Secured credit cards are special type of credit cards which are issued against a collateral. Generally a checking account or some other collateral comes into picture while issuing of a secured credit card. The credit limit of a secured credit card is equal to the value or amount available in the collateral. It is particularly rare to get a credit greater than this amount with a secured credit card.
Secured credit cards option are exercised generally by those with bad credit history and poor credit score to get themselves back on track. Credit card issuing companies, ask for collateral because they find providing credit cards to such people too risky. A good use of secured credit card can give the credit card issuer enough confidence to issue an unsecured credit card in your name.
A good thing to have with secured credit cards is that they should report your spending habits to the three major credit reporting agencies. Strange but true, not all secured credit card holders do that. Unless this feature is present in a secured credit card, it will be of little use for those trying to use it for rebuilding their credit history.
Though secured credit cards are linked with a collateral, they still have some fees and terms associated with them. Before going for a secured credit card, a person must check the various APR's associated with the credit card. If the secured credit card charges an annual fee, the applicant should try to get one with the lowest amount of interest rates and annual fees. The billing period and grace period allowed for repayments should also be considered. Already suffering with a bad credit situation, the last thing to do with a secured credit card is to take a cash advance with it, simply because the cash advance attracts high interest rates and a cash advance fees.
Care should be taken that the secured credit card is actually used in a way that rebuilds credit history. Sticking to repayment schedule like a religion, and not over indulging with the credit card will help a lot in getting the most out of your secured credit card.
Secured credit card are special type of credit cards which have some collateral attached with them. Generally the collateral is a bank account or some deposit. Secured credit cards are simply great for those who have less than perfect credit and those who want to start building their credit history.
Secured credit cards generally have an application fee attached with them, so if you want to apply for a secured credit card you will have to shell out some money upfront. In addition to this application fees the secured credit cards have annual fees and relatively high interest rates.
Each secured credit card comes with a credit limit equal to the amount deposited in the credit card. However the secured credit card issuing companies deduct their fees from your deposit as soon as you start using your credit card. Let us look into this point a little further. Supposed you have deposited a sum of $300 in your secured credit card and the secured credit card has an annual fee of $120 the credit card issuing company will deduct this annual fee from your deposit and effectively you will have a credit limit of $180 ($300 - $120)with you initially.
The secured credit card companies report to the three major credit bureaus and hence every spending and repayment on your credit card gets recorded and reflects in your credit report. If you use the secured credit card judiciously, things will be great for your credit history. Though the credit limit associated with the secured credit cards seem pretty low initially, but as the confidence of credit card companies grow on you and your credit rating improves you will see an increase in these credit limits. The secured credit card company might charge some fee for improving your credit limits.
The secured credit card is indeed a great way to start rebuilding your credit history. It helps you gain financial discipline and stay within the credit limits, because of the low credit limit initially you are not tempted to charge huge expenditures on your credit card and pay for them either in cash or by some other means. Thus a secured credit card helps in more than one ways. It is for the credit card holder to take advantage of all the features offered by the secured credit card and regain control over his credit history.