Cards For Bad Credit
Even if you have a bad credit history or limited credit history, there are cards available to consumers in your circumstances. Below you will find our most popular credit, debit, and secured card offers for people with bad credit:
Secured Chime Credit Builder Visa® Credit Card
Secured Chime Credit Builder Visa® Credit Card
- In order to be eligible for this secured credit card, you must first open a Chime® Checking account and receive a qualifying direct deposit of $200 or more.
- The qualifying direct deposit must be from your employer, payroll provider, gig economy payer, or benefits payer by Automated Clearing House (ACH) deposit OR Original Credit Transaction (OCT).
- No credit check to apply, no annual fees, and no minimum security deposit1
- Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. The Chime Visa® Credit Builder Card is a secured credit card issued by Stride Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa credit cards are accepted.
- 1Money added to Credit Builder will be held in a secured account as collateral for your Credit Builder Visa card, which means you can spend up to this amount on your card. This is money you can use to pay off your charges at the end of every month.
Poor / Bad
(Purchases)
(Balance Transfer)
Aspire® Cash Back Reward Card
Aspire® Cash Back Reward Card
- Earn 3% Cash Back Rewards* on Gas, Groceries and Utility Bill Payments
- Earn 1% Cash Back Rewards* on all other eligible purchases
- Up to $1,000 credit limit subject to credit approval
- Prequalify** without affecting your credit score
- No security deposit
- Free access to your VantageScore 4.0 score from TransUnion®†
*See Program Terms for important information about the cash back rewards program.
** Prequalify means that you authorize us to make a soft inquiry (that will not affect your credit) to create an offer. If you accept an offer a hard inquiry will be made. Final approval is not guaranteed if you do not meet all applicable criteria (including adequate proof of ability to repay). Income verification through access to your bank account information may be required.
† Your credit score will be available in your online account starting 60 days after your account is opened. (Registration required.) The free VantageScore 4.0 credit score provided by TransUnion® is for educational purposes only. This score may not be used by The Bank of Missouri (the issuer of this card) or other creditors to make credit decisions.
Fair
(Purchases)
(Balance Transfer)
PREMIER Bankcard® Mastercard® Credit Card
PREMIER Bankcard® Mastercard® Credit Card
- Don’t let a low FICO score stop you from applying – we approve applications others may not.
- You don’t need good credit to apply.
- Just complete the short application and find out in 60 seconds if you’re approved.
- When you need assistance our award-winning US-based Customer Service agents are there to help.
- FICO 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 PREMIER Bankcard® product.
Fair / Poor
(Purchases)
(Balance Transfer)
Self - Credit Builder Account + Secured Visa® Credit Card
Self - Credit Builder Account + Secured Visa® Credit Card
- Start with a Credit Builder Account, which is a loan in a bank-held Certificate of Deposit that you pay off in monthly installments. Choose the plan that works for you.
- In order to successfully open the Self Credit Builder Account, submission of a one-time non-refundable $9 admin fee is required.
- Each on-time monthly payment gets reported to all 3 credit bureaus, builds credit history, and adds to your savings.
- Make at least 3 monthly payments on time, have $100 or more in savings progress in your account, and be in good standing.* You'll automatically be eligible for the Self Visa® Credit Card, without a credit check.
- Your savings progress from your Credit Builder Account acts as your refundable security deposit.
- Sign up with Self today and Save $8 on the Admin Fee! $1 admin fee is a limited time offer to New Credit Builder Account Holders only. Offer not valid to existing Credit Builder Account Holders. This fee does not go towards building your credit.
Bad / Fair
(Purchases)
(Balance Transfer)
Merit Platinum Card
Merit Platinum Card
- Bad Credit, No Credit? No Problem!
- Fast and Easy Application
- No Employment or Credit Check
Fair
(Purchases)
(Balance Transfer)
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.