The 9 Best Starter Credit Cards of November 2022

While the Capital One QuickSilverOne Cash Rewards credit card isn’t truly a “starter” card, it does accept fair credit scores. This allows many newer credit users to qualify, which is why we keep it on our best starter credit cards list. 

With this card, you get 1.5% back on everything you spend and 5% back on rental cars and hotels booked through Capital One Travel. Besides cashing in points through Capital One Travel, you can redeem your rewards at any time for cash or a statement credit, or you could even apply it to cover a recent purchase. 

It’s worth noting that the APR on this card is pretty steep, so avoid carrying a balance. On the other hand, Capital One does have you covered if you plan on traveling internationally with no foreign transaction fees.  

Overall, this card is a no fuss way to start building your credit while getting rewards. It reports to all three credit bureaus, and in as little as 6 months, you can be automatically considered for a higher credit line. 

Basically, if you qualify, this is a solid choice to start your credit card journey. 

A card that requires a good credit score might look misplaced on a best starter credit card list, but the Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express is a special case, and you’ll see why immediately. 

Unlike most US credit card issuers, American Express’ partnership with Nova Credit allows them to take into account credit scores from foreign countries when evaluating a customer’s credit worthiness. However, this isn’t available to all foreign credit scores. Currently, Nova vouches for credit from Australia, Canada, India, Mexico, The United Kingdom, Brazil, The Dominican Republic, Kenya, and Nigeria. 

Once qualified, the Blue Cash Everyday Card is a great credit card. You’ll get 3% cash back on US grocery stores, 3% on US online retail, and 3% on gas. Each of these categories has a $6,000 cap on purchases eligible for rewards each year. After that, you’ll receive 1% per dollar like you do for all other purchases. 

Plus, as an introductory offer, you also get 0% APR for the first 15 months on purchases and balance transfers and $0 Plan It fees for their Buy Now, Pay Later plan. 

While this card is a great choice for foreigners living in the United States, it’s not a good choice for traveling outside of the US. American Express credit cards are not as widely accepted internationally as some other credit card issuers, and they do charge foreign transaction fees. 

Still, if you’re new to the United States and from one of the lucky countries on Nova’s list, the Blue Cash Everyday credit card is a great credit card to start with. 

The Petal 2 “Cash Back, No Fees” Visa credit card means what they say when they promise no fees. There is no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, no late payment fee, and no returned payment fee–a lack of fees almost unheard of for starter cards. 

You can even qualify for this card if you have a limited credit history. Petal will take into account things like income and savings to establish your creditworthiness–no credit score required. Plus, as an unsecured card, you don’t need a security deposit to qualify. 

However, because this is marketed specifically as a starter credit card, the Petal 2 credit card does not offer cash advances or balance transfers. If that’s what you’re looking for, keep moving.

Besides reporting to the three main credit bureaus, Petal actually built its rewards system as a way to reward responsible credit habits. At first, you’ll get 1% cash back on all purchases, and as you make payments on time, they’ll upgrade you to up to 1.5% cash back.

It’s annoying to have to jump through hoops, but not all of the starter credit cards even offer rewards, so we’ll take it. 

Finally, the Petal 2 “Cash Back, No Fees” credit card has a relatively high credit limit for cards in this category, with limits beginning at$500 and ranging up to $10,000. 

Unfortunately, there is no option to upgrade to a traditional card and the APR is pretty high, so while this might be a good starter card, it will always only be a starter card.  

The Tomo Credit Card has no required credit score. In fact, they don’t even require a credit check. Instead, Tomo creates individual assessments based on your financial history. This allows people with bad credit to qualify.

Tomo advertises this card as having no APR and no fees. While this is true, it’s because it functions a little differently than most traditional credit cards.

To use the Tomo Credit Card, you must link a bank account directly to your credit card. Then at set intervals, Tomo will pull money from your bank account to pay your card off in full. You can choose this autopay to happen as frequently as every 7 days. This keeps your credit utilization low, meaning your credit score will improve more quickly.

This quick turn around will benefit your credit score, but might not benefit your bank account. Anything you buy on this card, you’ll have to pay in full quickly. It’s a great way to earn credit, but not why we traditionally use credit cards.

We do like that the Tomo credit card offers 1% cashback for purchases made on this card and doesn’t have foreign transaction fees. Plus, Tomo offers credit limits of as much as $10,000, which is really high for a starter card.

