Fair Credit | Credit Card Topics

What is Fair Credit? A Guide to its Impact on Lending Decisions & How to Improve Your Score

By: Eric Bank, 8/21/2024

When your credit score is considered fair, it means you’re right in the middle of the credit spectrum — generally somewhere between 580 and 669, depending on the credit scoring model. This score tells credit card companies and lenders that you may have had some challenges managing your credit. With a fair credit score, you can still borrow money and get approved for credit cards, but you will not get the lowest interest rates available. In this guide, I’ll cover what... read more »

7 Preapproval Credit Cards For Fair Credit (2025)

By: Zina Kumok, 12/11/2024

About 18% of Americans have fair credit, which can make qualifying for a credit card tricky. It’s a Catch-22: If you apply for a credit card and are denied, your credit score will take a hit, making it harder to be approved. But if you don’t apply for a card, then you won’t have a chance to build credit and improve your credit score over time. That’s why those with fair credit scores should get pre-approved before applying for a credit card. Read below to see which credit... read more »

7 No-Annual-Fee Credit Cards For Fair Credit (2025)

By: Adam West, 4/16/2024

Building credit is all about being smart with your money — and researching no annual fee credit cards for fair credit is a smart move. Instead of paying a hefty fee each year for card membership, you can gain access to a revolving line of credit for no cost at all. Even better, these cards report your payment and balance history to each credit bureau, which helps you build your credit history over time. And the cards listed below aren’t just basic credit starter kits. With many,... read more »

11 Best Credit Cards for 600 to 650 Credit Scores (2025)

By: Adam West, 3/24/2025

When we decided to compile a list of the best credit cards for 600 to 650 credit scores, we had to first figure out the needs of the people in this score range. That’s because every credit card is different, and each consumer demographic has unique needs. If your credit score sits in the 600 to 650 range, you’re likely struggling to qualify for the top cards on the market, and yet, your score is just high enough to make cards designed for consumers with poor credit seem... read more »

8 Best Gas Credit Cards For Fair Credit (2025)

By: Eric Bank, 10/22/2024

The best gas credit cards for fair credit make a virtue out of a necessity. After all, most of us aren’t driving pure electric cars yet, so we may as well be rewarded for filling the tank with the black goo. These cards do just that and are available to consumers who have fair credit or better. If you drive, and especially if you drive a lot, owning a card that rewards gasoline purchases makes a good deal of sense. Navigate This Article: Top 3... read more »

7 Credit Cards for Fair Credit: Instant Approval (2025)

By: Adam West, 4/16/2024

The financial industry has changed so much in the last decade that it’s no longer difficult to find credit cards for fair credit with instant approval. Not long ago, only consumers with excellent credit had their card applications pushed through instantly. With improved technology and automated underwriting, someone who has fair credit can now apply online and receive a credit decision within seconds. And with so many banks now catering to consumers with average credit,... read more »

5 High Credit Line Credit Cards for Fair Credit (2025)

By: Eric Bank, 11/25/2023

High credit line credit cards for fair credit? Something about that seems very wrong. After all, when your credit is only fair, you can expect card issuers to be rather cautious handing out credit lines that are not secured by collateral nor fortified by cosigners. As it turns out, there are a goodly number of instant approval credit cards with high credit limits available to consumers with fair credit. To be sure, most holders of these cards will be assigned modest credit lines,... read more »

12 Best Cash Back Cards For Fair Credit (2025)

By: Eric Bank, 5/29/2024

Credit card issuers must find consumers with fair credit a challenging bunch. “Fair” credit occupies that murky territory between bad and good, where creditworthiness is somewhat suspect. The issuer’s task is to balance the risk of cardholder default with the need to compete for the overwhelming majority of fair-credit consumers who pay their bills on time. For some issuers, the answer is to offer modest cash back rewards coupled with high APRs, nuisance fees, limited perks,... read more »

Capital One® Cards For Fair Credit in 2025

By: Ashley Fricker, 9/6/2023

The best part about Capital One cards for fair credit is that they not only help you build — or rebuild — your credit history, but they can also grow along with you. That’s because Capital One has one of the largest portfolios of consumer credit cards in the financial space. No matter what you're after, Capital One likely has a card to meet your interests. And, if you start with one of the cards below, you could potentially upgrade to an even better Capital One credit card as... read more »

9 Unsecured Credit Cards For Fair Credit (2025)

By: Ashley Fricker, 1/26/2024

Most consumers prefer unsecured credit cards for fair credit because they don't require a large upfront deposit to secure the line of credit. If you have a fair credit score — a FICO score between 580 and 669 — you shouldn’t have to accept terms associated with bad credit when shopping for a credit card. That means skipping the secured credit card listings that call for large deposits and heading straight for the unsecured card offers. We’ve compiled a list of the best... read more »

8 Credit Cards for Fair Credit: No Annual Fee (2025)

By: Eric Bank, 3/31/2025

There’s no shortage of credit cards for fair credit with no annual fee, but they usually lack many of the bells and whistles associated with cards pegged to higher scores. That means you’re unlikely to encounter big signup bonuses, although some cards in this group offer cash back rewards and a few other goodies. All of the cards reviewed below may charge no annual fee and are useful to folks with a scant or blemished credit history. Timely payments and low balances can help... read more »

3 Balance Transfer Credit Cards for Fair Credit (2025)

By: Ashley Fricker, 7/10/2023

Imagine you are renting a storage unit for $50 a month. One day you find another company that will rent you a similar storage unit for $30 a month. Since it's obviously a better deal, you move the contents from the pricier storage unit to the less expensive one — and save $20 each month. Now, replace "storage unit" with "credit card," and you have the essence of a credit card balance transfer. The idea is to move your balance from a card with a higher interest rate to one with a... read more »

7 Best High-Limit Credit Cards for Fair Credit (2025)

By: Ray FitzGerald, 5/9/2025

If your credit's not exactly the best, but it's not the worst in the world either, you may fall into the fair credit category. This can present some challenges, but in this article we'll take a look at the best credit cards for fair credit, with high limits. I spent the first hour of a recent trip in a rental car line. While a man nearby taught me a few new interesting words, the customer at the counter struggled to complete a reservation she made months before. Most companies place... read more »

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All articles tagged Fair Credit (13)