Gas Credit Cards for Bad Credit

This guide focuses on credit cards available to U.S. consumers. Card terms were researched on October 5, 2026 and change often; confirm current terms with the issuer before applying.

Gas credit cards for bad credit do exist, but they come in very different structures, and the one with the best-looking gas reward is often not the one that leaves you with the most money. Someone with poor credit usually has to choose between a secured card (refundable deposit, often no annual fee), a fee-based unsecured card (no deposit, but recurring fees), a gas-station card (a few cents off per gallon at one brand), or a general cash-back card that happens to count gas. Approval depends on each issuer's underwriting and your full circumstances, not on a score alone.

Short answer: Realistic gas credit card options with bad credit include secured cards that pay gas rewards, such as the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Secured (3% choice category, $200 minimum deposit, $0 annual fee), and fee-based unsecured cards like Aspire or Credit One. Compare annual fees against rewards first; fees often exceed gas rewards.

The rest of this page does the math most card lists skip: what a driver spending $150 a month on gas actually earns, what each card costs to hold, and where a fee wipes out the reward. For the broader category, see our guide to credit cards for bad credit; this page stays focused on gasoline.

Because this is financial content, claims are sorted by how well they are supported:

• Published by the issuer: terms on the issuer's own disclosure or application page (for example, Truist's secured-card disclosure).

• Reported by a third party: terms reported by publishers such as Bankrate, CardRates, WalletHub or BadCredit.org, which may lag behind the issuer.

• Editorial analysis: our reasoning and comparisons.

• Estimate: hypothetical math using stated assumptions, not a promise of what you will earn.

• Not verified: a term we could not confirm. We do not guess.

The table below is not a ranking. A card does not rank higher just because its gas rate is higher; accessibility, deposit, fees, APR and reporting all matter.

Two popular names are missing on purpose. Bankrate lists the Discover it Secured as no longer available, and CardRates marks the secured Chime Visa as not available, so neither is presented as an option. If an older article recommends them, treat that advice as out of date.

There is no official product category called a "gas credit card." The phrase covers several different things, and mixing them up is how people end up in the wrong card:

1. A general rewards card that pays extra on gas. Works anywhere its network is accepted; gas is one earning category. Usually needs fair or better credit.

2. A secured card with a gas category. Same idea, but you put down a refundable deposit that becomes your limit (Bank of America, Truist, U.S. Bank).

3. An unsecured card built for bad credit that happens to reward gas. No deposit, but fees (Aspire, Credit One, Milestone's cashback version).

4. A gas-station card. Typically a closed-loop card for one brand that gives cents off per gallon (ExxonMobil, Shell, Sunoco). Some brands also offer a Mastercard version that works anywhere.

5. A credit-building product that can be used at the pump but isn't a gas card. Examples include flat-rate secured cards and payroll-linked cards where rewards aren't tied to fuel.

6. A flat cash-back card where gas is simply an eligible purchase. The Capital One Quicksilver Secured at 1.5% is an example.

A card is not a "gas card" just because gas purchases earn something. What matters is how much gas earns, under what rules, and what you pay for the privilege. For gas-station and retailer-branded cards in general, see our guide to store credit cards for bad credit.

Type: Secured. Best for: a driver who can fund a deposit and wants the strongest gas rate on a $0-fee card.

Bankrate's review dated August 13, 2026 reports a $200 minimum deposit (maximum $5,000), no annual fee, 27.74% variable APR, a 3% foreign-transaction fee, and reporting to all three bureaus. Gas and EV charging is one of six categories you can choose for 3% cash back; grocery stores and wholesale clubs earn 2%; everything else earns 1%. The 3% and 2% tiers share a $2,500 combined quarterly cap.

Key advantage: 3% on gas with no annual fee. Biggest drawback: Bankrate notes there is no automatic credit-line increase or automatic upgrade to unsecured, so a larger limit means a larger deposit. One aggregator lists a 6% first-year rate for this secured version; Bankrate's review does not, so treat 6% as unverified. Prequalification: not verified.

Consider it if: you have at least $200 to set aside and your gas spending is steady. Avoid it if: you cannot tie up $200 or you can't commit to choosing gas as your category.

Type: Secured. Best for: an applicant with a $400 deposit who wants 3% on gas and a lower APR than most cards here.

