Best Credit Cards for Bad Credit of December 2024

FULL LIST OF EDITORIAL PICKS: BEST CREDIT CARDS FOR BAD CREDIT

Before applying, confirm details on the issuer’s website.

Discover it® Secured Credit Card

Our pick for: Rewards, bonus offer & upgrading

Capital One Quicksilver Secured Cash Rewards Credit Card

Our pick for: Rewards + upgrading

Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card

Our pick for: Low deposit

OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card

Our pick for: No credit check + lower deposit

OpenSky® Plus Secured Visa® Credit Card

Our pick for: No credit check + no annual fee

Like the regular OpenSky card, the OpenSky® Plus Secured Visa® Credit Card doesn't require a credit check or a bank account. This card, however, charges an annual fee of $0 — at the cost of a higher minimum deposit and a higher interest rate. Read our review.

Chime Secured Credit Builder Visa® Credit Card

Our pick for: No credit check + easy account management

This card has no minimum deposit requirement, charges neither an annual fee nor interest, and doesn't require a credit check, and you can automate your payments so you're never late. But to get it, you must be a Chime® banking customer, which is an extra hoop to jump through — and which comes with its own considerations when it comes to customer service. Read our review.

Secured Self Visa® Credit Card

Our pick for: No upfront deposit or hard credit check

The Secured Self Visa® Credit Card offers a unique path to building credit. Unlike typical secured cards, it doesn't require an upfront security deposit or a hard credit check. But it does make you jump through some hoops that other secured cards don't. You start by making payments on a secured loan, which become savings that you can use for your deposit. It's complicated, but for those struggling to establish a credit history, it can be efficient and effective. Read our review.

Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card

Our pick for: No-deposit alternative

The Mission Lane Visa® Credit Card could be a reasonable option for someone building or rebuilding credit who doesn't want to tie up money in a security deposit. Not everyone will qualify, but the issuer lets you see whether you do before you apply. Read our review.

Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card

Our pick for: International students and immigrants

The Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card doesn't require a credit check, doesn't charge interest, and even pays interest on your deposit. You can earn cash back on purchases. International students can even apply without a Social Security number (though they must provide visa or passport information). The only drawback: an annual fee. Read our review.

Grow Credit Mastercard

Our pick for: Building credit with subscriptions

The Grow Credit Mastercard doesn’t require a security deposit or a hard credit check. It allows you to establish a credit history by paying for qualifying subscriptions like Netflix or Spotify, and it doesn’t charge any interest because you can't carry a balance on the card. You will owe a membership fee, however. Read our review.

Credit Builder Secured Visa® Credit Card

Our pick for: Adjustable credit limit

DCU Visa® Platinum Secured Credit Card

Our pick for: Low fees and interest

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OTHER RESOURCES

How to tell if you need a credit card for bad credit

When you apply for a regular credit card, you're essentially asking the card issuer to lend you money without any guarantee (besides your promise) that you'll pay it back. Unlike with a mortgage or car loan, there's no collateral backing up the deal. If an applicant doesn't have a good credit score, the issuer considers the risk to be too big, and that's why it rejects the application.

Credit cards for bad credit, however, have features that reduce the risk to card issuers, so they can approve more people. The application process for credit cards for bad credit is more "forgiving" than for regular credit cards. Credit cards for bad credit might be a good fit for you if:

Your credit score is below 630

In general, a credit score below 630 (on a range of 300-850) is considered bad credit or poor credit. If you don't know your credit score, you can get it for free through NerdWallet. Get your free credit score here. If you have a bad score, a credit card specifically designed for people in your situation is one of the best tools for rebuilding your credit.

You have no (or very little) credit history

The term "bad credit" is commonly associated with mistakes, such as missing payments or having accounts turned over to collection agencies. But people who have a thin credit history or none at all can also benefit from a credit card for bad credit, since they, too, are considered risky borrowers.

What causes bad credit?

