7 Worst Credit Cards of All Time

When looking for a credit card, you hear a lot of talk about the best, the cream of the crop, the offers you just can’t live without — but what about those cards at the other end of the spectrum? What credit cards should be avoided like the proverbial plague?

There’s a lot of credit card offers available, yet consumers still sometimes end up choosing a card with sub-standard benefits, fees, and interest rates. Not everyone has the time and energy to sift through all that fine print to figure out what’s a good deal and what’s a nightmare waiting to happen. But we do.

Our experts have done some research and put together a list of the 7 worst credit cards to have ever existed, some of which are (thankfully) no longer available, with fees and terms that are laughably bad. Avoid these sub-par credit cards at all costs!

Retailer-issued credit cards seldom offer the best deals. In the case of the David’s Bridal Credit Card, this is especially true. The features that make this card terrible are:

• APR of 28.49%
• Retroactive interest fees apply if not paid on time
• No rewards offered

This is one expensive card. The interest rate is a very high 28.49% even for the best credit scores. If that weren’t bad enough, the 0% special financing is only for six months, and will incur retroactive interest fees to the date of purchase if you don’t pay the balance off before the promotion expires.

With no rewards to be had and late payment fees of $39, this card is not a smart addition to your wallet.

This is a card aimed at business travelers who apparently don’t care about paying a high cost for little reward points. Here are some of its more terrible burdens on cardholders:

• $495 annual fee
• 3% balance transfer fee
• Up to 13.49% balance transfer APR
• 22.24% cash advance rate

The UBS Preferred Visa Signature card comes with an unnecessarily high annual fee given its low level of rewards. This card only returns one point per dollar on anything other than air travel, gas, and groceries. Also, the relatively small 10,000 bonus points you get for spending $1,000 is really only worth around $100 in benefits. Outrageous.

For seasoned travelers who want access to the airport lounges and concierge services offered with this card, there are much better options.

When using credit cards for business purchases, small business owners often expect big rewards from their cards. Unfortunately, the Cortrust Bank Visa Business Card doesn’t deliver. Here’s why:

• No rewards program
• 19.49% cash advance rate
• 1% foreign transaction fee

With no rewards program, no low introductory interest rates, and an annual fee of up to $19 per card, this is one business credit card to stay far away from.

For college students trying to build or establish their credit history, there are actually quite a few decent options. The US Bank College Visa Card isn’t one of them. It has very little to offer cardholders. Take a look:

• APR up to 20.99%
• No rewards
• No low introductory rate

First off, there are no reward points and no special promotions or offers for this card. What’s worse, this card comes with one of the highest introductory APR fees out there.

Gas company credit cards can offer valuable savings on something we’d already be purchasing anyway. So why is the Marathon Platinum Rewards Card on our list of the worst cards? Because of the fees and limitations that go along with it. Reasons to stay away from this card include:

• Balance transfer and cash advance APR of 26.24%
• Maximum $270 per year gas earnings
• APR up to 25.24%

To start with, the 5% cash back you get for filling up at a Marathon gas station comes with a limit of $270 per year. Also, the rewards are earned in $25 monthly increments, meaning that if you earn $49 in a month, you receive a $25 reward rebate. Finally, there’s the 29.99% late payment APR for missing a single payment. Steer clear.

This is another of those gas station credit cards that seem like a really good deal, until you actually start using the card. The reward limitations make this card a bad one to have. I’ve highlighted the worst of it below:

• All rewards earned can only be used for a single fill-up
• Rebate rewards only apply to the first 20 gallons of gas
• 27.24% APR on purchases
• 29.99% APR on cash advances

The BP credit card isn’t actually implemented by Chase Bank anymore, but rather by Synchrony Financial. While this may not matter to most people, the changes that took place during this ownership swap meant this card went from one of the best to one of the worst overnight.

There are a lot of truly abominable credit cards out there vying for space in your wallet. However, one takes the cake, judged by our experts to be deserving of the title “Worst Credit Card of All Time,” and that’s the Continental Finance Mastercard®. Congratulations?

Here’s what made this card so great at being so bad:

• Up-front “finance fee” of $200
• $50 annual fee
• $12 per month account fee
• $25 credit line increase fee

The fees associated with this card would be downright amusing if they weren’t so egregious. Between the $200 up-front “finance fee,” $50 annual fee, $12 per month account fee, and the $25 fee for credit limit increases, this card doesn’t leave you with anything left to spend.

Luckily this card is no longer open for new applicants, but Continental Finance still offers other cards, so beware.

We’ve had some fun going through the worst of the worst, and highlighting cards with high fees and few rewards, but there are just as many great credit cards out there that are deserving of a place in your wallet. So, what should you look for when choosing a card?

When looking through a card’s terms and conditions, pay attention to the fees, rates, and rewards associated with it. Depending on your credit score and spending needs, there are plenty of cards that offer low fees, generous rewards, balance transfers, cash-back bonuses, and low interest rates. It just so happens that we’ve researched these cards as well, and we offer them up to you on our Credit Card Reviews page where we list the best rewards credit cards available each year!

2024‘s Best Credit Cards

As always, read the fine print, pay attention to terms, and choose wisely!