Best Credit Cards for Fair Credit

• Why people trust WalletHub
• Our picks for the best credit cards for fair credit in 2023
• Tips for finding the best credit cards for fair credit
• How we picked the best credit cards for fair credit
• The competition
• About the author
• Sources
• User questions & answers
• Expert opinions

Capital One Platinum Credit Card

The Capital One Platinum Credit Card is the best credit card for fair credit overall. 

Why We Like It: The Capital One Platinum Credit Card has a $0 annual fee. Cardholders also are eligible for a credit limit increase in as little as 6 months. Plus, people with fair credit should have high approval odds for the Capital One Platinum Card, since it’s a starter credit card available even to applicants with limited credit experience. So it’s a great way to save money as you build credit, which should be your top priority until you have a good credit score.

What We Don’t Like: This card does not offer rewards or a low interest rate.

Who Should Get It:  Apply for the Capital One Platinum Credit Card if you want an inexpensive starter card to build credit with.

Alternatives to Consider: The Petal® 2 Visa® Credit Card, the Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card and the Upgrade Cash Rewards Visa® are worth comparing.
 

Petal 2 Visa Credit Card

The Petal 2 Visa Credit Card is one of the best credit cards for people with fair credit, or even limited credit.

Why We Like It: It has a $0 annual fee and gives at least 1% cash back on all eligible purchases. Cardholders earn 1% back until they pay the account’s bill on time for six consecutive months, which boosts the earn rate to 1.25% cash back. And after paying on time for 12 straight months, the rewards rate increases to 1.5% back across the board.

Plus, the Petal 2 Card reports account info to the three major credit bureaus each month. That will help cardholders build positive credit history, as long as they manage the account responsibly.

What We Don’t Like: You need to wait several months until you’re able to qualify for a truly competitive rewards rate.

Who Should Get It: Apply for the Petal 2 Visa Card if you have limited to fair credit, plan to pay the bill on time and in full every month, and expect to keep the account open for more than a year.

Alternatives to Consider: The Capital One Platinum Credit Card, the Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card and the Upgrade Cash Rewards Visa® are all great options.
 

Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card is one of the best credit cards for people with fair credit who plan to charge a fair amount to their new card. 

Why We Like It: QuicksilverOne offers 1.5% cash back on all purchases – nearly 50% more than the average cash rewards card provides.

What We Don’t Like: There is a $39 annual fee, and paying the card’s bill in full every month is essential, given its high APR.

Who Should Get It: Apply for Capital One QuicksilverOne if you plan to spend about $2,600 per year, as that’s where the card’s rewards value can overcome the fixed cost.

Alternatives to Consider: The Capital One Platinum Credit Card and the Petal® 2 Visa® Credit Card are both great options to consider.
 

OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card

The OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card is one of the easiest credit cards to get with fair credit.

Why We Like It: There is no credit check when you apply, so a rocky credit history won’t prevent you from getting approved. The card still reports account info to the major credit bureaus each month, though, so it’s a pretty dependable tool for building credit.  

What We Don’t Like: This card is not a good option for carrying a balance from month to month, thanks to a fairly high APR. It also has a $35 annual fee. 

Who Should Get It: Apply for the OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card if you’re rebuilding from credit damage and want high approval odds. 

Alternatives to Consider: The First Progress Platinum Elite Mastercard® Secured Credit Card is another option with no credit check.
 

Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card is one of the best credit cards for students with fair credit.

Why We Like It: This card is inexpensive to own and rewarding to use. Cardholders earn 1 - 5% cash back on purchases, depending on the spending category, plus an initial bonus of $50 for spending $100 in the first 3 months. There’s also no annual fee and no foreign transaction fee.

What We Don’t Like: If you don’t have an active college email address, you may have a tough time qualifying. Carrying a balance from month to month won’t be cheap, either.

Who Should Get It: Consider applying for the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card if you’re a college student with limited to fair credit whose spending habits match up well with the card’s rewards.

Alternatives to Consider: There are several really good credit cards for students available right now.
 

Brex Corporate Card for Startups

The Brex Corporate Card for Startups is one of the best fair-credit credit cards for business.

