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The Avant Credit Card is designed for people who want to improve their credit scores, including holders of bad credit. Unlike many similar credit cards, it’s unsecured, meaning that you don’t have to pay a security deposit.
The Avant Credit Card gives you an initial credit limit of $300–$3,000, with opportunities for credit limit increases. It even offers free foreign transactions. However, it has a high APR and an annual fee of up to $59.
Quick Review
If your credit needs work and you don’t want to pay a security deposit, the Avant Credit Card is worth a look.
Many similar cards designed for improving bad or limited credit are secured credit cards, meaning you have to pay a security deposit when you open them. However, the Avant Credit Card is unsecured, meaning that you don’t have to pay for a deposit and also meaning that your credit line depends on your creditworthiness rather than on how much you pay upfront.
The disadvantages of the Avant Credit Card are that you’ll likely have to pay an annual fee (up to $59), and there’s a high APR of 27.24%–29.99% (variable).
The advantages are that it starts you off with a reasonable credit limit of $300–$3,000, with potential increases. It also reports your account activity to the three major credit bureaus each month, helping you to build credit quickly (as long as you use your credit card responsibly and pay your bills on time). And, notably for frequent travelers, it has no foreign transaction fees.
The Avant Credit card is a fairly good option overall, and since the pre-qualification process won’t affect your credit score, it’s worth checking to see whether they’ll offer you a desirable credit limit, a low interest rate, or an inexpensive annual fee.
Avant Credit Card Important Details
Basic Card Details
- Credit card issuer: WebBank
- Purchase APR: 27.24%–29.99% (variable)
- Annual fee: $0–$59
- Grace period: 24 days
- Initial credit limit: $300–$3,000
Additional Information
- Quick pre-qualification that doesn’t impact your credit score
- Credit limit increases are available (meaning that you may be able to get a credit limit over $3,000)
- Cash advances are available
- Foreign transactions are available (with no fee)
- Balance transfers are not available
- No overlimit fees
- No penalty APR
- No authorized users or joint accounts
- Reports to all three credit bureaus monthly
- Zero liability protection
- Mastercard® benefits (e.g., fraud and ID theft protection, TransUnion credit report monitoring, and emergency assistance for lost or stolen cards)
Avant Credit Card Feature Breakdown
Let’s look at some of the important features of the Avant Credit Card to see how it meets your borrowing needs.
Fees
- Annual fee: $0–$59
- Cash advance fee: $10 or 3% (whichever is greater)
- Foreign transaction fee: None
- Overlimit fee: None
- Late payment fee: Up to $39
Unfortunately, most credit cards for limited, no, or bad credit charge high fees. Most of the Avant Credit Card fees are fairly standard for borrowers in this credit range, but the fee-free foreign transactions are a major benefit to international travelers.
The Avant Credit Card also has no processing fees, monthly fees, or fees for going over your credit limit, all of which are common with credit cards for credit building.
Interest Rates
- Regular APR: 27.24%–29.99% (variable)
- Cash advance APR: 27.24%–29.99% (variable)
- Penalty APR: None
- Minimum interest charge: $1
If you don’t pay your credit card balance in full each month, you’ll be charged interest. The interest you’ll pay each year depends on your credit card APR (“annual percentage rate”).
The interest rate is high for the Avant Credit Card, but this is common for cards that help you build or rebuild credit. Ideally, you should pay the full balance off every month to avoid high interest charges.
Notably, the Avant Credit Card doesn’t have a penalty APR (an increased APR that credit cards charge if you miss payments).
Grace Period
The Avant credit card gives you a 24-day credit card grace period (beginning on the first day of the new billing cycle). The grace period allows you time to pay your bills in full without racking up any interest charges.
If you pay off your previous balance in full by the due date, your purchases during the grace period won’t accumulate interest. However, if you carry a balance from previous billing cycles, you’ll be charged interest on purchases you make during the grace period.
Rewards
The Avant credit card isn’t currently advertising a rewards program.
This isn’t surprising; if you have poor credit or a lack of credit history, it’s harder to find credit cards that offer cashback rewards. However, it’s still not out of the question.
Even if you have less-than-perfect credit, you can find cards with cash back or rewards points for your credit score range. So if earning rewards is important to you, consider looking for a different credit card.
Benefits
The Avant Credit Card offers the following benefits:
- Zero fraud liability protection: This means that you won’t have to pay for any purchases on your card that you haven’t authorized (e.g., if your card gets lost or stolen).
- Mastercard® ID Theft Protection: This includes fraud and ID theft protection, TransUnion credit report monitoring, and emergency assistance if your card is lost or stolen.
