Getting Your First Credit Card in 2024? Here's How to Pick One

Getting your first credit card is a big step. Not only is a credit card a safe and convenient way to pay for purchases, but it can also help you establish credit. This can pay off quite a bit later, as a high credit score gets you lower interest rates on mortgages, and it could even lead to lower car insurance rates.

With so many credit cards available, you might feel like you don't know where to start. Here are a few simple tips to narrow down your search and pick your first credit card.

Look for a card with no annual fee

Some credit cards charge an annual fee -- a fee you pay every year for having the card. For your first credit card, this is something you want to avoid.

There are useful credit cards with annual fees out there. But they're normally only available to people with good credit. Since your credit score isn't there yet, you won't be able to get these cards.

Stick to no annual fee credit cards for now. Plenty of great starter cards with no annual fees exist, so it doesn't need to cost you anything to build credit. Another reason to go with a no annual fee card is so you can keep it open for the long haul. Keeping your first credit card open is smart because a long credit history is good for your credit score.

Just so you know, it's OK if your first card requires a refundable security deposit. Some people start with secured credit cards. These are easier to get because you need to pay a deposit to open them. They can work well as a first credit card. If you get a secured card, make sure it can eventually upgrade to an unsecured card. That means you can get your deposit refunded, without needing to close the card account.

Go with a reputable credit card company

A lousy credit card company can lead to frequent headaches. It may be hard to get in touch with customer service, and when you finally do get to talk to someone, the service probably won't be the best. Your card may sometimes not work due to fraud alerts. Or, your card issuer might make it difficult if you ever need to report credit card fraud.

I recommend going with either a large, trusted credit card company, or a local bank or credit union. See what your own bank offers first. My first credit card was with USAA, which I was already using for banking and auto insurance. I knew I liked the company, and having a credit card with my bank made it easy to manage my finances.

If you want to go with one of the major credit card companies, here are a few options and starter credit cards they offer:

• Discover: Discover it® Secured Credit Card
• Capital One: Capital One Platinum Credit Card
• Chase: Chase Freedom Rise℠ Credit Card
• Bank of America: Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card for Students

Make sure it has credit monitoring

Your first credit card doesn't need to be feature-packed, and it probably won't be. One feature it should have is free credit monitoring for cardholders.

Many credit card companies offer these tools, which provide your current credit score. Credit monitoring tools also explain the factors that affect your credit score, and how you're doing in each one. This information is updated monthly, so you can track your progress as you build your credit.

If you always pay your credit card bill on time and don't charge too much, your credit score should steadily increase. You'll be able to check that, and see if there are any areas where you could improve. For example, if you start carrying a large balance on your credit card, credit monitoring may let you know that your credit score would benefit from paying it down.

It's not too complicated to find your first credit card. All you need is a no annual fee card from a reputable card issuer, and with credit monitoring. Once you have a card, get into the habit of paying the bill on time and in full. If you do that, you'll be on your way to good credit, and you won't get into credit card debt.