Credit cards with no security deposit for bad credit exist, and this page lists the verified ones. One principle organizes the category: a deposit is the cheapest thing a bad-credit card can charge you, because it’s the only cost you get back. No-deposit cards replace the deposit with fees — and after about 14 months, the fees usually cost more than the deposit ever would have. The verified options and the break-even math follow.
Your no-deposit options, verified
| Card | Deposit | What you pay instead | APR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milestone Mastercard | $0 | $175 yr 1, ~$199/yr after | 35.9% |
| Indigo Mastercard | $0 | $175 yr 1, ~$199/yr after | 35.9% |
| Mercury Mastercard | $0 | Offer-specific; $0 annual fee in published sample (invitation only) | 25.99%–35.99% (sample) |
Terms verified August 25, 2026 against each program’s own disclosures. The broader category comparison (who each card fits, what to watch) is in unsecured cards for bad credit.
The break-even math: deposit vs. fees
Say you’re choosing between Milestone ($0 deposit) and OpenSky Plus ($300 deposit, $0 fees).
- Milestone path: $175 leaves your pocket in year one, ~$199 each following year. After 3 years: about $573 paid, none of it recoverable.
- Secured path: $300 leaves your pocket once, into your own refundable deposit. After 3 years of fees: $0. Close or graduate, and the $300 is returned.
The no-deposit card wins the cost comparison only if the $300 was never available — in which case it isn’t the cheaper option but the only one, and that is a legitimate reason to use it. It is not, under any assumption, the lower-cost choice.
The middle option: the small-deposit secured card
The real competitor to no-deposit cards isn’t a $300-deposit card: it’s Capital One’s Platinum Secured, which assigns deposits of $49, $99, or $200 for a $200 credit line, with a $0 annual fee. At the $49 tier, the first-year cost comes in $126 below every no-deposit card’s, and the outlay is refundable. It’s underwritten, so approval isn’t universal, but the pre-check has no score impact and costs nothing to try: Capital One Platinum Secured review. If underwriting is the obstacle, OpenSky’s no-credit-check secured cards are the fallback: OpenSky Plus review.
If no-deposit is genuinely the only option
A no-deposit card is best run as a bridge: pay in full every month (at 35.9% APR, carrying any balance is expensive; see the card interest calculator), keep the reported balance low even though the fee has already consumed part of the limit, and after twelve clean months, graduate to a better card and close the account. The technique is identical to the secured-card playbook: use a secured card to build credit.
A note on advertising: offers promising “no deposit, guaranteed approval, $1,000 limit” combine three claims that do not hold up as written. We examine that category in the guaranteed approval card myth.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a credit card with bad credit and no deposit?
Yes — Milestone and Indigo take open applications with no deposit and approve deep-subprime files. Expect about $175 in first-year fees and a 35.9% APR in exchange.
Why do no-deposit cards for bad credit charge such high fees?
The deposit is what normally covers the bank’s risk on a bad-credit approval. Remove the deposit and the risk gets priced as fees and a higher APR instead, paid by you, non-refundably.
Is a secured or unsecured card better for rebuilding credit?
They build credit identically — monthly reporting, payment history, utilization. Secured is cheaper if you can fund the deposit; unsecured no-deposit cards are for when you can’t.