Posts Tagged ‘Secured Credit Card’

How To Use A Secured Credit Card To Repair Your Credit

If you have ever had credit cards, paid a bill monthly, or obtained a loan, you have a credit rating. When you make payments to a creditor, they report these payments to credit reporting agencies that compile your credit report and track your credit history. If you miss a payment, or even worse, your debt gets sent to a collection agent, this affects your credit rating negatively, and may prevent you from obtaining more lines of credit when you need them in the future.

As soon as you realize you are in this situation, it is crucial that you immediately begin to make an effort to repair your credit rating. To most people, this seems like a difficult thing to do, but doing nothing to repair your credit will only prolong the damage for up to seven years. Until your credit is better, you will find that you are barred from any type of loans or even activities that require credit, such as renting a car.

One way to repair your credit is to obtain a secured credit card. You may wonder how this is possible with bad credit, when you will most likely be declined when filling out a credit card application. However, without a credit card, you will have a hard time proving to creditors your responsibility in making payments on time.

Try a secured credit card. Secure credit cards are marketed specially toward individuals with poor credit. These credit cards work when the customer applies a deposit equal to their credit limit. For example, if you make a deposit of 100, your credit limit will be 100. The credit card company then be use your deposit toward any balance on the credit card resulting from late payments.

This type of credit card is risk-free for the company that issues it, because they can always deduct the balance from your deposit, so it makes sense to issue these cards to people with poor credit. One drawback to secured credit cards, however, is the annual fee that most regular credit cards dont charge.

After you have obtained one of these secured credit cards, use it sparingly but regularly, and make sure you mail all of your payments on time. This will enable you to slowly, but surely, repair your credit. You will demonstrate to your creditors that you are trustworthy, responsible, and pay your bills on time.

Taking steps towards repairing your credit will eliminate the risk of keeping your credit rating poor for up to seven years. However, after seven years the black marks on your credit will finally be taken off, so waiting is always an option. If waiting is not an option, take the necessary steps toward credit repair. Obtain your secured credit card, use it responsibly, and reduce the seven-year sentence of bad credit.

Throughout your life youre the history of you credit repayment will follow you. Ensuring, therefore, that you have a good prior history of borrowing money is vital. Insofar as credit cards are concerned, the following is a brief guide to how to build your credit card credit history.

If you have never financed a purchase on credit previously, applying for a credit card can be a little tricky, as the issuer will have no record of yours to judge whether or not you are a credit risk or safe to lend to. As such, before you apply for any of the major credit card issuers, youll likely need to apply to either a minor credit card issuer, such as store, or apply for some form of hire purchase, such as a car loan or to buy a television. Once you have done this, it is then very important that you make the repayments timely and in full.

Provided that you do pay your statement invoices on time and in full, youll start to create a good credit history. Obviously no lender will take one payment as evidence of your capabilities to repay your debt on time and in full. However, so long as you continue to this for a period of time, even a relatively short period of time, such as three or six months, youll then start to find that other lenders are willing to lend you money based on your good credit history.

If applying for a store card or hire purchase loan doesnt seem an acceptable way for you to create a good history of credit, an alternative you can consider is a secured credit card. Essentially a secured credit card requires you to maintain your credit card from a bank account and the limit of your credit will be a percentage of your account holdings. While not strictly a credit arrangement, the issuer then gets to see that you have the capabilities to repay the credit.

Keep in mind that your credit rating will be essential to any credit card application you make. Consequently, before applying for a card you should really make an application to a credit rating agency to ensure that you have managed to build your credit card history up sufficiently not to have too much difficulty applying. In the event that you think the credit rating report is wrong, you should immediately set out the reasons why you think this to the agency so that you can correct any errors in you history before you apply for the credit card

Banks and their marketing associates and divisions are vying with one another to capture a thick slice of the credit card pie. Offers by phone and mail of free credit cards, pre-approved credit cards, cards with special bonanzas, money back schemes, low introductory rates, and umpteen other perks pour in tempting you everyday.

A credit card is just a form of borrowing that does not come free. Credit terms, interest rates, fees and more can lay a stress on your bank balance. Credit cards are a temptation to spend now and pay later. What invariably happens is that people spend more than they can handle.

Informed consumers must always weigh carefully the pros and cons and compare different options before deciding on a credit card.

Before you decide find out

The advantages of a credit card are that it is a safe alternative to cash. Prevents loss as well as theft of cash. Using a card wisely can build a good credit history which helps when you need a loan or subsidy. It is useful in emergencies like accidents, urgent hospitalization, and unavoidable circumstances like natural calamities and so on. It grants a breather and gives you time to pay the bill. Some memberships offer travel or accident insurance to the card owners at no cost. They also offer privileges like discounts at restaurants, shopping malls, and holiday packages.

The other side is that you can get carried away and live beyond your means, ultimately falling into debt.

To be eligible you need:

To be at least 18 years old.

Have some income or the backing of credit worthy parents.

Have an operational bank account.

A telephone.

A good credit rating. Your monthly expenses must not equal or exceed your income. Ideal expenses must account for approximately 50% of your income.

To get a Visa or Master card your income must exceed US 12,000 a year. Or, you need to apply for a secured credit card where you pay upfront a certain amount of money as security deposit.

There are many kinds of credit cards to choose from. Unsecured standard and classic cards are those with a credit limit of US 2000 and generally charge higher interest rates and offer lower or less favorable terms than the platinum and gold cards. Unsecured platinum and gold cards are for people with high credit ratings, and the limits for these cards are between US 2000 to US 100,000.

Here are a few links that will give information and opportunities to apply for cards online:

Visa at http:www.usa.visa.com?country=us&ep=v_gg_new provides information, gives tips, and has listed a number of financial institutions that offer Visa cards and a wide range of services. One can apply for a card online.

MasterCard International at http:www.mastercard.comindex.html is comprehensive with information, advice, and options of choosing and applying for a card online. They have an online form which when filled will give information of which card would be ideal and a channel which provides instant comparison of various card options.

CreditCards.com at http:www.creditcards.com has articles, FAQs, a site map, and online application channels.

Tips:

Pick a card because it has the lowest APR.

Pick a card because all its terms and conditions have been carefully vetted by you. Read the fine print.

Never pick a card because it is free for a year or life.

Do not choose a card because it offers a low introductory rate.

Do not choose a card because it has a cash back policy or great rewards programs.

Choose wisely and live debt free.