Credit Cards For Bad Credit
Even if you have a bad credit history or limited credit history, there’s no reason to give up hope of regaining control of your credit future. There are credit cards available even to consumers in your circumstances. A credit card is one tool that can help you build your credit history. Ultimately, only you can turn your credit problems around, and each person’s credit situation is different. But always making on-time payments on all of your obligations and keeping your balances low relative to your credit limits are two of the most important things you can do to positively affect your credit profile. We’ve compiled a list of top credit cards for bad credit for those with less than perfect credit, and you are eligible to apply for any of these offers. Below you will find our most popular credit card offers for people with bad credit:
First PREMIER® Bank Mastercard® Credit Card
First PREMIER® Bank Mastercard® Credit Card
- Choose which account management options are right for you.
- Build credit with First PREMIER*
- Fill out an application and know in 60 seconds if you're approved!
- *Build credit by keeping your balance low and paying all your bills on time every month.
Bad / Fair
(Purchases)
(Balance Transfer)
First PREMIER® Bank Gold Credit Card
First PREMIER® Bank Gold Credit Card
- Choose which account management options are right for you.
- Build credit with First PREMIER.*
- Fill out an application and know in 60 seconds if you're approved!
- *Build credit by keeping your balance low and paying all your bills on time every month.
Bad / Fair
(Purchases)
(Balance Transfer)
First PREMIER® Bank Secured Credit Card
First PREMIER® Bank Secured Credit Card
- YOU CAN DO MORE THAN JUST GET BY - Since 1989, First PREMIER Bank has worked to help individuals and families with less-than-perfect credit obtain the credit they need to improve their financial health.*
- You don't need perfect credit for a First PREMIER® Bank Secured Credit Card
- If approved, fund your Security Deposit to open your account. Once open, you will have the opportunity to build your credit limit up to $5,000.
- Reports to consumer reporting agencies help you monitor your financial progress to build credit (build credit by keeping your balance low and paying all your bills on time every month).
- Enjoy peace of mind with free identity theft resolution services (subject to Mastercard guidelines).
- Credit scores are used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any First PREMIER® Bank product.
- If approved, make your first six monthly minimum payments on time and we may send you an offer to apply for an unsecured credit card. Some restrictions apply. ‡
- ‡ If you apply for the second account, which is unsecured, you will be approved if you can demonstrate the ability to pay your bills, meet our minimum income requirements, do not reside in New York or Wisconsin and are not covered under the Military Lending Act.
Bad
(Purchases)
(Balance Transfer)
First Access Visa® Credit Card
First Access Visa® Credit Card
Benefits & Key features
- Get the security and convenience of a full-feature, unsecured Visa® Credit Card – accepted at millions of merchant and ATM locations nationwide and online
- Reporting monthly to all three major credit reporting agencies
- Perfect credit not required for approval; we may approve you when others won’t
- Easy and secure online application
- $300 credit limit (Subject to available credit)
- Receive your card more quickly with optional Expedited Processing (additional fee applies)
- Get a result in as little as 60 seconds upon completion of the online application
- Select your favorite card design from our gallery, for free!
- Online Customer Center available 24 x 7
- Issued by The Bank of Missouri
Fair / Bad
(Purchases)
(Balance Transfer)
Fit Mastercard® Credit Card
Fit Mastercard® Credit Card
Benefits & Key features
- All credit types welcome to apply!
- Monthly reporting to the three major credit bureaus
- Initial Credit Limit of $400.00!* (subject to available credit)
- Fast and easy application process; results in seconds
- Use your card at locations everywhere that Mastercard® is accepted
- Free online account access 24/7
- Checking Account Required
Bad / Fair
(Purchases)
(Balance Transfer)
Loans Under 36%
Benefits & Key features
- Loans up to $35,000
- Suitable for those with all credit ranges
- APR varies from 4.99% up based on customer information
- Great for consolidating debt
- No obligation fee
- Decision within minutes
Benefits & Key features
- Loans up to $35,000
- Suitable for those with all credit ranges
- APR varies from 4.99% up based on customer information
- Great for consolidating debt
- No obligation fee
- Decision within minutes
Need Advice?
Credit cards can be confusing. We are here to make sure you have all the information you need to get the card that’s best for you. We’ve compiled popular credit cards to bring you all the information you need to select the right card for you.
Credit Score
One of the many factors that credit card issuers think about when deciding to approve or deny an application is your credit score. This is one of the most important factors in the approval process, so it is important to know your credit score. Your score will fall into one of the following categories:
- Excellent Credit: 720 – 850
- Good Credit: 680 – 719
- Fair Credit: 620 – 679
- Poor Credit: 500 – 619
- Limited Credit: 300 – 549
The lower your credit score, the more limited your credit card options are. Many of the cards with big bonuses and rewards require Good or Excellent credit, while the cards available for Fair and Poor credit don’t offer quite as many perks, but give you the opportunity to build your credit over time. The higher your credit score, the more likely you are to be approved for different credit cards.
Choosing a card
We can help you choose a card to get you the best possible deals that fit your budget and lifestyle. We’ve already done all the work to put together the best selection of cards with all their advantages and disadvantages so you always know what to expect from a particular credit card.
Deciding on a Card
There are many things to consider when applying for a new credit card. You need to be aware of the many different offers, your credit score, and your personal financial situation.
We highly recommend that you keep your credit score in mind when choosing a card, since that is often the biggest factor that card issuers look at when deciding to approve your application.
With your credit score in mind, you can then focus your search on the cards you are most likely to be approved for. If you don’t think you have a high enough credit score for a certain card, you may need to select a different card with a lower credit requirement and come back to the other card once you have built up your credit score.
We don’t recommend applying for cards with high credit requirements if you know that you have a low credit score. Keep in mind: having too many credit inquiries in a short period of time can lower your credit score. Because of this, we don’t recommend you keep applying for credit card offers that probably won’t approve your application.
How to Improve Credit
If your credit score is really low or you don’t have a long enough credit history to get approved for a certain card, you may want to get a secured credit card to improve your score and establish a credit history. Secured credit cards require a security deposit ahead of time, but they allow you to access a line of credit that you may not be able to get otherwise with a low credit score.
There are many unsecured credit cards that will approve applicants with low or fair credit scores. These cards don’t offer very many perks or benefits, but they are perfect to use while you are building your credit. Sometimes these cards have monthly fees or high APR, but as long as you manage your spending wisely, you will be able to quickly build credit and move on to a better card.
A good way to improve your credit score is to check what factors are negatively impacting your score and try to fix them. You can check your score and see what is impacting it for free at https://membership.moneytips.com/membership-essential-signup.fhtml
Final Summary
It’s good to be aware of what you are looking for in a credit card. We also recommend that you keep your credit score in mind so that you can select the card that is most likely to approve your application.