Firstcard Secured Card: Easy Access to Credit, Plus Rewards
The Bottom Line
4.5
For people new to credit, this card could be a decent option for its credit reporting and low barrier to entry. Its benefits come at a cost, however.
Rates, fees and offers
Annual fee
$4.99-$12.99 monthly or $48-$120/year depending on subscription plan
Rewards rate
1%-15%
Bonus offer
None
Intro APR
N/A
Ongoing APR
APR: 0% APR
Balance transfer fee
N/A
Foreign transaction fee
3.0% The fee is waived for Firstcard Premium users. The fee is discounted for Firstcard Plus users. See terms.
More details from Firstcard
- Build credit faster, cheaper, and safer
- No credit checks and no credit history are required to open a credit card
- Accepts immigrants and internationals without an SSN - apply with a passport and visa.
- 0% APR. Don’t worry about overspending. What you deposit is what you can spend.
- No account minimum, no interest, and no overdraft fee
- Get up to 15% Merchant Cashback at 29,000 partner merchants
- Get up to 10% Random Cashback on all qualifying transactions
- Earn 4.00% APY with Firstcard Premium, 2.00% APY with Firstcard+, or 0.75% APY with Firstcard Standard on the money in your Firstcard
- Earn an additional 1% Unlimited Cashback with Firstcard Premium on all qualifying transactions on top of the two cashback offerings (Merchant Cashback and Random Cashback)
- Monitor your credit score right in the app
- Get an in-depth monthly credit report with Firstcard+ and Firstcard Premium
- Instant access to your virtual card once your account is approved and you add your virtual card to your phone’s digital wallet
- Your money is protected with Firstcard — automatically insured up to $250,000 by FDIC (backed by the U.S. government)
Pros and Cons
Pros
Qualify with limited/bad credit
Earns rewards
Reports to the three major credit bureaus
Cons
Limited upgrade options
Has annual fee
Detailed Review
If the Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card is actually your first credit card, you're making a decent choice. Compared with other secured credit cards (cards that require a refundable deposit of several hundred dollars to open the account), the Firstcard offers a low barrier to entry, as well as cash back rewards and several other perks. There's an annual fee to consider, however.
People who have been denied credit from other credit card companies may be able to get the Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card, issued by Regent Bank, because there's no credit check required.
Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card: Basics
Card type: Secured.
Annual fee: $4.99-$12.99 monthly or $48-$120/year depending on subscription plan. Plans with higher fees offer higher cash back rewards and pay higher interest rates on the money you deposit.
Sign-up bonus: None.
Rewards:
Up to 15% cash back at 29,000 partner merchants.
Up to 10% cash back on all qualifying purchases. This rate is stackable with other cash back earned. To access this bonus cash back, cardholders must spin the wheel in the Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card app, which will determine the bonus cash-back rate for each eligible transaction.
"Unlimited" cash back of 0.1% to 1% on all purchases depending on the subscription plan you choose. This rate also stacks on the others.
APR: N/A.
Foreign transaction fee: 0% to 3% depending on subscription plan.
Compare to Other Cards
Benefits and Perks
Accessibility
The Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card is one of the most accessible credit cards we’ve seen, making it a great option for those who haven’t been able to get a line of credit. The only requirements: Firstcard applicants must be U.S. residents, at least 18 years old and have a government-issued ID. You don’t even need a Social Security number — but in lieu of that, you’ll need passport or visa information.
Your credit scores don't matter either, as Firstcard doesn’t require a hard credit check on applicants.
In order to use the Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card, you’ll need to transfer money into your Firstcard deposit account, which you can do via direct deposit, or transfer from a linked bank account or debit card. Unlike other secured cards, Firstcard doesn’t have a minimum deposit requirement. And the deposit account earns interest.
Credit reporting
The target audience for the Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card is college students, a cohort with typically little to no credit history. Firstcard can help its cardholders build a credit profile and work on their scores because it reports to all three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. If you use the card responsibly by paying off balances in full and on time, the credit bureaus will log that good behavior in their files.
