Got approval for my second credit card - this time AMEX, new ITIN, applied as a non resident - online from outside of US with US proxy. First time I was denied for this card around 5 times, luckily they doing only soft pull, so no credit score hurt. History: 1) auto rejection - ITIN too new 2) auto rejection 3) additional auto review: connect bank accounts to check if you will be approved, then rejection - ITIN too new, no FICO score 4) additional auto review: connect bank accounts to check if you will be approved, then rejection - ITIN too new. no FICO score 5) then I finally tried again after 6 months of ITIN: manual review > approved

I applied for a PenFed online Checking(membership also needs a Saving) on March 7th ，it opened free checking and membership on Mar 12th. The next day after application， I received an email asking me to upload three documents: proof of address, ITIN, and passport. I uploaded all the documents，n have been waiting for their response. On Mar 12th，I received the final email saying that it was fully opened. Then, I added a $5 DD to activate their membership saving account. Once the deduction is successful, it can be used.

Today my OnPath Credit Union account was approved with ITIN. I applied online on March 11 and today, March 16 I received approval. The approved account is Rewards Cash Back Checking + Base Share. The application process was easy for me and everything was done online. I also saw that OnPath offers a secured card, so maybe this can be another good option for people who want to start building credit with ITIN.

For those who successfully opened a US personal bank account. • Which bank did you start with? • Was it in-branch or online? Trying to see what actually works in practice.

A lot of people get into business credit thinking there’s some clean formula: set up the LLC get an EIN open a few vendor accounts and the funding starts rolling in. That is not how it works in real life. Here are a few ugly truths people usually learn too late: Banks move the goalposts Approval standards change quietly. One month you qualify. The next month you don’t. Not because you did something wrong, but because the lender changed the rules. Let's look @Amex as an example. Their business score minimum seem to have moved from around 620 to around 660 over the last year or so, without any public announcement. That matters because many Cloud Residents assume a past datapoint is still valid today. Sometimes it isn’t. You usually need at least one real strength Forget the fantasy of instant EIN-only funding with no personal guarantee and no real profile. Lenders usually want to see at least one strong factor: • solid personal credit, often 700+ • real cash flow or deposits • revenue, with at least USD 3,000/month • collateral like vehicles, equipment, or real estate If you have none of those, approvals get much harder. Net 30s are not a magic shortcut The usual “Tier 1 → Tier 2 → Tier 3” roadmap gets oversold. A lot of those accounts are just store credit, have limited usefulness, and report slowly. If your personal credit is already strong and your business setup is clean, you may be able to skip a lot of that and go straight toward business cards or credit lines. Funding multiplies what is already working Debt does not fix already struggling business. If the business is not producing results, credit usually becomes pressure, not a solution. Business credit works best when it is helping you scale something that already has traction. The best time to get funding is before you need it This is probably the one most people ignore. Lenders like low utilization, stronger scores, clean credit profiles, and visible stability. If you wait until cash is tight, approvals get harder and terms usually get worse.