Best Credit Cards for Fair/Average Credit in May 2024

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When you have fair or average credit, your FICO® Score sits somewhere between 580 and 669. This score is far better than someone with bad credit or anyone who is credit invisible, but lenders may still consider you a subprime borrower. That means your credit report suggests you're at a higher risk of defaulting on a credit card compared to someone with good or excellent credit. When you’re a subprime borrower, it costs more to borrow money. Lenders typically offer you loans and credit cards with higher interest rates to help offset the risk.

Why your credit score matters

Your credit score doesn’t just impact how much interest you pay on loans. It plays a much bigger role:

• Renting an apartment: When you rent an apartment or condo, your landlord may run a credit check to determine how likely you are to be a good tenant. The same factors that impact your credit score the most (your repayment history and the amount of debt you carry) could affect your application.
• Buying a home: With a lower credit score, you may not qualify for a conventional mortgage. This factor can make it harder to buy the home you want, as many sellers prefer conventional loans over government-backed loans.
• Insurance costs: In most states, insurance companies use your credit history to help determine how much you pay for insurance. A good credit score could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars when buying auto or homeowners insurance.
• Utilities and phone plans: Utility companies and phone carriers also run credit checks to determine how well you manage your finances. A lower score could mean having to put down a deposit for service or phone plans.
• Credit limits: Not all credit cards for fair credit have high limits. Depending on your credit score, you could end up with a credit limit as low as $200 to $300, making it difficult to build credit, especially if you use too much of your available credit.

To find the best credit card for fair credit, consider several factors, including your spending habits, goals and your approval odds. To help you shop for your next card, here are the steps for choosing a credit card.

Do you need a secured card?

A secured card can be a handy financial tool if you’re starting your credit journey but aren’t ready for an unsecured card (or would rather avoid the annual fees typically required on unsecured credit-building cards).

Secured credit cards can be especially helpful since many charge no annual fee and give you a chance to set your own credit limit. Since secured cards usually use your deposit as the basis for your credit limit, they give you more control as you work on keeping credit utilization low (a key credit scoring factor). 

That said, if you’re confident in your ability to use a credit card, an unsecured credit card could be a better choice. Unsecured cards don’t require an upfront deposit, which may be preferable if you’d rather not tie up money for months as you build credit. And while your starting credit limit might be lower than it would be with a secured card, many unsecured credit cards offer a chance at a higher credit line after a few months of positive payment history.

When looking for a credit card with fair credit, it’s best to get advice from others who have already gone through the process and can recommend specific strategies or even specific cards.

Redditors from the r/CRedit community recommended that those who have credit scores in the 600 range look at cards from Discover and Capital One, specifically the Discover it® Secured Credit Card and the Capital One QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. Many users cited these cards’ rewards as a key draw.

Other users suggested anyone in the military or who has a family member that served in the military consider cards from Navy Federal Credit Union.

No matter what card you decide on, many of the users suggest trying to prequalify for the card through the issuer first to get a sense of your odds of approval without adding a hard pull to your credit report. Another method of avoiding a hard pull is to get preapproved through tools like Bankrate’s CardMatch, which lets you see which cards you’ll most likely get approved for based on your credit history.

*The quotes and citations included on this page have been verified by our editorial team and are accurate as of the posting date. Be sure to check the issuer's website/terms and conditions for all up to date content. Outlinked content may contain views and opinions that do not reflect the views and opinions of Bankrate.

Having fair credit offers many advantages, like the chance to qualify for an unsecured card and more rewarding options. While you should work to maintain fair credit, the good habits you create can lead to a higher score over time.

In a Bankrate study, 15 percent of U.S. adults say their biggest financial regret is taking on too much credit card debt. Read more about the results in the full Bankrate survey or hear from our experts on Bankrate's tips and tricks for paying down credit card debt. 

Have more questions for our credit cards editors? Feel free to send us an email, find us on Facebook, or Tweet us @Bankrate.

When evaluating the best cards for [students / building credit], we consider a mix of factors, including how cards score in our proprietary card rating system and whether cards offer features that make it easy to build credit history while minimizing costs.

We analyzed over 50 of the most popular cards designed for [students / people with no credit history, bad credit or a fair credit score] and rated each based on its cost, APR, credit-building features and more to determine whether it belonged in this month’s roundup.

Here are some of the key factors that we considered: 

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply