Can Citi pre qualify you for a credit card?

The easiest Citi card to get is the Citi Secured Mastercard because it is the only one that will accept applicants with bad credit. The Citi Secured Card requires a $200+ refundable security deposit but has a $0 annual fee. It also helps build credit history with monthly reporting to the credit bureaus.… read full answer

Aside from the Secured Mastercard, which is designed for people with bad, limited or no credit, nearly all other Citi personal and business credit cards aren’t as easy to get. It takes either good credit (700-749 credit score) or excellent credit (750+) in order to get approved for cards such as Citi Double Cash or Citi ThankYou Premier.

However, there are a number of store cards that are among the easiest Citi cards to get. Some of the best include the Best Buy Store Card, Shell Store Card and Merchants Tire Card.

Citi store cards require at least fair credit (600-649 score) for approval. But purchases are limited to the affiliated merchant or its website. Best Buy and Shell are among the many store cards that also have a full-fledged version on either the Visa or Mastercard network, which can be used anywhere the network is accepted. Those cards aren’t as easy to get as the store versions, as they require at least good credit.

Here are some of the easiest Citi cards to get:

• Citi Secured Mastercard – Available with credit score below 640
• Best Buy Store Card – 640 credit score needed
• Shell Gas Card – 640 credit score needed
• Merchants Tire Credit Card – 640 credit score needed

The Best Buy Store card is only usable at Best Buy, but it’s one of the easiest Citi cards to get because it requires fair credit (score of 640+). It has a $0 annual fee and offers 0% deferred interest for 6 to 24 months on purchases of $199 and up (length depends on price) OR 5% back in rewards on purchases (6% for spending $3,500 on card in a year). Deferred interest means that if you pay in full by the end of the 0% period, you owe no interest. If you carry any balance after that, though, you owe interest all the way back from the purchase date at the card’s regular APR of 22.49% (V).

The Shell Gas card has a $0 annual fee and offers savings of 30¢/gallon (up to 20 gallons) on the first 5 Shell fuel purchases made by 6/30/2019. Plus, save 10¢/gallon (up to 20 gallons) at the pump every time. There’s a 10% rebate on non-fuel purchases, up to $1,200 per year. The card can only be used at Shell and requires fair credit.

Lastly, the Merchants Tire Credit Card has a $0 annual fee and offers % deferred interest for 12 months on purchases of $699 or higher. Its regular APR is 30.74% (V). It can only be used at Merchants Tire, Tire Kingdom, NTB and participating Exxon and Mobil stations. The card requires fair credit.

The easiest Citi cards to get come with limitations. They offer low minimum credit limits, high interest rates and few rewards and benefits. And with the Citi store cards, beware of deferred interest promotions. Deferred interest means that there’s 0% interest as long as the balance gets paid in full by the end of the promotion. If it’s not paid in full, the Citi charges interest on the original purchase amount from the date of purchase, at the card’s regular APR.

It may also be beneficial to look outside of Citi to some of the easiest cards to get from other issuers. The Discover it Secured card is just as easy to get as the Citi Secured Mastercard, and it even offers rewards.

The Fingerhut Credit Account is the easiest unsecured card to get. But it won’t suit everyone’s needs. Fingerhut is an online marketplace, and its card can only be used to make purchases on the site. So while it will give you an unsecured line of credit, it won’t really help you cover emergency expenses.… read full answer

If you’re looking for a card that can be used for anything, the Credit One Bank® Visa® Credit Card is your best bet. You can get approved for it with bad credit. It offers a $300 starting spending limit. And you can use it wherever Visa is accepted.

Those aren’t your only options, though. WalletHub’s editors compared all of the unsecured credit cards in our database of 1,000+ offers. And we selected our favorite easy-to-get offers.

Here are the easiest unsecured credit cards to get:

• Overall: Fingerhut Credit Account
• Rewards: Credit One Bank® Visa® Credit Card
• Small Business: Capital One® Spark® Classic for Business
• Limited Credit: Petal® 2 Visa® Credit Card
• Students: Deserve® EDU Mastercard for Students

The easiest unsecured credit cards to get generally work best for minor emergencies. You will only receive a small amount of spending power, after all.

Unsecured credit cards for people with bad credit also tend to be very expensive, charging lots of fees and high interest rates. So if you don’t need a small emergency loan, the best course of action is to improve your credit inexpensively with a secured card. Secured cards are cheaper than unsecured cards, build credit just as effectively, and offer the closest thing you’ll find to guaranteed approval.

To learn more, check out WalletHub's complete list of the year’s easiest credit cards to get approved for​.

You might get away with a 660, but if you want to make sure you'll be approved, I highly recommend you get your score at 700 or more before applying.