Truist's own disclosure page lists a $400 minimum deposit, no annual fee, 26.74% variable APR, a 4% cash-advance fee, and 3% on gas and EV charging. NerdWallet reports 2% on utilities and groceries with a combined $1,000 monthly cap shared with the 3% tier, and a loyalty bonus of 10% to 50% when rewards go into a Truist deposit account. Some third-party pages still show a $19 annual fee; Truist's page shows none, so confirm on the application. Credit reporting and prequalification: not verified.

Key advantage: 3% gas, $0 annual fee, lowest APR in this comparison. Biggest drawback: the $400 minimum deposit is double most secured cards. Avoid it if: $400 is more than you can comfortably set aside.

Type: Secured. Best for: drivers who prefer a simple flat rate.

CardRates (September 2026) lists a refundable $200 deposit, $0 annual fee, 1.5% on every purchase, a 29.24% variable APR, and an automatic review for a higher credit line in as little as six months without more deposit. Gas earns the same 1.5% as anything else, so it is not a gas card in the strict sense. Reporting and prequalification: not verified here.

Key advantage: no categories to manage and a path to a higher limit. Biggest drawback: half the gas rate of a 3% card.

Type: Secured. Best for: applicants with $300 or more to deposit who like choosing categories.

CardRates lists a $300–$5,000 deposit, $0 annual fee, 28.99% variable APR, 5% on two categories you pick (up to $2,000 combined per quarter), and 2% in one everyday category you choose — gas stations and EV charging is one option. Gas is therefore a 2% category, not a 5% one, in the listing reviewed. The cap on the 2% category was not verified.

Key advantage: flexible categories and a larger deposit range. Biggest drawback: gas earns 2%, and the structure is more complex than a flat rate.

Type: Unsecured, fee-based (no deposit). Best for: a no-deposit applicant whose combined gas, grocery and utility spending is high.

Issuer-sourced listings show 3% on gas, groceries and utilities and 1% on everything else, a $85–$175 first-year annual fee depending on your offer, and $229 from year two — consistent with a $49 annual fee plus a $15 monthly fee reported by BadCredit.org and WalletHub. The APR is 36% fixed, the starting limit is $350 to $1,000 (up to $1,000 on prequalification), the card reports to all three bureaus, and rewards are paid once a year as a statement credit.

Math check: BadCredit.org calculates that a $175 fee needs more than $5,800 of 3% spending a year to break even. On gas alone at $1,800, that is not close. Key advantage: no deposit and a 3% rate across three everyday categories. Biggest drawback: the fees and the 36% APR. Avoid it if: you carry a balance or can't spend well above $1,800 a year in the 3% categories.

Type: Unsecured, fee-based. Best for: a no-deposit applicant who prefers lower fees and accepts a modest reward.

Per our unsecured-card guide and WalletHub, the card charges $75 in year one and $99 afterward, with 1% on gas and grocery (plus phone, internet and cable), a variable APR of roughly 25.5%–29.74%, and a starting limit around $300. See our Credit One Bank review for the full fee breakdown and our guide to unsecured cards for bad credit for how its costs compare.

Key advantage: lowest fees among the no-deposit reward cards here. Biggest drawback: at $1,800 of gas, a 1% reward is $18 against a $75–$99 fee.

Type: Unsecured, fee-based. Best for: a very high gas spender who accepts the highest fee tier.

Our Milestone Mastercard review reports a cashback version paying 5% on the first $5,000 of gas per year, a $1,000 credit line, a first-year fee up to $250, a monthly fee of $19.25 from year two (about $231 a year), and a fixed APR near 35.9%. The standard Milestone card has no rewards. Soft-pull prequalification is available.

Math check: the most this card can pay is 5% × $5,000 = $250 a year, and it would take the full $5,000 of gas to match a $250 first-year fee. At $1,800 of gas the reward is $90. Avoid it if: you spend under about $5,000 a year on gas.

Type: Vehicle-secured (lien on your car), not a gas card. Best for: a vehicle owner with equity who wants a larger limit.

Per our unsecured guide, Yendo charges a $40 annual fee, about 29.88% fixed APR, 1.5% unlimited cash back and limits from $450 to $10,000. It needs no cash deposit but places a lien on your vehicle, so falling far behind could put the car at risk. Read our Yendo Credit Card review before considering it, especially if you depend on the car for work.

