Building a strong credit history is crucial to achieving your financial goals, and the right credit card can help you meet them faster. Credit builder cards assist in growing or rebuilding your credit and can help you stay on track to improve your credit score. 

Understanding how these cards work and knowing what to look out for will be useful in choosing one that helps you establish credit, qualify for loans, and unlock exclusive rewards. In this article, we show you how to pick the best credit card for building credit score and present five unique card options to explore.

What Is a Credit Builder Credit Card?

A credit builder credit card is a special card designed to help you establish a positive credit history or get your credit score back on track if you’ve previously been refused credit. You’ll find these cards useful if you’ve been having difficulty getting credit due to:

• Employment status or low income
• Poor credit history or low credit score
• Lack of a long-standing credit record 

A credit builder card comes with a small credit limit, often around $300, and a high annual percentage rate (APR). It reduces the lender’s risk of losing money if you’re unable to repay your debt. 

If you own a credit builder credit card, you’re responsible for making regular, on-time payments, usually a set monthly amount. Your payment history is reported to the major credit bureaus every month, making sure your payments have a positive impact on your score. However, if you default, you’ll have a higher interest to pay on outstanding balances. 

How Do Credit Builder Cards Help Build Your Score?

When you take out a credit builder card, you’ll experience a drop in your credit score—but only briefly. As you manage your card responsibly, you can reverse the dip and build a positive credit history. 

Here’s how a credit builder card helps you build your credit score:

• On-time payments—When you repay your loans on time and in full while staying within your credit limit, you demonstrate reliability and responsibility to lending companies. This will reflect in your score as you’ll notice it starts to climb higher. Having a high credit score can also enable you to increase your credit limit
• Reduced credit utilization—Keeping your balance low in comparison to your credit limit indicates you have a low credit utilization ratio. For instance, if your card has a $300 limit, and you spend $75 on your card, this means you have a 25% utilization ratio. Maintaining a low credit utilization ratio on your card positively affects your credit score
• Credit history building—If you don’t have a solid credit history, a credit builder card helps you establish one. As you make on-time payments and manage debts responsibly, you begin to establish a positive history, which is a key factor in determining your qualification for securing loans, renting apartments, buying gadgets, and more

The Benefits of a Credit Builder Card

In addition to helping you build a solid credit history, credit builder cards offer more advantages, such as:

• Qualifying you for the best financial deals—Having a good credit history on your card shows issuers that you use your credit responsibly. This means they can trust you with a higher credit limit and risk offering you lower interest rates on mortgages, auto loans, and personal loans because your records strongly suggest that you’ll repay your debt
• Providing you with a longer credit history—In addition to your utilization ratio and credit limit, your credit account age is another factor that determines how good your score will be. Opening a credit card account early and maintaining it helps you start building a history that will last on your report for as long as the account is open 
• Offering a low-risk credit building option—Credit builder cards are secured by your funds, minimizing the risks for you and the card issuer. You make a security deposit for the card, which serves as collateral. If you default in paying your debt, the issuer will use your deposit to cover the balance, and there’s no further financial impact 

Using a credit builder card wisely helps you lay a strong credit foundation for a more secure future.

What Is the Best Credit Card To Raise Your Credit Score?

There are several credit cards that raise your credit score, and they’re offered by various card issuers. Below are listed five of the best options, depending on your financial needs and goals: 

1. Capital One Platinum Credit Card (best for average credit)
2. Discover It^® Secured Credit Card (best secured credit card)
3. Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card (best low deposit card)
4. Bank of America^® Customized Cash Rewards Secured (best for cash back)
5. Surge^® Platinum Mastercard^® (best for rebuilding credit)

Capital One Platinum Credit Card (Best for Average Credit)

The Capital One Platinum Credit Card is a credit builder card that offers the opportunity to upgrade to a higher credit line within six months. This card is ideal for people looking to build a good-to-excellent credit history with no strings attached. 