- 24-hour assistance for lost or stolen cards: This gives you an emergency phone number to report your card lost or stolen and get emergency card replacements. You can also ask for emergency cash advances.
- Discounted Mastercard® airport concierge services: This means you’ll enjoy a 15% saving on Mastercard® airport meet-and-greet services.
Cash Advances
A cash advance is when you use your credit card to withdraw money from an ATM. Cash advances are allowed on the Avant Credit Card, but you can only withdraw up to 25% of your credit limit. (e.g., if your credit limit is $400, you can only withdraw up to $100 in total from cash machines before you have to start repaying the money you’ve borrowed).
The cash advance fee is either $10 or 3% of the amount of each advance—whichever is greater. The cash advance APR is the same as the purchase APR at 27.24%–29.99% (variable). Because the cash advance APR is high, the funds you take out at an ATM could rack up a lot of interest charges if you don’t pay your balance in full by the due date.
Balance Transfers
A balance transfer is when you move debt from one credit card to another (which is a common form of debt consolidation). The Avant Credit Card doesn’t offer balance transfers.
Credit Limit
The Avant Credit Card will give you an initial credit limit of $300–$3,000. This means you could end up with a reasonable initial credit limit for lower-credit credit cards.
Credit Limit Increases
The Avant Credit Card may periodically review your account to see whether you’re eligible for a credit limit increase. You can also ask Avant for a larger credit line at any time by using the dashboard in your online account or your Avant mobile app. Alternatively, you can call them at 1-855-AVANTCARD and put in a request.
This means that you may be able to get a credit limit of more than $3,000 if you use your credit responsibly. However, you’re not guaranteed a positive response if you request a credit limit increase.
Credit Reporting
Credit reporting is an important part of building credit, as your credit report is based on the information your lenders send to the credit bureaus.
Lenders aren’t legally required to report your credit history; many report to only one or two of the major credit bureaus, if any. Fortunately, the Avant Credit Card reports to all three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion), which will help you improve your credit score quickly.
Credit Building
Because the Avant Credit Card reports to all three credit bureaus, it’s great for credit building. However, you must keep up with your monthly payments to benefit your credit score; your credit will suffer if your payments are late or missed.
Credit Score Requirements
The Avant Credit Card does not specify what credit score you need to qualify. However, when we contacted their customer service team, they said that it’s possible to qualify even if you have bad credit. FICO scores under 580 are considered bad, so you may be eligible if your score is within this range. 1
Note that the Avant Credit Card may use any one of your many credit scores to decide whether they’ll approve you for a credit card. For example, they may use FICO scores or VantageScore credit scores, but they may also use other types of credit scores.
The Avant Credit Card website recommends the card for people who are new to credit as well as for people who want to rebuild their credit. This suggests that borrowers with limited credit (i.e., borrowers with short credit histories) may also be eligible.
Application and Approval
You can apply for an Avant Credit Card:
- By applying online: Go to the Avant Credit Card website and fill out your details to see if you prequalify.
- By responding to a preapproval offer online: If you’ve received a preselected Avant Credit Card offer by mail, you can respond by visiting the Avant Credit Card website and providing your personal offer code along with the last four digits of your Social Security number.
When you apply for the Avant Credit Card, the issuer will consider information about factors like your credit history, income, and other debt obligations. They’ll then use this information to decide whether to approve you.
According to Avant, you can get a decision about your application in as little as 60 seconds.
Note that prequalification won’t have any effect on your credit score, but the next step of the Avant Credit Card application will involve a hard inquiry. A hard inquiry, also known as a hard pull or hard credit check, will appear on your credit report whenever you apply for a line of credit, and usually will knock a few points off your credit score.
Managing Your Account
You can log into your Avant Credit Card account online to manage your account (including by making payments). Alternatively, you can use the iOS app or Android app.
To make payments, you can register your checking or savings account with Avant and then either set up recurring payments through AutoPay or make one-time payments on specific dates. Note that you can’t use another credit card to pay your Avant Credit Card bill.
As well as making payments online, you can mail payments by check or money order. If you use a check, include the following information on the check:
- Your full name as it appears on your statement
- The last four digits of your credit card account number
The address to send payments is:
Avant, LLC
PO Box 1429
Carol Stream, IL 60132-1429
Customer Service
If you need help with your Avant Credit Card, you can call customer service on (855) 752-7012, or you can email [email protected].
Lost or Stolen Cards
If your Avant Credit Card is lost or stolen, call 1-855-AVANTCARD as soon as possible, and press 1 to report it.
Should You Get the Avant Credit Card?