Multiple factors go into credit scores. Some are relatively minor — applying for a new credit card, for example, can knock a few points off anyone’s score temporarily because it suggests a need for more financial resources. Others are more serious. Bankruptcy, charge-offs, missed payments or accounts having gone to collections can do major damage to credit scores.

Here are the main factors in your credit score and how they can add up to bad credit:

• Payment history. This is the single biggest factor in your score. Are you paying your bills on time? Paying a bill a couple of days late usually won't affect your credit score (although you might get hit with a late fee). But once a bill is more than 30 days late, expect it to show up on your credit report and affect your score. Even a single late payment can make a major dent in your score. That damage lessens with time, but if you're repeatedly missing payments, it gets much worse.

• Amounts you owe. Your overall debt load matters, but scoring systems pay special attention to credit utilization — the amount of your credit limit you're using. The closer someone is to "maxing out" a line of credit, the more likely it is that they're in a bad financial position. A $190 balance on a card with a $2,000 limit, for example, isn't going to raise a lot of red flags, but a $190 balance against a $200 credit line suggests someone pushing the limits of their means.

• Length of credit history. If you haven't had credit very long, that can be reflected in low scores. A common mistake people make is closing old accounts that they're not using, which affects this portion of their score. A 10-year-old credit card account is valuable from a scoring perspective, even if the card is just sitting in a drawer. If it doesn't have an annual fee, keep the account open and use the card once or twice a year so the issuer doesn't shut it for inactivity.

• Types of credit. Scoring formulas like to see a mix of different types accounts — credit cards, loans and so on. Obviously, you have to start somewhere, but it's best not to let a single account make up your entire credit history.

• New credit applications. Expect every application to knock a few points off your score temporarily. However, if you're applying for multiple cards at once, the effect is multiplied, because that can suggest someone desperate for money. This is why it's important to "call your shots" and apply only for cards when you have a good chance of approval.

What's the easiest credit card to get approved for?

Approval for any credit card is never guaranteed. In addition to your credit history, issuers look at your income and other factors. Still, some cards have standards that are not as difficult to meet as others'.

• The lower the risk to the credit card issuer, the easier it is to get approved. That's why secured credit cards are a recommended starting point for people working to build or mend credit. These cards require you to put down a cash security deposit, which the issuer holds as collateral in case you don't pay your bill (and which you get back when you close or upgrade your account). The deposit reduces the risk, so issuers can make these cards available to more people. The cards on this page are all secured cards.

• Store credit cards are also generally easier to qualify for than bank cards. They tend to have low credit limits and high interest rates, but they're a viable credit-building tool provided you keep your balances low relative to the limit and pay them off each month.

• In general, NerdWallet does not recommend unsecured cards for bad credit. An unsecured card is one that does not require a security deposit. All "regular" credit cards are unsecured. But unsecured cards marketed to people with bad credit are notorious for high fees and confusing terms. Further, issuers of such cards usually don't have good cards to upgrade to, meaning you're stuck with either keeping a high-fee card open (which costs you money) or closing it (which could hurt your credit score).

• If you've begun to build credit and have a score in the mid-600s, look at credit cards for fair credit. These provide more benefits but don't require a top-tier credit score. See our best credit cards for fair credit.

» MORE: What's the easiest credit card to get?

The costs of bad credit

Credit scores are designed to measure one thing: How much of a risk it is to lend someone money. The lower the perceived risk, the higher the score. Having bad credit limits your options for borrowing money: If you can get a loan at all, you’ll pay higher interest.

There are other costs, too. Even though they’re not designed as such, credit scores have come to be interpreted as a general measure of reliability. Employers, landlords, insurers, cell-phone providers, utility companies and others use them to evaluate customers or applicants.

A NerdWallet survey found that many people are unaware of these effects. Significant numbers of Americans didn’t know that bad credit could prevent them from renting an apartment (23%), raise their car insurance costs (43%), limit their options for cell-phone service (49%) or force them to provide security deposits for utility service (52%). Further, 1 in 5 respondents thought a score of 600 — which is bad credit — was enough to qualify for any credit card.

