Best Credit Cards For 600 Credit Score?

Q: Dear CreditCardGuru, I’ve been reading a lot of your posts and love your advice but the problem is that I think my credit score is too low to qualify for your recommendations. For a 600 credit score what credit cards are best? (I have a 650 credit score from Experian and 640 from Equifax)
 
A: Your FICO score isn’t the ultimate deciding factor. The reasons for it being where it’s at is also a crucial element which is taken into account. Having a 650 score because of little credit history is viewed much more favorably than someone who has a 650 score due to prior charged off debt, an old bankruptcy, etc.

Whether you have a 650, 640, or even a 680 credit score doesn’t really matter… because unfortunately they all are considered sub-prime. To get approved for the best credit card deals you typically need a score in the mid-700’s. In the past banks were more lenient, but not anymore.

Secured or unsecured?

Being in the mid-600’s you are right on the cusp of what qualifies for unsecured versus secured credit cards. For secured, you will have to put up a deposit ranging from $200 to thousands (you choose the amount) and that becomes your credit limit. Many are alarmed when they hear this but don’t worry, that deposit is refundable you close the account in the future (assuming you don’t owe money when it’s closed).

Which type will you qualify for? There’s no way to know until you try applying. But don’t misinterpret that the wrong way – you should not apply for credit cards until you get approved. Every application you submit results in a credit inquiry and having too many of those isn’t good for your score. So the last thing you want to do is make you score worse by having a boatload of new inquiries made!

In my personal opinion, the best credit cards for a 600 credit score range are those which offer both types, and will check your eligibility for both with only one application. There are a couple companies who do this and you can learn more about them on this page about rebuilding credit using secured cards.

If your credit score is only good enough to get you a secured card, then make sure you use it responsibly (always pay on time and never use more than 30% of your credit limit). After 9 to 12 months I would then recommend checking your credit score again and seeing where you stand. Hopefully by then, it will be enough to qualify you for an entry-level unsecured card.

Sidenote: The reason you had a 650 credit score on one report and a 640 on another is because each credit bureau has their own set of data they use to calculate the score. Usually the information across all 3 credit bureaus is the same but sometimes, a given bureau’s info may differ slightly (perhaps it hasn’t picked up recent information from one or both of the others). However as mentioned, anything in the mid-600s will be viewed as more or less the same, so don’t fret over the minute difference.