The First Latitude Elite Secured Mastercard® is a good credit card for people with bad credit who plan to charge at least $242 per month and pay the bill in full. You will need to spend that much for the card's 1% cash back rewards to offset its $29 annual fee, according to WalletHub’s calculations. Similarly, you need to pay in full by the due date each month to prevent expensive interest charges from tilting the savings scale out of your favor and to help your credit score rebound.

This card reports to all three major credit bureaus on a monthly basis and does not have a minimum credit score, making it easy to get approved and start rebuilding your credit score. The key is to spend responsibly and pay on time. If you do that, you’ll see your credit score steadily rise when you check it for free here on WalletHub.

What I Like About the First Latitude Elite Secured Mastercard®

1% cash back on purchases

Many credit cards for people with bad credit don’t reward you for making purchases. Plenty of credit cards for people with higher credit scores don’t either.

The First Latitude Elite Secured Mastercard® beats such offers by giving you 1% cash back on all purchases, after paying the card’s bill. That’s about average for a rewards card across all credit levels, according to our research. 

You can also earn up to 10% cash back on purchases at a limited number of participating merchants. That’s even better but hard to depend on. 
 

No minimum credit score

You don’t need any credit experience to get approved for the First Latitude Elite Secured Mastercard®, and even if the only experience you do have reflects poorly on you as a borrower, it still shouldn’t prevent you from qualifying.

That’s not to say approval is guaranteed. You could still be rejected if you don’t have enough income for the security deposit and monthly payments, for example.

However, the bar to qualify is a lot lower than with most other credit cards, allowing you to begin rebuilding your credit as soon as possible.
 

Reports to all 3 major credit bureaus

Information about your account will be relayed to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion on a monthly basis. As long as you pay at least the minimum amount required by the due date and keep your balance well below your credit limit, you should see steady credit-score gains due to the positive information flowing into your credit reports.

What I Don’t Like About the First Latitude Elite Secured Mastercard®

$29 annual fee

This isn’t the most expensive secured card, but it certainly isn’t the cheapest either. Some secured credit cards don’t charge annual fees, including several with rewards, and the average annual fee among new credit card offers overall is just $29.67, according to WalletHub’s Credit Card Landscape Report.
 

23.49% (V) APR

Carrying a balance from month to month with this card will cost you a lot more in interest than its rewards save you. The card has an APR of 23.49% (V), which is higher than average for a secured card, according to our latest research.

It’s best to pay your monthly bills in full in order to avoid interest charges until you have a higher credit score and can qualify for better offers. If you need to borrow for an emergency, you’ll want an unsecured card for bad credit, not a secured card. 
 

$200+ security deposit

This is standard for a secured card, but all else being equal, it would be better not to have to part with this much money, even temporarily.

The amount of your deposit becomes the spending limit on the card, and it’s refundable when you pay off your balance and close your account. That’s normal, too. What’s unique is that you also have to cut your card in half if it hasn’t expired yet and send the pieces to the issuer (Pinnacle Bank), then wait up to two months before getting your refund. Most secured cards don’t have such a requirement.