Capital One Platinum

The Capital One Platinum is a no-frills credit builder: no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, and no deposit required, which makes it a practical first unsecured card for someone with a thin or bruised credit file. Its job is to report on-time payments and grow your history, and it does that without costing you anything to hold. The catch is that it earns no rewards whatsoever, so there is nothing to gain from routing spending through it beyond building credit. At a 28.99% APR, carrying a balance gets expensive quickly, so pay it in full every month. Once your score improves, a rewards card will serve you better, though keeping this one open can help the age of your accounts.