FinanceJar Verdict
Although it’s not our absolute top choice among credit cards for credit building, we still think the Avant Credit Card offers a competitive deal—particularly if you’re likely to use your credit card outside of the US.
At the same time, we recommend that you weigh your other options before committing, as you may be able to find a card within your credit score range that doesn’t charge an annual fee or as high of an APR. Check out our lists of:
Who is this card for?
- Credit card applicants who want speedy processing: One advantage of the Avant Credit Card is that it promises a quick and easy application process with a fast decision about your eligibility.
- People who don’t want to pay a security deposit: The Avant Credit Card is an unsecured credit card—meaning that you don’t need to pay a security deposit—that’s suitable for people with lower credit scores or limited credit. If your credit needs work but you’re determined not to put down a security deposit for a credit card, the Avant Credit Card is worth considering.
- Credit builders: The Avant Credit Card reports to all three credit bureaus, making it a great card for credit building. If you’re able to get approved for the Avant Credit Card, you can use it to start improving your credit score by paying your monthly bills in a timely manner. Once you boost your score, you’ll be able to upgrade to even cheaper, better cards with more favorable terms.
Comparable Cards
To decide whether the Avant Credit Card is right for you, take a look at how it measures up against similar cards on the market.
Avant Credit Card vs. Credit One Bank® Platinum Visa® for Rebuilding Credit
These two cards are aimed at borrowers trying to improve their credit histories. Both are unsecured, meaning that you don’t have to pay a security deposit.
The Credit One Bank® Platinum Visa® has several disadvantages compared with the Avant Credit Card:
- It starts everyone off with a low credit limit of $300.
- It has a higher annual fee of $75 for the first year and then $99 in the following years.
- It charges foreign transaction fees.
- It usually charges higher fees for cash advances than the Avant Credit Card does (if you withdraw more than $125). However, the Avant Credit Card limits how much you can withdraw through cash advances.
However, the advantages of the Credit One Bank® Platinum Visa® are:
- A lower variable APR of 26.99% (variable).
- A cashback rewards program (1% cashback on gas and groceries as well as your monthly mobile phone, internet, cable, and satellite TV services).
- 10% cash back on certain purchases from participating stores.
If you use your Credit One Bank® Platinum Visa® a lot, the cash back may help to offset the annual fee. However, if you’re likely to get only minimal use from your card, you’re better off sticking with the Avant Credit Card.
Avant Credit Card vs. Mission Lane Visa®
The Mission Lane Visa® is another card for people who want to improve their credit. Like the Avant Credit Card, it’s unsecured, so it doesn’t require a security deposit.
The Mission Lane Visa® and the Avant Credit Card have a number of features in common:
- Reporting to all three major credit bureaus.
- The same cash advance transaction fees.
- No balance transfers.
The major downsides of the Mission Lane Visa® are:
- It charges foreign transaction fees.
- It charges potentially higher annual fees of $0–$75.
- It has a potentially higher variable cash advance APR of 27.74%–29.99%.
In its favor, the Mission Lane Visa® may give you a lower variable APR of 19.99%–29.99% (variable) and a potentially lower late payment fee (with late payment fees going up to $35). It also offers borrowers free credit scores.
Overall, the two cards are fairly similar. We slightly prefer the Avant Credit Card due to the potentially lower annual fees, but as you can be preapproved for both cards without hurting your credit score, you may as well apply for both to see whether one offers lower interest rates and/or a higher credit limit than the other.
Avant Credit Card vs. Prosper® Card
Both of these cards are unsecured cards for people who need help with their credit. In this respect, the major disadvantage of the Prosper® Card is that it currently only reports to one of the three major credit bureaus—TransUnion—whereas the Avant Credit Card reports to all three major bureaus.
Other downsides of the Prosper® Card are that:
- It charges fees for foreign transactions.
- It has a cash advance APR of 30.24%, which is higher than the Avant Credit Card’s APR.
However, the Prosper® Card gives you a better deal in the following respects:
- The purchase APR for the Prosper® Card is likely to be lower at 22.74%–33.74% (variable).
- The Prosper® Card does not charge fees for cash advance ATM withdrawals.
- The Prosper® Card has a higher minimum credit limit of $500.
Another difference between the two cards is that, compared with the Avant Credit Card, the Prosper® Card has a more predictable annual fee of $39; this fee is even waived for the first year if you sign up for autopay.
If you plan to make a lot of cash advances, the Prosper® Card could save you money on cash advance fees. Also, it might give you a higher credit limit. On the other hand, if you plan to use your credit card predominantly for purchases, the more comprehensive credit reporting offered by the Avant Credit Card makes it a better option for credit builders.
