The 7 best secured and credit-building cards

Side by side

We rank independently, and compensation does not set the order. Credit-building cards are where the worst products in the industry hide, so our scoring leans heavily on cost and on whether the card actually builds anything.

• Bureau reporting: we only include cards that report to all three national bureaus, because a card that does not report builds no history.
• Cost to hold: annual fees, monthly fees and any processing charges taken out of the credit line.
• Deposit terms: how much you must tie up, and whether the issuer offers flexibility.
• Graduation path: whether there is a documented route to an unsecured card and a returned deposit.
• Rewards and extras: whether the card earns anything or provides free score access while you build.

A secured card is a normal credit card with training wheels bolted on. You send the issuer a refundable security deposit, which usually becomes your credit limit, and that deposit lowers the issuer's risk enough that they will approve you without an established history. From there it behaves like any other card: you spend, you get a statement, you pay it, and the issuer reports the account to the credit bureaus every month.

That monthly report is the entire point. Payment history is the heaviest factor in a FICO score, and you cannot build a payment history without an account that reports one. Six to twelve months of on-time payments on a small secured line is usually enough to produce a usable score, and it is the fastest legitimate route from no credit file to one that lenders will price.

1. 1Put one small recurring charge on the card, such as a streaming subscription, and leave everything else off it.
2. 2Set up autopay for the full statement balance, so you never carry interest and never miss a due date.
3. 3Keep your reported balance low relative to your limit. On a small limit, even modest spending can look like heavy utilization.
4. 4Do not apply for other credit for the first six to twelve months. Let the account age quietly.
5. 5After about a year of clean payments, ask about graduating to an unsecured card or getting your deposit returned.

What you should not do is close the account the moment you graduate. Age of credit history is a scoring factor, and your first card is usually your oldest account, which makes it worth keeping open with a small recurring charge long after you have better cards.