It’s hard to get away from using a credit card these days. If you want to travel, you must have a credit card to reserve a hotel room. Renting a car? It takes a credit card. Want to get a membership at the new video rental store? Present your credit card, please.
For those with bad or challenged credit, life can be tough without a credit card. Secured credit cards can help to bridge this gap for those without credit or with damaged credit.
A secured credit card works like this: you deposit a set amount into an account (usually between $300 and $500) and that becomes your credit limit. Your deposit, in essence, secures the credit card. If you dont pay, your money becomes the issuing credit card companys security against default.
After you have established good credit, you can increase the credit line by depositing more money, or the credit card company might extend you more credit without an additional deposit.
Secured credit cards can be an excellent choice for many people, but there are a few things to know:
* Almost all secured credit cards have an annual fee. But these fees can vary greatly from one issuing company to another. Shop...