apply for an unsecured credit card and it got denied. This credit card company was the only one I submitted my application recently.

Question:

  1. Due to my application for the unsecured credit card was denied and it was a hard pull. Will it impact my credit score or credit history in the long run even if I don’t have a credit score right now? Will it impact my future credit card applications to other credit card companies?
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You were probably denied for an unsecured card due to not having a credit history yet. You may have better luck starting with a secured card until you build up a history. (Search for "secured credit card cash back" to find some banks that offer them with rewards.)

Hard credit inquiries will slightly lower your credit score temporarily, and do not have long term effects. They are obviously needed though to obtain credit so don't worry about it in general. Just try to limit them to when you actually need credit. I don't know for sure how much they change your score when you don't have any history yet, but here is a general guideline for one FICO scoring model and how inquires affect your score.

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  • yes. but OP had no score to begin with. I wonder what this first time pull does as it creates a brand new score.
    – JTP - Apologise to Monica ♦
    Commented Nov 26, 2020 at 1:56
  • @JTP-ApologisetoMonica agreed. I did mention that in my last sentence. My best guess is a score won't exist with just 1 inquiry either. I would guess there would have to be something reported either good or bad before a score can be calculated. And then the inquiry may have a temporary few points adjustment on that calculation if it is recent.
    – TTT
    Commented Nov 26, 2020 at 2:43
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Credit pulls only put a temporary ding on your credit. I wouldn't be concerned about it.

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Don't worry as you've already mentioned that you don't have any credit history this may not affect you but in terms of building credit, you can begin with secured cards instead of applying for unsecured credit cards.

Hard inquiries aren't necessarily bad. They're simply an aspect of how credit reporting works. And it's actually good that this information is recorded. If you have a healthy credit history and credit score, to begin with, it's likely that any hard inquiry on your credit report would do very little damage to your score or even none at all.

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