Capital One Platinum

The Platinum is Capital One's plain starter card, and its whole job is access: an account that reports to the bureaus at no annual cost while you build or rebuild credit. It also skips foreign transaction fees, which is a small but genuine bonus at this tier. What it lacks is everything else, with no cash back, no points, no signup bonus, and no intro APR on purchases or balance transfers. The regular rate is a flat 28.99%, so carrying a balance here is expensive and the card only works if you clear it monthly. Use it to establish history for a year or so, then move to a card that gives you something back for the same spend.