Your consistent on-time payments are reported to credit bureaus, significantly impacting your credit score. Keeping your credit utilization low on the card also positively influences your credit score. You need only limited to fair credit to apply for this card, and it charges no annual fees. However, you will need to pay a 4% balance transfer fee on each transferred balance.

The main benefits of this card include:

• No annual fee 
• No foreign transaction fees
• $0 fraud liability coverage
• Mastercard ID Theft Protection 
• Free credit score monitoring from Capital One

Discover It^® Secured Credit Card (Best Secured Credit Card)

If you want a solution that allows you to earn rewards while you build your credit, this card by Discover may be a good fit. The Discover It^® card is fitting for those who need a secured card plus all its perks, and a healthy cash back program. 

Responsibly managing your credit on this card raises your credit score by 30+ points. Seven months after opening it, Discover reviews your account to see if you qualify to be transitioned to an unsecured line of credit so they can return your deposit.

In addition to cash back rewards, this card offers various security features, including Social Security number (SSN) monitoring and alerts and free removal of personal data from people-search sites to prevent identity theft.

The key perks of this card include:

• A welcome bonus to match your entire cash back in the first year
• No annual fee
• Low minimum starting deposit of $200
• No minimal credit score requirement to apply

Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card (Best Low Deposit Card)

This card is a solid option if you have limited credit and are looking for a low-deposit secured card. 

The card offers various minimum security deposits from as low as $49, allowing you to access a $200 credit limit. You can also earn your deposit back as a statement credit if you make on-time payments. 

This is an excellent option if you’re just starting to build or rebuild your credit since your credit score doesn’t determine your approval. After six months of opening an account, you’ll be automatically considered for a higher credit line with no need for an extra deposit.

With this convenient low-deposit card, you get:

• $0 fraud liability
• Free credit score monitoring
• No foreign transfer fees
• Flexible changes to payment due date 

Bank of America^® Customized Cash Rewards Secured (Best for Cash Back)

This secured card by Bank of America allows you to build credit while earning 3% cash back in any category of your choice. You earn an automatic 2% cash back at grocery stores on the first $2,500 spent each quarter and unlimited $1 cash back on every other purchase. You can change your preferred category monthly or stick to the same category forever. 

To open an account, you’ll need to make a deposit of at least $200, which will be combined with your income to establish your credit line. Using the card responsibly over time will help improve your credit score, and you can check your score for free after a few months.

Cardholders enjoy the following:

• No annual fee
• Competitive cash back rates
• $0 Liability Guarantee
• Free account alerts
• Overdraft protection

Surge^® Platinum Mastercard^® (Best for Rebuilding Credit)

This card is viable if you need to rebuild your credit after experiencing credit issues. It offers an opportunity to bounce back from past credit problems like bankruptcy or foreclosure. Surge Platinum requires no security deposit to open an account and offers up to a $1,000 initial credit limit.

The card issuer reports payment history to all three credit bureaus for prompt updates to your credit score, and with responsible use, you’ll be able to improve it. Before you apply, check if you qualify for the card—it has no impact on your credit score.

Note that Surge Platinum charges a high annual fee, and most card charges incur a fee as well.

With Surge Platinum, you’re guaranteed:

• Mastercard Zero Liability Protection
• Ability to apply even with a poor or fair credit score

Credit Builder Card Comparison Table

The table below shares a general comparison between the credit builder cards, enabling you to decide the best option for you:

Credit Builder Card	Early Payment Reports	Cash Back	Best For	Annual Fee	Credit Needed
Capital One Platinum Credit Card	Yes	No	Average credit	$0	Average, fair, limited
Discover It® Secured Credit Card	Yes	Yes	Secured card	$0	None
Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card	Yes	No	Low deposit	$0	None
Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Secured	Yes	Yes	Cash back	$0	Good, excellent
Surge® Platinum Mastercard®	Yes	No	Rebuilding credit	$74–$125	Poor, fair

In addition to these basic features, all the cards also offer varying security and ID protection features. 

