Secured Credit Cards with No Annual Fee
Credit Card | Best For | Credit Score | Annual Fee | Welcome Bonus |
---|---|---|---|---|
Overall | 300–669 | $0 | Cashback Match | |
No Credit Check | 300–669 | $0 | ||
Building Credit | 300–669 | $0 | ||
Free Credit Scores | 300–669 | $0 | ||
High Credit Limit | 300–669 | $0 |
Table of Contents
If you have bad credit or a limited borrowing history, you may be looking at getting a secured credit card. On top of security deposits, a lot of these cards charge annual fees, and some even charge monthly and startup fees.
Luckily, this isn’t always the case, and you can still find a secured credit card without annual fees. To help you find the right one, we’ve put together a list of our 5 favorites.
What’s a secured credit card?
A secured credit card is a credit card that requires a security deposit. The security deposit on a credit card acts as collateral, so the issuer can keep the deposit if the borrower doesn’t pay their credit card bill.
Secured credit cards are an accessible borrowing option for people with bad credit or no credit. Because they pose a low risk to lenders (since they can take your deposit if you don’t pay), it’s usually easier to get approved for a secured credit card than an unsecured one.
Do secured credit cards have annual fees?
Not all secured credit cards have annual fees. Like most credit cards for bad credit, secured cards tend to have worse borrowing terms, including fees and high APR. However, this isn’t always the case. There are secured credit cards for bad credit that don’t charge annual or monthly fees.
Best secured credit cards without annual fees
Rewards, credit building, and flexible credit limits—all without an annual fee. Here are our top 6 secured cards that don’t charge annual fees.
Overall best secured credit card with no annual fee
Best secured credit card with no annual fee and no credit check
GO2bank™ Secured Visa®
Annual
Fee
$0 |
Credit
Score
300–669 |
Deposit
$100 |
Purchase
APR
22.99% (fixed) |
Why It's Great
It’s rare to find credit cards that don’t require credit checks, but some secured cards can claim this benefit. Avoiding a credit check accomplishes two things:
- It’s easier to qualify: If the lender doesn’t look into your credit history, they can’t be dissuaded from qualifying you based on scary stuff in your credit report—like defaulted loans, bankruptcies, foreclosures, or repossessions.
- You won’t get a hard inquiry: You'll receive a hard inquiry on your credit report when a lender pulls your history through a credit check. Hard inquiries knock a few points off your score, so why not avoid them if you can?
The GO2bank™ Secured Visa® is one of these no-credit-check cards, and one without an annual fee. To open your account, you can put down a deposit as low as $100 now, then add to it later to increase your credit limit.
Lastly, the card offers a unique plus: a fixed APR. Most credit cards have variable APRs, meaning the card’s interest rate fluctuates based on the market. A fixed APR, however, won’t respond to changes in the US economy.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- No annual fee
- Foreign transactions and cash advances available
- Credit reporting to all three major credit bureaus
- No credit check required
Cons
- High APR
- Security deposit required
- Foreign transaction fees
- No balance transfers
- GO2bank account required
Best secured credit card with no annual fee for building credit
U.S. Bank Secured Visa®
Annual
Fee
$0 |
Credit
Score
300–669 |
Deposit
$300–$5,000 |
Purchase
APR
27.74% (variable) |
Why It's Great
Not only is the U.S. Bank Secured Visa® one of the best bad-credit credit cards with high limits, but it doesn’t come at the cost of an annual fee.
It’s a straightforward credit card without rewards or bonuses, but still offers a flexible borrowing option to people with bad credit. It’s highly accessible, offers a credit limit that can go as high as $5,000, and comes at a low cost given the lack of fees.
Additionally, it’s a great card for building your credit, as it reports to the three major credit bureaus. It also gives cardholders free VantageScore credit scores, so you can keep up on your credit-building progress.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- No annual fee
- Foreign transactions, cash advances, and balance transfers available
- Credit reporting to all three major credit bureaus
- Bad credit may qualify
Cons
- High APR
- Security deposit required
- Foreign transaction fees
- No rewards
- No welcome bonus or intro offers
Best secured credit card with no annual fee and free credit scores
Citi® Secured Mastercard®
Annual
Fee
$0 |
Credit
Score
300–669 |
Deposit
$200–$2,500 |
Purchase
APR
26.24% (variable) |
Why It's Great
The Citi® Secured Mastercard® is another no-frills secured credit card with no annual fees. It's a great option for credit builders and repairers who want to keep up to date with their credit score progress.
The Citi® Secured Mastercard® gives free monthly FICO scores to cardholders and reports activities to all three major credit bureaus. Both of these can greatly help your efforts to improve your credit score.
FICO is a more commonly used credit scoring model than VantageScore, yet many credit card issuers offer free VantageScore credit scores to bad-credit borrowers. Getting a FICO score each month through your Citi® Secured Mastercard® will give you a more accurate view of how future lenders and landlords will see your credit.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Available to limited credit borrowers
- $0 annual fee
- Reports to all three credit bureaus
Cons
- High APR
- Requires a security deposit
- No rewards
Best secured credit card with no annual fee and high credit limit
Horizon Secured Credit Card
Annual
Fee
$0 |
Credit
Score
300–669 |
Deposit
$300–$5,000 |
Purchase
APR
27.74% (variable) |
Why It's Great
The Horizon Secured credit card is a high-return secured credit card with no annual fee. It offers an extremely high credit limit (up to $5,000).
Don’t worry if you’re not ready to put down that high of a deposit, though—you can make a minimum deposit payment of $300 for an equivalent line of credit. The Horizon Secured also reports to the three major credit bureaus, making it an adequate option for credit building.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- No annual fee
- Balance transfers available
- Foreign transactions available
- Cash advances available
- Reporting to all three credit bureaus
Cons
- Security deposit required
- High APR
- No rewards
- No welcome bonuses or intro offers
How we rate our credit cards
Getting a new credit card can be tough, especially when you have less-than-perfect credit. That's why we heavily weighted the following factors when determining the best secured credit cards without annual fees:
- Fees
- Credit limits
- Qualification requirements
- Interest rates
- Benefits
- Borrowing terms
These factors, among many others, are part of our 5-star credit card rating methodology for all card categories. Our star ratings are unbiased and independent of our affiliates and advertisers.