Key takeaways

  • The Capital One Platinum Credit Card is a no frills, credit building card that's a great choice for those who have made credit mistakes in the past.
  • It is available to people with fair credit and is an unsecured card, meaning there's no need to put down a security deposit.
  • A couple of the card's benefits include carrying no annual fee and an automatic credit limit review after six months.

When it comes to your credit score and overall credit health, using a credit card can be a blessing or a curse. It really depends on how you use your credit card, including whether you max out your limits and pay your monthly bill on time.

Of course, the right credit card can also help you mend your credit or fix credit mistakes you’ve made in the past. The biggest problem with this strategy is the fact that, by and large, most card issuers save their best credit card offers for people with good or excellent credit.

Enter the Capital One Platinum Credit Card, which gives consumers with fair credit the chance to change their fortunes when it comes to their credit score. If you need to build credit and aren’t sure where to start, read on to learn more about this credit-building card.

Capital One Platinum Credit Card details

Before we dive into the reasons why you’ll love the Capital One Platinum Credit Card, here’s a rundown of its most important features:

  • Welcome Bonus: N/A
  • Rewards rate: N/A
  • Annual fee: $0
  • APR: 30.74 percent, variable
  • Additional benefits: Preapproval without any impact to your credit score, available for fair credit

What to love about the Capital One Platinum Credit Card

While the Capital One Platinum Credit Card doesn’t offer any rewards for your spending, there are other reasons to sign up. Kyle Kroeger, the owner of the travel website ViaTravelers, did exactly that when he graduated college a little over a decade ago.

According to Kroeger, there are numerous reasons he chose this card, and he has no regrets.

Generous approvals

First off, it’s worth noting that the Capital One Platinum Credit Card lets potential customers get preapproved without a hard inquiry on their credit reports. Not only that, but this unsecured card is available for people with fair credit. This typically includes FICO credit scores that range from 580 to 669.

Ultimately, Kroeger signed up for this card due to its easy approval process, and because he needed a card he could use to build credit for the future.

Automatic credit line reviews

Kroeger says he was assigned a very low credit limit at first, but this helped him stay in check with his spending so he could pay off his balance in full each month.

“This card was a godsend for me to build credit and continue stepping up to higher credit limits and cards with other benefits,” he says.

Speaking of higher limits, the Capital One Platinum Card offers automatic credit line reviews with a minimum of six months of on-time payments. With a higher credit limit, cardholders can enjoy more borrowing power. A higher credit limit also makes it possible to carry a larger balance without a high credit utilization.

No annual fee

Also, be aware that the Capital One Platinum Card doesn’t charge an annual fee. This was a major benefit to Kroeger when he was first building credit since he was trying to keep costs at a minimum.

While a high variable APR of 30.74 percent applies to purchases made with this card, also note that cardholders don’t pay a dime in interest charges when they pay their bill off each month.

Cardholder benefits

Capital One Platinum benefits include a solid list of perks available to cardholders for free. Not only does this card come without any foreign transaction fees, but you get free credit monitoring through Capital One CreditWise, $0 fraud liability coverage and security alerts that help you spot fraudulent transactions made with your card.

And since this card is unsecured, there’s no requirement for a security deposit.

Reports to the three credit bureaus

Finally, Kroeger says this card provided a great way to get the “wheels turning” on his credit history. This is made possible because Capital One reports cardholder balances and payments to the three credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

And as we previously mentioned, the Capital One Platinum Credit Card provides a free credit score through the Capital One CreditWise program, helping cardholders monitor their credit score and progress over time. This is especially useful for new cardholders or those learning to establish good financial habits.

The bottom line

The Capital One Platinum Credit Card is definitely no frills, credit-building card. However, it does help individuals who need to build credit they’ll need later in life. With a chance to get preapproved without a hard inquiry, reporting to the three credit bureaus and automatic credit line reviews in as little as six months, this card is one of the best credit cards for fair credit when it comes to helping fix credit mistakes made in the past.

But don’t take our word for it. Compare other credit-building cards to see if the Capital One Platinum is a good fit for your needs. If not, you’re bound to find other options that make sense for your spending and goals.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.