Rewards
The Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card earns:
Up to 15% cash back at 29,000 partner merchants.
Up to 10% cash back on all qualifying purchases. This rate is stackable with other cash back earned. To access this bonus cash back, cardholders must spin the wheel in the Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card app, which will determine the bonus cash back rate for each eligible transaction.
"Unlimited" cash back on every purchase. This rate — 0.1% to 1%, depending on subscription plan — also stacks on the others.
Cash back is automatically redeemed as a statement credit to the cardholder’s account.
Plan options
Empty Table Header | Firstcard Standard | Firstcard+ | Firstcard Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
Fee | $4.99 a month, or $48 if paid yearly | $8.99 a month, or $84 if paid yearly | $12.99 a month, or $120 if paid yearly |
"Unlimited" cash back rate | 0.1% | 0.5% | 1% |
APY paid on deposit account | 0.75% | 2% | 4% |
Foreign transaction fee | 3% | 1.5% | 0% |
Fees, APYs and cash back rates as of November 2024. | |||
Drawbacks and Considerations
Annual fee
The Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card used to tout itself as fee-free, but it has since moved to a subscription model that includes a fee of $4.99-$12.99 monthly or $48-$120/year depending on subscription plan. See the chart above for how the plan you choose affects your benefits.
The card doesn’t charge late fees, overdraft fees or interest on unpaid balances. However, you’ll pay $8.99 just to have the Firstcard mailed to your house. (It’s $18.99 for expedited shipping.) Firstcard also imposes a 3% foreign transaction fee and a $2.50 ATM withdrawal fee. You can reduce or eliminate the foreign transaction fee with a higher-fee plan.
Too many guardrails
For credit newbies, the lack of late fees and any APR to speak of can help ease the transition into the world of credit. Be aware, though, that those training wheels come off if you graduate to an unsecured card.
If you want a starter card that more closely mimics the experience of a “real” credit card, and that also has a potential upgrade path to other products, consider the Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card. Its annual fee is $0, but it charges a fee for late payments, and unpaid balances will accrue interest.
No true upgrade path
There’s no traditional upgrade path from the Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card. You can get a more rewarding version of the card by paying for a more expensive plan — Firstcard+ ($8.99 a month or $84 a year) or Firstcard Premium ($12.99 a month or $120 a year). With these higher tiers, you get more "unlimited" cash back, the money in your deposit account earns a higher interest rate, and you pay a reduced foreign transaction fee (or no such fee at all).
While these perks are nice, you can get many of the same ones without paying a membership fee. For example, were you to upgrade from the aforementioned Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card to the Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card, you’d get a card that earns an unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, an intro APR offer and no foreign transaction fee — all for an annual fee of $0.
How To Decide If It's Right For You
International college students may be the target consumer of the Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card, but the truth is that it’s a solid option for anyone who wants to build a credit history. With its lack of interest charges and late fees, the Firstcard is an option for someone who wants to learn about credit without being penalized for any slip-ups. But keep in mind that its benefits come at a cost.
Putting up several hundred dollars for a security deposit can be a significant hardship, but this card may let you pay it in $20 installments. It’s also possible to qualify for a $200 credit limit with a security deposit of $49, $99 or $200, depending on your eligibility. Use the card responsibly by paying off balances on time and you could qualify for an upgrade to an unsecured card in Capital One’s vast portfolio.
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Methodology
NerdWallet reviews credit cards with an eye toward both the quantitative and qualitative features of a card. Quantitative features are those that boil down to dollars and cents, such as fees, interest rates, rewards (including earning rates and redemption values) and the cash value of benefits and perks. Qualitative factors are those that affect how easy or difficult it is for a typical cardholder to get good value from the card. They include such things as the ease of application, simplicity of the rewards structure, the likelihood of using certain features, and whether a card is well-suited to everyday use or is best reserved for specific purchases. Our star ratings serve as a general gauge of how each card compares with others in its class, but star ratings are intended to be just one consideration when a consumer is choosing a credit card. Learn how NerdWallet rates credit cards.
