- Best no credit check credit card tips
- Best credit cards with no credit check compared
- Methodology
- Sources
- About the author
- User questions & answers
- Expert opinions
Best No Credit Check Credit Card Tips
If none of the credit cards available without a credit check suit you, the next best thing is to minimize the impact of the credit check that will occur when you apply for your chosen card. There are two ways to do that: by finding a card with high approval odds so you only have to apply once, and by scheduling your application so it’s not within six months of any loan application.
The second part is pretty straightforward. If you don’t need to put your best credit score forward in the near future for a financial transaction with a lot of money involved, like a mortgage or car loan, temporary credit score damage shouldn’t be an issue. But finding a card with high approval odds is a bit tougher. Don’t worry, we’ll lay out some tips below.
-
Check for Preapproval
Most major credit card companies will show you which of their cards you’re likely to be approved for, based only on a soft credit check that won’t hurt your score. You just have to go to their preapproval pages one by one and supply some basic personal information, such as your name, your birthdate and the last four digits of your Social Security number. Or you can simply let the results of one or two preapproval checks guide you. For example, if you get preapproved for a card that requires good credit, you should have a good chance of getting other credit cards for good credit.
- Become an Authorized User
Credit card companies don’t do credit checks on authorized users. There’s no reason to, considering authorized users aren’t responsible for paying the bill. So if you want an unsecured credit card without a credit check, your best bet is to ask a family member to add you to an account. That person may or may not choose to give you a card with which to make purchases, but your credit score will improve either way. The primary accountholder just has to make on-time monthly payments.
- Get Personalized Recommendations from WalletHub
You can get a quick recommendation from WalletHub’s CardAdvisor by answering a few simple, anonymous questions. Or sign up for a free WalletHub account and tell us a bit about what’s in your wallet as well as your financial goals. We’ll run several simulations based on that data as well as the contents of your credit report and tell you which credit cards offer the most savings and the highest approval odds. Now that you have a feel for all your options, you may want to take another look at the top no credit check credit cards. For your convenience, we’ll recap them below.
Best Credit Cards with No Credit Check Compared
Credit Card | Annual Fee | Min. Deposit |
OpenSky® Plus Secured Visa® Credit Card | $0 | $300 |
OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card | $35 | $200 |
First Progress Platinum Elite Mastercard® Secured Credit Card | $29 | $200 |
First Progress Platinum Select Mastercard® Secured Credit Card | $39 | $200 |
Applied Bank® Secured Visa® Gold Preferred® Credit Card | $48 | $200 |
For more information about what a credit check entails, see our guide on credit inquiries.
Methodology for Selecting the Best No Credit Check Credit Cards
To identify the best credit cards with no credit check required for approval, WalletHub’s editors regularly compare more than 1,500 credit card offers. We first evaluate the cards’ overall suitability by researching their application review and approval policies. If a card’s terms and conditions do not make it clear whether a credit check is necessary, we contact the issuer’s customer service department for clarification.
After narrowing down the pool of offers to just credit cards without credit check requirements, we compare the remaining cards based on their fees, rewards, deposit requirement, APR and other WalletHub Rating components. Final selections are then made based on two-year cost.
How Two-Year Cost Is Calculated
Two-year cost is used to approximate the monetary value of cards for better comparison and is calculated by combining annual and monthly membership fees over two years, adding any one-time fees or other fees (like balance transfer fees), adding any interest costs, and subtracting rewards. Negative amounts indicate savings. When fees or other terms are presented as a range, we use the midpoint for scoring purposes.
Rewards bonuses and credits have been taken into account for two-year cost calculations. However, bonuses applicable to only a very small portion of cardholders are not considered. For example, credits and bonuses awarded for spending or redeeming rewards through a company portal with non-co-branded cards have not been taken into account. Similarly, bonuses and credits related to spending with specific merchants using a non-co-branded card have not been taken into account (for example, if Card A offers credits with DoorDash, this feature would not be factored into calculations because it is hard to assess how many cardholders would use the benefit or exactly how much value they'd get from it).
Cardholder Spending Profiles
Given that people have different goals and are likely to use their credit cards differently, we identified spending profiles that are representative of different users’ financial priorities and behaviors. For each cardholder type, we have assumed a specific amount of monthly spending by purchase type (e.g., groceries, gas, etc.), as well as an average balance, balance transfer amount, amount spent on large purchases and average monthly payment. Spending assumptions are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Sources
WalletHub actively maintains a database of 1,500+ credit card offers, from which we select the best credit cards with no credit check for different applicants as well as derive market-wide takeaways and trends. The underlying data is compiled from credit card company websites or provided directly by the credit card issuers. We also leverage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to develop cardholder profiles, used to estimate cards’ potential savings.