Firstcard Secured Card: Easy Access to Credit, Plus Rewards

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.

» SEE: How to apply for a credit card with a Social Security number

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.

» MORE: Best credit cards for college students

Few fees

The Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card touts itself as being fee-free, and that’s mostly true. The card doesn’t charge annual fees, 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 1.5% foreign transaction fee and a $2.50 ATM withdrawal fee. You can avoid the foreign transaction fee if you opt for a paid membership with Firstcard, but that comes with its own fee. More on that later.

Rewards

Holders of the Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card get cash back on certain purchases. The card earns:

• 5% cash back on 12 educational platforms, including ChatGPT, Grammarly and Headspace.

• 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.

Cash back is automatically redeemed as a statement credit to the cardholder’s account.

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, and the only way to get a better version of the card will cost you. Cardholders can purchase a Firstcard+ membership, which costs $4.99 a month, or $48 a year. Firstcard+ benefits include:

• An extra 1% cash back that stacks on top of the card’s base rewards rate.

• Money in your Firstcard deposit account earns a 4.25% interest rate. Without Firstcard+, the interest rate drops to 1.25%. Note that Firstcard holders without a Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) are ineligible to earn interest.

• No foreign transaction fee. 

• Credit monitoring.

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.