Firstcard Secured Card: Easy Access to Credit, Plus Rewards

The Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card is one of the most accessible credit cards we’ve seen, making it a great option for those who haven’t been able to get a line of credit. The only requirements: Firstcard applicants must be U.S. residents, at least 18 years old and have a government-issued ID. You don’t even need a Social Security number — but in lieu of that, you’ll need passport or visa information.

Your credit scores don’t matter either, as Firstcard doesn’t require a hard credit check on applicants.

In order to use the Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card, you’ll need to transfer money into your Firstcard deposit account, which you can do via direct deposit, or transfer from a linked bank account or debit card. Unlike other secured cards, Firstcard doesn’t have a minimum deposit requirement.

The target audience for the Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card is college students, a cohort with typically little to no credit history. Firstcard can help its cardholders build a credit profile and work on their scores because it reports to all three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. If you use the card responsibly by paying off balances in full and on time, the credit bureaus will log that good behavior in their files.

The Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card touts itself as being fee-free, and that’s mostly true. The card doesn’t charge annual fees, late fees, overdraft fees or interest on unpaid balances. However, you’ll pay $8.99 just to have the Firstcard mailed to your house. (It’s $18.99 for expedited shipping.)

Firstcard also imposes a 1.5% foreign transaction fee and a $2.50 ATM withdrawal fee. You can avoid the foreign transaction fee if you opt for a paid membership with Firstcard, but that comes with its own fee. More on that later.

Holders of the Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card get cash back on certain purchases. The card earns:

• 5% cash back on 12 educational platforms, including ChatGPT, Grammarly and Headspace.

• Up to 15% cash back at 29,000 partner merchants.

• Up to 10% cash back on all qualifying purchases. This rate is stackable with other cash back earned. To access this bonus cash back, cardholders must spin the wheel in the Firstcard® Secured Credit Builder Card app, which will determine the bonus cash back rate for each eligible transaction.

Cash back is automatically redeemed as a statement credit to the cardholder’s account.