CardRates describes ExxonMobil's card as 10¢ off per gallon on most fuel (12¢ on Synergy Supreme+), Shell's as 10¢ off up to 35 gallons per fill-up, and Sunoco's as 5¢ off every gallon (plus 3¢ with its app), all with $0 annual fee and a 33.24% variable APR. CardRates collected this information; it was not reviewed by the issuers. Station cards are typically closed-loop (usable at that brand only), and the savings are pump discounts rather than cash back. Shell also offers a Mastercard version that works anywhere, with the issuer automatically considering you for the Shell-only card if the Mastercard is declined, per CardRates.

For the general structural difference, read our secured vs. unsecured guide. The question here is narrower: which structure pays you better for gasoline specifically?

The pattern is consistent: in this research, the four secured cards charge no annual fee and pay 1.5% to 3% on gas, while the fee-based unsecured cards pay 1% to 5% but charge $75 or more. That doesn't make secured cards automatically better. They require cash you may not have, and a $200 limit is tight for $150 of monthly fuel. For a fuller secured-card comparison, see our best secured credit cards page.

Often, yes, but nothing is certain. Issuers weigh more than your score: income, existing debt, recent delinquencies, payment history, recent applications, and in some cases a bankruptcy. None of the issuers in this research published a minimum score for the cards covered, and we have not invented one. Two applicants with the same score can get different outcomes.

Where prequalification exists, it usually uses a soft inquiry, so you can preview terms without a hard inquiry; Aspire and Milestone offer it. A formal application typically triggers a hard inquiry. Prequalification is not approval. For how it works across issuers, see our guide to credit cards with preapproval, and for what approval claims really mean, read our breakdown of approval claims.

One caution: some publishers call gas-station cards the easiest to get. CardRates lists them as for "average, fair, limited" credit, and no issuer in our sources published a minimum score. Don't assume a branded card is easier to qualify for than a secured general card.

Enough no-deposit options exist to cover them, but all cost money:

• Aspire: no deposit, $85–$175 first year, about $229 from year two, 36% APR.

• Credit One Platinum: no deposit, $75 then $99, 1% gas.

• Milestone cashback: no deposit, up to $250 first year, 5% on up to $5,000 of gas.

• Yendo: no cash deposit, $40 fee, but a lien on your car.

• Perpay Credit Card: an unsecured card tied to payroll deposits. Reviewers report a $9 opening fee, monthly fees of $5.50–$9 (about $108 a year after year one), 27.74%–29.99% APR, and 2% back on payments redeemable only in Perpay's marketplace — not gas-specific and not cash. Sources disagree on some fee details, so confirm directly.

No security deposit is not the same as no fees. A deposit comes back when you close the account in good standing; a fee does not. If you can set aside even $200, compare the total cost in Table 3 before choosing a no-deposit card. Our unsecured-card guide covers the deposit-versus-fee trade-off in depth.

A gas card builds credit the same way any reporting card does; the rewards add nothing to your score. For the mechanics, see how credit cards build credit and our cards to build credit page. What is specific to gas spending:

• Regular, predictable charges help. Gas is a recurring purchase, so it can give a card steady activity. Spending only on gas keeps charges easy to track.

• Utilization can spike. On a $200 limit, $150 of fuel is 75% of the limit. Paying the card down before the statement closes keeps reported utilization lower. See the credit utilization ratio guide.

• Pump holds can reduce available credit temporarily. Many stations place an authorization hold that can exceed the final purchase; amounts vary by station and issuer, so a very small limit leaves little room.

• On-time payments matter most. Missing a payment to chase a reward undoes the reason for the card.

• Reporting must be confirmed. Verified as reporting to all three bureaus: Bank of America (Bankrate), Aspire, Milestone, Credit One and Yendo. Not verified here: Truist, Capital One and U.S. Bank secured cards, and gas-station cards.

• Avoid interest. At 27.74%, carrying roughly $195 for one month costs about as much as a 3% reward on $150 of gas ($4.50).

A card can have great gas rewards and still be poor for rebuilding credit; a card can rebuild credit well and pay no gas rewards. Judge reward value and credit-building value separately.

Take a hypothetical driver who spends $150 a month on gas, or $1,800 a year. Before fees, caps or interest:

• 1% = $18

• 1.5% = $27

• 2% = $36

• 3% = $54

• 5% = $90

These are hypothetical examples, not any card's promise. Real rewards are also affected by caps (such as the shared $2,500 quarterly cap on Bank of America's bonus tiers), eligible-purchase rules, and category selection. Table 2 compares the actual rates and limits found.

If you prefer a station card, the conversion is simple. At a hypothetical $3.20 gallon, $1,800 buys roughly 560 gallons, so 10¢ off per gallon is about $56 a year, or roughly 3.1%.

