The Best Credit Cards for Bad Credit (Updated 2023)

Posted: 10/9/2023 | October 9th, 2023

I write a lot about using credit cards to get points and miles for free travel. It’s a topic I’m passionate about because it has not only saved me thousands of dollars over the years, but it’s helped thousands of my readers too.

And, while earning points and miles has never been easier (at least in the US), there’s a common question I get that I wanted to address today.

“Matt, what if I have bad credit? I can’t get those fancy cards. What can I do?”

While it’s true that if you have bad credit you probably won’t get approved for the best travel credit cards right off the bat, that doesn’t mean you can’t get approved for any card. Just because you don’t have the best credit today doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start working towards better credit tomorrow.

Having bad credit can be difficult in the credit-centered US, but it’s something you can improve — more quickly than you might think. Banks know that not everyone has excellent credit, and many offer credit cards for people either rebuilding their credit or starting to build credit from scratch. You can also check with your local bank and credit unions to see if they offer any options (many do).

To help you get started, here’s my list of the best credit cards for people with bad credit (as well as everything you need to know about credit scores).

What Is a Credit Score?

The first credit score wasn’t invented until the late 1950s, and the FICO score (which 90% of lenders use) wasn’t introduced until 1989. But, since then, they’ve become an incredibly important part of financial life in the United States.

A credit score is a number between 300-850 that attempts to predict how likely you are to pay a loan off, and if you’ll do so on time. Lenders (like banks and credit card companies) use your credit score to determine whether to give you a new account of credit, which could be a credit card, mortgage, or car loan. Your credit score also influences key factors when opening new accounts, like the interest rate and credit limit (with higher credit scores come lower interest rates and higher credit limits).

Credit rating companies, of which FICO® is the most widely used, get credit reports from the three credit rating bureaus, Experian™, Equifax®, and TransUnion®. FICO® uses five factors to come up with your score (in order of descending importance): payment history, credit utilization, credit age, credit mix, and…