Basically, if your goal is to build credit quickly and you have poor credit, the Tomo Credit Card might be a good choice for you.

Figuring out the Discover it Student Cash Back Credit Card can be a little complicated for first-time credit card users, but once you understand it, it’s pretty awesome. 

First, Discover offers 5% back on specific categories that change each quarter. The rotating categories are:

• January through March: 5% back on grocery stores (excluding Walmart, Target, and warehouse stores) and fitness clubs or gym memberships
• April through June:  5% on gas stations and Target
• July through September:  5% on restaurants and Paypal
• October through December:  5% on Amazon.com and digital wallet purchases  

Then, at the end of the first year, you’ll get Discover’s Unlimited Cashback Match where you get a dollar-for-dollar match of your rewards from that year. That means if you earned $50 in rewards that year, you’ll get $50 additional dollars at the end of the year automatically!

We also like the low APR introductory offer. You get 0% APR for the first 6 months and 10.99% for balance transfers. Of course, we think you should avoid accruing any interest at all, but it’s still nice to know you have a low APR just in case. 

As with all Discover cards, your history using the Discover it Student Cashback Credit Card  will be reported to all three main credit bureaus to help you build your credit. Not to mention the fact that this card also comes with great customer service, the fun ability to customize the physical appearance of your card and no foreign transaction fees.

When you do graduate, Discover will transition this student credit card to a traditional credit card. You’ll get the same rotating rewards but with a higher credit limit.

The Discover it Secured Credit card tops our list of secured credit cards because it’s a secured credit card that doesn’t act like one. That makes it the great choice for someone with absolutely no credit history to start building a credit score. Sure, you have to pay the $200 minimum refundable deposit, but after that, Discover actually gives you a chance to earn rewards on your spending — something pretty uncommon in secured credit cards.

You’ll get 2% back at gas stations and restaurants up to $1,000 each quarter and 1% on all other purchases. Then, at the end of the year, you’ll get a dollar-for-dollar match of those rewards thanks to Discover’s Cashback Match. This means that at the end of the first year your reward earnings will automatically double.

As noted, this card requires a refundable security deposit starting at $200. This minimum deposit is a little higher than some other secured credit cards, but you might not need that deposit long. If you use the card responsibly, you can be eligible to upgrade to an unsecured card in as little as 7 months.

The APR is high, but it does, of course, report to all three main credit bureaus, so if used responsibly, this is a good choice for starter credit cards

For most secured credit cards, the refundable security deposit directly matches the card user’s credit limit. However, with the Capital One Platinum Secured credit card, you can actually be approved for a higher credit limit than the deposit you put down. For example, if you put down $49, you can get a $200 credit limit. Looking for a larger limit? Put down $99 or $200 and get a credit limit up to $1,000.

This card doesn’t charge an annual fee, but it also doesn’t have any rewards and the APR is pretty high at 28.49%. This isn’t a problem if you don’t carry a balance, but it could add up quickly if you make a mistake.

Capital One does, of course, report to the three credit bureaus and even offers automatic credit line reviews. Basically, if you can use this card responsibly, your credit limit can go up in as little as 6 months and eventually make you eligible to upgrade to a new unsecured card.

The U.S. Bank Altitude Go Secured Visa Card is a good option for foodies looking to build credit and enjoy rewards at the same time.

The U.S. Bank Altitude Go Secured Visa Card offers 4x points on dining, takeout, and restaurant delivery, 2x points on grocery stores, gas stations, and streaming services, and 1x points on all other services. Reward points are scarce enough with secured cards, but these really are some of the best on the market.

It is worth noting that you need 2,500 points before you can redeem them as cash or a statement credit. However, you can use them in smaller amounts to purchase merchandise and gift cards on the U.S. Bank rewards website.

So if the upside is the rewards, the downside is the large minimum deposit. The U.S. Bank Altitude Go Secured card requires a refundable security deposit between $300 to $5,000. Many other cards have much lower minimums like $49, so the idea of having to hand over $300 is difficult to stomach.

With these high deposits, however, come high credit limits. It’s hard to think of someone who would have $5,000 to hand over for a deposit, but if they do, they’ll have a $5,000 credit limit– high for a secured card.

Right now, you also get $15 for an annual streaming service (after 11 months of paying for that streaming service on the card.) It’s kind of a random perk, but we’ll always take free Netflix.

Finally, U.S. Bank does report to all three credit bureaus and allows card members to upgrade their card to an unsecured credit card after they’ve proven their credit worthiness.