Often not, at typical gas spending. The break-even is the fee divided by the reward rate. For a $75 fee at 1% back, you would need $7,500 of gas a year to recover the fee ($75 ÷ 0.01), more than four times a $1,800 budget. At 3%, you'd need $2,500.

Reading Table 7: at $1,800 of gas a year, gas rewards alone recover only a $35 fee at 2% or more ($1,750 or less needed), a $49 fee at 3% or more ($1,633 or less), and a $75 fee at 5% ($1,500). A $99 fee needs $1,980 even at 5%, and every other combination shown needs more than $1,800. Spending in other bonus categories can narrow the gap on a card like Aspire, but you shouldn't increase spending just to chase a reward.

Table 3 turns this into net dollars:

None of these figures include interest. If you carry a balance, a 36% APR on $300 is $9 a month in interest ($300 × 3%), twice the $4.50 a 3% reward pays on $150 of gas. To test your own payoff, use our credit card payoff calculator and read how credit card interest works.

For most people on a modest gas budget, lower fees win. Compare two cards using Table 3's assumptions:

• A 3% card with a $175 first-year fee (Aspire at the top of its range) earns $54 on $1,800 of gas and nets -$121.

• A 1.5% card with no annual fee (Capital One Quicksilver Secured) earns $27 and nets +$27.

The "worse" reward rate leaves you $148 ahead in year one. And fees often rise: Aspire's reported cost is about $229 from year two, and Milestone's cashback version can add a monthly fee. Add the deposit, APR and a possible second-year fee increase to the comparison. A high rate only wins when your gas spending is large enough to cover the fee and the card's caps — which for most no-deposit cards here means thousands of dollars more than $1,800 a year.

A general cash-back card can beat a gas-specific card when you want flexibility, a lower fee or a broader reward base. A flat 1.5% card earns on every purchase, not just fuel, and avoids category rules and caps. If your credit is fair rather than poor, the Capital One QuicksilverOne (1.5%, $39 annual fee per CardRates) is a fair-credit option, though a fee still applies. If you qualify for a no-fee mainstream card, see our best credit cards with no annual fee page. If groceries are as big a spending line as gas, our grocery rewards cards page covers that category.

A gas-specific card makes sense when gas is your largest category, the rate is meaningfully higher than a flat card, and you won't pay a fee that cancels the difference.

This section only covers the gas-card decision; our 600 credit score page and guide to choosing a card for bad credit cover the rest. Work through these in order:

1. Can you fund a deposit? If yes, start with secured cards and compare $0-fee options first.

2. What is the total cost? Add annual, monthly and upfront fees; subtract rewards from Table 3.

3. What does gas earn, and under what cap? Confirm the rate, the cap, and whether you must select gas.

4. Does it report to all three bureaus? If not confirmed, ask before applying.

5. Is there soft-pull prequalification? Use it where available.

6. What is the starting limit relative to your gas spend? A $200 limit needs mid-month payments.

7. What is the APR if you slip? Treat it as the cost of a mistake.

Always check the issuer's current rates-and-fees table on your offer screen. Terms vary by applicant, and issuers can close, pause or change a card at any time.

• Choosing a card solely for the gas rate. A 3% reward on $1,800 is $54; a $99 fee is larger.

• Ignoring monthly fees. Several no-deposit cards add them in year two.

• Overlooking reward caps and category rules. Bank of America and Truist both share caps across tiers.

• Assuming gas-station cards are always easier to qualify for. No issuer in our sources published a minimum score.

• Carrying a balance to earn rewards. Interest at 27% to 36% outruns a 3% reward quickly.

• Forgetting that a deposit is cash you can't spend. It's refundable, but it's tied up.

• Applying for several cards at once. Each application can trigger a hard inquiry; use prequalification where available.

• Assuming prequalification means approval. It doesn't.

• Not confirming credit reporting. A card that doesn't report won't rebuild credit.

• Using outdated recommendations. Some cards frequently recommended in older articles are no longer available.

For most drivers with bad credit, the lowest-cost route to gas rewards is a secured card with no annual fee, if you can set aside the deposit. If you can't, a no-deposit card can still be the right tool for getting an account reporting, but at $1,800 a year of gas, the rewards usually don't cover the fees. Run the net-reward math in Table 3 with your own gas spending, confirm that the card reports to the bureaus, and apply selectively.