Why We Like It: It has a $0 annual fee and rewards cardholders with 1 - 7 points per $1 on purchases. You’ll also have the opportunity to earn some attractive initial bonuses. Perhaps most importantly, though, this card will consider applicants with limited-to-fair credit history.

What We Don’t Like: You’ll have to pay the bill in full every month, which limits the card’s value for some business owners.

Who Should Get It: Apply for the Brex Corporate Card for Startups if you’re a small business owner with limited to fair credit who wants to earn rewards on everyday purchases.

Alternatives to Consider: The Capital One Spark Classic for Business is a low-cost rewards card for business owners with limited credit.
 

Best Credit Cards for Average Credit Comparison

1. Avoid annual fees

   Annual fees are the most prominent type of fee to watch out for, but they’re not alone. For example, you might need to consider one-time fees for application processing or transferring a balance, depending on what type of card you’re looking for and how you plan to use it. Your goal should be to minimize the fees that are likely to apply to your usage habits and ignore those that aren’t.

   
   

2. Choose between rewards and 0% rates

   Making this decision early will help make your search more manageable, by cutting your options in half, in addition to helping you get better terms. No single credit card has the best rewards and the best rates, which means you shouldn’t try to use one for both everyday purchases and carrying a balance. Instead, get a rewards card for everyday expenses that you can pay in full within a billing period, a card offering 0% on purchases for big-ticket spending or a 0% balance transfer card for reducing the cost of existing debt. And if you have more than one need, you can get multiple cards and use the Island Approach.

   
   

3. Double-check your credit score

   There is a fine line between “fair” credit and “good” credit. In fact, only 40 credit-score points separates the two tiers (fair credit means a credit score of 620 to 659, while good credit is 660 to 719). So if you haven’t checked your credit score in a while, make sure to do so before applying. You might be able to get a better card than you think.

   
   

4. Pay on time & prep for an upgrade

   Credit scores can fluctuate by 100 points in a single month, so graduating to a higher credit level doesn’t have to take too long. And that’s great news, considering the best credit card deals require good or excellent credit for approval. So pay your bill on time every month, don’t max out your spending limit and track your credit score’s progress over time to see when you’re ready for an upgrade.

   
   

5. Crunch the numbers

   Try to put everything into dollar terms. For rewards cards, that means applying each card’s earnings rates to your actual spending habits in order to determine how much you’re likely to earn over your expected usage timeframe. For 0% cards, it means seeing what monthly debt payments you can comfortably afford to make, how large of a balance you will therefore have remaining at the end of each card’s 0% intro term, and what interest charges you would incur thereafter.

WalletHub’s editors compared hundreds of credit cards for people with fair credit scores, searching for the top offers in the most popular categories. In particular, we focused on cards with low annual fees and high rewards rates, including general-purpose credit cards as well as store credit cards. We did not select any cards with especially low regular APRs because we recommend paying your monthly credit card bills in full when you have fair credit. The overall goal in comparing credit card offers for fair credit is to find the card that will maximize your savings, and WalletHub's selections were made with that in mind.

Finally, if you want to make things really easy, just sign up for a free WalletHub account. We’ll give you a personalized card recommendation based on your latest credit score and financial priorities.

There are lots of really good credit card for fair credit offers on the market right now. The following offers didn’t quite make the cut for our editors’ best-card selections, but they can still save cardholders a lot of money.

Info	Sponsored Credit One Bank® Platinum Visa®	Sponsored Capital One Platinum Credit Card
Annual Fee	$39	$0
Bonus Offer	N/A	N/A
Rewards Rate	0 - 1% Cash Back	N/A
Purchase Intro APR	N/A	N/A
Transfer Intro APR	N/A	N/A
Regular APR	28.24% (V)	29.74% (V)
Editors' Rating	2.8	5
Details, Rates & Fees	Learn More	Learn More

WalletHub actively maintains a database of 1,500+ credit card offers, from which we select the best credit cards for fair credit for different applicants as well as derive market-wide takeaways and trends. The underlying data is compiled from credit card company websites or provided directly by the credit card issuers. We also leverage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to develop cardholder profiles, used to estimate cards’ potential savings.