Advertiser Disclosure
Many or all of the credit card, banking, and other offers on this site are from companies that pay us. For example, we may be paid when you click a link, are approved for a product, or open an account. Compensation may influence which products we cover and how, where, and in what order they appear. It doesn’t influence our editorial evaluations, ratings, or opinions, which are ours alone. We don’t include every bank, credit card company, or offer available in the marketplace.
Rewards, sign-up bonuses, balance transfers, fees, protections, and card reviews. Pick the right card and collect more from it than it costs you.
Get the Credit One Bank Platinum Visa® for Rebuilding Credit only if you can’t spare a security deposit and cards with no annual fee have turned you down. It charges $75 the first year and $99 a year after that. If you can put down a refundable deposit, a secured card with no annual fee spares you both fees.
Get the Credit One Bank® Platinum X5 Visa Signature® Card if you have average credit and spend at least $160 a month in its 5% categories: gas stations, supermarkets, and phone, internet, or TV service. At 5% back, that spending covers the $95 fee. Skip it if you’d carry a balance, since 29.99% interest can exceed the cash back.
Get the Savings Secured Platinum Rewards Credit Card if you can join State Department Federal Credit Union (SDFCU) and might carry a balance while you rebuild credit. Its interest rate can’t top 18%, the cap on federal credit unions’ loans, and there’s no annual fee. Credit lines start at $500, secured by your SDFCU savings.
Get the First Latitude Assent Mastercard® Secured Credit Card if other secured cards have turned you down. It sets no minimum credit score and charges no annual fee. Skip First Latitude’s Elite version, whose $29 annual fee buys a lower interest rate that saves nothing when you pay in full each month.
Open the UNITY® Visa Secured Credit Card if you’re rebuilding credit, want a Black-owned bank to hold your deposit, and accept its $39 annual fee, which comes out of your credit line before your first purchase. If saving the $39 matters most, choose a no-fee secured card that reports to all three credit bureaus.
Get the cashRewards Secured Credit Card if you’re starting or rebuilding credit and can join Navy Federal. It pays 1% cash back with no annual fee, and its 18.00% interest rate is below the 21.19% average on bank credit cards. From month six, Navy Federal checks every month whether to upgrade you and free your deposit.
Pick the largest sign-up bonus your regular spending can earn before its deadline, and pay the card in full every month so interest doesn’t cancel it out. For most people, that’s a $95 travel card such as the Capital One Venture Rewards. Pay a premium card’s fee only if you’ll use its credits.
Get the Bank of America® Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured Credit Card if you need a secured card to rebuild credit and want cash back while you do. It pays 1.5% on every purchase with no annual fee, and Bank of America checking customers who join the bank’s free BofA Rewards program earn at least 1.65%.
Open the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Secured Credit Card if you’re rebuilding credit and one category, like gas or dining, takes more than a quarter of your spending. It pays 3% there and 2% at grocery stores, on up to $2,500 of combined purchases a quarter. Otherwise, take Bank of America’s simpler flat 1.5% secured card.
Open the Capital One Quicksilver Secured Cash Rewards Credit Card if your credit is fair and you can spare a $200 refundable deposit. It pays 1.5% cash back on every purchase, with no annual fee, and keeps that rate after an upgrade to an unsecured card. With less to deposit, pick a secured card with a lower minimum.
You've reached the end.
You've reached the end.
Subscribe and we'll send you 101 Essential Money Tips to get you started.
The 101 money moves that matter most, from the foundations to protecting what you’ve built.