How To Get a Credit Builder Card

Obtaining a credit builder credit card includes the following stages:

1. Improve your credit score—Even though these types of cards are generally designed for people with low scores, it doesn’t mean you’ll get automatic approval. Consider taking steps to build your existing credit score to increase your chances of approval
2. Check your eligibility—You can verify your eligibility status with a credit card comparison tool. The tool will show you your eligibility rating for different builder cards so you know where you stand
3. Apply for the card—Send in an application to the financial institution of choice offering credit builder cards 
4. Wait for the lenders’ checks—After applying for credit cards that build your credit score, the lender will make a hard inquiry on your report and also use their company criteria to decide if they should lend to you. They’ll consider your account information, credit report, and any data they have on your credit to help them decide 
5. Get approved—After reviewing your application, the lender will inform you of their decision. If approved, you’ll be required to deposit funds into a savings account, which will serve as a collateral for your credit limit

Note that when a hard inquiry is made, it can further reduce your score, making you less eligible for a card. Avoid applying for many credit cards within a short period so you don’t incur multiple hard inquiries and damage your score significantly. 

What To Look for When Choosing a Credit Builder Card 

Before you choose a credit builder card, ensure it ticks the following boxes:

1. Reports your credit history to all the credit bureaus
2. Allows you to check if you’re pre-approved before you apply
3. Offers a seamless upgrade to a better card with more perks
4. Offers more rewards than fees or charges

Is a Credit Card the Only Way To Build Good Credit?

No, a credit card is not the only way to build or rebuild your credit score. There are other ways to demonstrate good credit responsibility. For instance, paying your mobile phone contract or household utility bills on time and in full shows you’re a reliable borrower.

You can also work with a credit building solution like CreditStrong to grow and maintain a good credit score. The platform combines a secured consumer installment loan or a revolving line of credit with a savings account to enable you to build credit and grow your savings. 

CreditStrong—Your Trusted Credit Building Partner

CreditStrong is a reliable and trustworthy independent community bank—a division of Austin Capital Bank—that works with the three major credit bureaus in the U.S. to help you build your credit score. 

CreditStrong is designed to help you build credit from the beginning or back from past damage, with the possibility of growing your savings simultaneously. 

Opening an account on this platform does not trigger a hard credit inquiry, so your existing score remains untouched. It also offers a better option than secured credit cards since you don’t have to pay a deposit—you build credit by saving, not spending.

Building Your Credit Score With CreditStrong Accounts

CreditStrong offers three accounts that help build credit—Instal/CS Max, MAGNUM, and Revolv. These accounts empower you to add bank credit and positive payment history to your credit profile at a low cost.

The following table explains how each of the accounts functions:

Account Type	Description	Average FICO® Score Increase
Instal/CS MAX	It offers an entry-level credit building account that combines a secured installment loan with a locked savings account to build credit	45 points
MAGNUM	It’s an installment credit building account designed to help you build large credit, not savings. It’s perfect for unlocking higher credit limit cards	86 points
Revolv	This account type comes with a secure revolving line of credit at 0% utilization. It builds your credit faster by lowering credit utilization, especially if high credit card balances are hurting your credit	62 points

Once you’ve paid off the balance on your accounts, you can choose to continue saving and earning interest on your account or transfer the funds immediately. You can also close these accounts at any time with no termination fee attached.

How To Open a CreditStrong Account

Opening a CreditStrong account is straightforward. All you have to do is follow these steps: 

1. Click here to get started
2. Select the preferred product that aligns with your credit building goals:
   • MAGNUM (starting at $30/month)—Ideal for rapid credit building
   • Revolv ($99/year)—Perfect for credit building with a high credit balance
   • Instal (starting at $28/month)—Great for building credit while saving
3. Apply by submitting the required information
4. Monitor your credit score, savings, and payments through the CreditStrong dashboard

CreditStrong helps improve your credit and can positively impact the factors that determine 90% of your FICO score.

Start Building credit today