If you have bad credit, or no credit, a card designed specifically for someone like you is usually the quickest and easiest way to build credit.

Choosing a credit card for bad credit

Credit cards for bad credit typically come with low credit limits and high interest rates. That’s OK for now, because the primary purpose of these cards is to help you build credit or rebuild credit. When choosing a card, focus on:

• Reporting to credit bureaus. A card will help you build credit only if it reports your payments to the companies that assemble the credit reports that are the basis of credit scores. Look for a card that reports to all three major credit bureaus. Note that prepaid cards do not report to the credit bureaus because they do not involve borrowing money.

• Low fees. Unsecured credit cards for bad credit often boast that you can apply for them with no deposit. But then they hit you with annual fees, maintenance charges and other credit card fees that can easily top $100 a year. Good secured credit cards have either no annual fee or a fairly small one, and no hidden charges. You do pay a deposit — but you can get that money back.

• Free credit score. Look for an issuer that provides free access to your score so you can track your progress. Ideally, the issuer would also offer other resources such as debt-payment calculators and free financial education programs.

• A path to upgrade. Once your credit improves, it’s nice to be able to convert your account to a card with better terms. If you have a secured card, will the issuer transition you to a regular unsecured card? If you have an unsecured card for bad credit, can you move up to a version with no fees or one that offers rewards?

Read more in our guide to choosing a credit card for bad credit.

Options in credit cards for bad credit

We believe the best credit cards for bad credit are secured cards. With these cards, you provide a security deposit, which protects the issuer in case you don’t pay. (When you close or upgrade the account, you can get your deposit back.) The deposit reduces the risk, making secured cards some of the easiest cards to get. Approval isn’t guaranteed, though — you still need to show you have income, and bankruptcies or other serious problems on your credit report can cause you to be denied. Learn more about secured cards.

Other options include unsecured cards for bad credit, which don’t require a deposit but tend to charge high fees that, over time, add up to more than the typical deposit on a secured card. (In recent years, some startup credit card companies have begun offering credit cards with no credit check and low or no fees, though these products may come with drawbacks of their own.) Store credit cards can also be easier to get, although they typically have low credit limits and high interest rates, so proceed with caution. Below are our recommendations for the best credit cards for bad credit, followed by some resources for those with bad credit and some cards we suggest you avoid.

How to apply for a credit card for bad credit

1. Know your credit score

One of the biggest mistakes people make with credit card applications is choosing cards they don't qualify for. Applying for a card that requires good credit when you have a score of 580 is a guaranteed rejection. That wouldn't be so bad except that each application goes on your credit report and can hurt your score. Multiple applications can just compound the damage. Before you apply, know where you stand. You can get your free credit score through NerdWallet.

2. Find a card that suits your score

Cards on this and other NerdWallet pages have a "recommended credit score" graph that shows what kind of credit you'll need to qualify. If you're logged in to NerdWallet with your free score, you'll be able to see where your score lands on that graph. If you're not logged in but know your score, check how it compares to the recommended range.

3. Apply

Clicking the "apply now" button for a card takes you to the application. You'll usually have to provide your name, address, phone number and email address. Your Social Security number is necessary to check your credit and for government financial reporting rules. The application will usually ask about your income as well.

4. Fund your security deposit

With a secured credit card, the issuer won't open your account until you're provided your security deposit. Most cards have a minimum in the range of $200 to $300. Your deposit typically determines your credit limit, so if you deposit $500, you'll have a credit limit of $500; deposit $1,000, and you'll get a credit line equal to that amount. Issuers let you fund the deposit with a direct transfer from a checking account; some allow you to pay by money order if you don't have a bank account.

5. Receive your card

Once you fund your deposit, you'll get your card. Start using it to build a positive credit history by following the guidelines below.

How to raise your credit score using a credit card

A low credit score isn’t a life sentence. It’s a starting point. Using a credit card responsibly is one of the fastest ways to build credit. Follow these tips: