Things You Need To Know About Bad-credit Cards
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These days, credit cards have become a necessity as it provides people with spending power even if they do not really have all the money they need. Sadly a lot of people do spend to much that they turn out indebted, unable to pay for their bills and eventually unable to get credit cards anymore. People can indeed recover and repay all their debts but once that is done, getting credit cards to start their debt-free life would become a near-impossible feat. Thankfully, such people still have hope in the form of bad-credit cards.
Bad-credit cards are charge cards that people with bad credit histories can apply so that they can get the same benefits as regular card holders – be able too rent cars, book hotels, shop online – and most of all, rebuild their credit ratings so that they can get normal credit cards. The downside with bad-credit cards however, is that their interests rates could be higher, they might have higher joining and annual fees, or they might require collateral. But such are prices that people with bad credit are willing to pay because they do recognize the importance of credit cards in today’s society.
There are many different kinds of bad-credit cards but they can mainly be categorized as prepaid cards, secured cards and unsecured cards.
Prepaid Bad-Credit Cards – these cards are actually just debit cards specifically catered to people with bad credit. To get one, you only need to open a bank account and deposit at least the minimum required money. This amount would serve as your “credit limit”. Each time you purchase with your card, money is deducted from your account and if your money runs out, you will not be able to use the card unless you deposit funds again.
However, this is not at all a credit card because you are not really borrowing money, and thus it will not really improve your credit rating. Nevertheless it provides people with the conveniences of credit cards even if they are not able to apply for a real one due to their bad credit.
Secured Bad-Credit Cards – these are as good as credit cards, however to apply for one, you would need to open a savings account, the money deposited in which would be secured as a collateral by the issuing bank. The credit limit is determined by the amount deposited, or sometimes a little more than that to allow the cardholder some allowance. If the cardholder fails to pay, the bank may take hold of the money in the savings account.
Like other bad-credit cards, the interest rates and other fees are bound to be higher than regular credit cards. Also, some banks may not report such accounts to credit bureaus so it is important to make sure that the bank does submit such reports if the purpose is to improve the cardholder’s credit rating.
Unsecured Bad-Credit Cards – these work like regular credit cards however the fees and interest rates are considerably higher than normal cards. A cardholder may start with a low credit limit, around $250, which will increase little by little if the account is kept well. Such cards usually require large upfront fees, and interest rates can be as high as 25% while annual fees may go as high as $100. But it is usually considered worth it to pay such a price because they can really improve one’s credit ratings. Again, it is important to make sure that the issuing bank does report to credit bureaus to ensure that the credit rating does improve.
People with bad credit rating may still have a chance to get their credit cards. Thanks to bad-credit cards, people still can stand a chance.
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9 Comments
October 5th, 2009 at 5:33 am
Get your credit report from the 3 reporting agencies – free once a year and start there. Find out what and who you owe. Contact them to make arrangements to pay them. If anything on your report is more than 7 years old, ask it be removed as it's not supposed to still be on the report. Next, get one or two secured cards and pay the balance in full each month (do not use them because you have no cash, use it in place of cash), over a few months time your credit lines will be increased and in most cases after a year or so of consistent timely payments, they will return your security and you will actually now have a credit card. Timely payments is the key to fixing your credit. If you can't promise this to yourself, don't get any cards yet and work on paying off what you already owe…
October 5th, 2009 at 5:50 am
Creditors can either enlist collection agencies to recover debt on their behalf, or they can sell your debt to the collection agency. If it is the latter, then the account is closed. If it is the former, the account is probably "active", but there may be a block on it. For example, when I worked in the library, we used an outside collection agency to collect on library fines over $50. The library card is blocked. Only until they pay off their balance will we allow them to use the card again. (The books are assets of the City….a library card is like a credit card in which you're borrowing property.)
Your credit report will show that your collection accounts have been closed. They'll still show up on your credit report, so your credit will be ruined until you are able to repair it (through time and more responsible care of your credit).
Even if your accounts are still active, you will be paying high interest rates because you defaulted, which allows them to charge the regular rate. You might want to start anew, so that you have a better interest rate and your limit will be much lower, allowing you to maintain control of your credit.
October 5th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
October 6th, 2009 at 5:00 am
This what people do not get, PROTECT YOUR CREDIT RATING because it will haunt you for years to come.
In your case you need a card so you can "juggle" things, what does that mean? So you can run it to the limit and get into more trouble with credit.
If you haven't the money YET to start up your own business you go out and work for someone else until you do have some money and then if you reallllllly, realllllly want it bad enough get another job and save money.
Good luck but depend on your own work to get you going NOT credit cards.
ADDED
What the heck is wrong with saving? Oh I know the I want it NOW attitude.
October 6th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Not likely. There are plenty of CC outfits out there that specialize in giving cards to people with bad credit but it will cost you. It is very common to pay upfront fees totaling over $200 just to get the card, but usually this is automatically charged to the new card. That means you will already be hundreds of dollars in the hole on this card leaving you with maybe $50 in available credit at subprime interest averaging 18.9%. Not a very good deal if you ask me.
You are better off taking that money and using it to get a secured card. There are also fees associated with a secured card but nothing like the above. Make sure the card reports to the credit bureaus so that after a year of good payments you should qualify for a regular card with much better terms.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
I would suggest a secured card. Orchard bank and National City both offer decent cards which report to all 3 bureaus and are not flagged as secured on your credit report. They also have fairly low minimum deposit requirements ($250 if I remember right) and will remove the security deposit requirement after a year of good payments.
EDIT:
Oh and stay away from the two cards linked above by Netta M. They both want huge upfront fees ($150-200) in return for the card. You are much better paying the same money on a secured card because at least it's still yours in a savings account as opposed to in the credit card companies pocket.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
If you are in debt for unpaid bills, then any credit you still have and are paying is still debt.
If you go bankrupt then you can ask for all your debt to be taken into account, including anything you are still paying.
Bad credit shows on your credit history for 6 years, so even when you do clear a bad debt, it will still show that it was defaulted on for quite a while, which will affect things like new credit cards, mortgage applications etc.
If the bad debt gets passed to a finance company for collection, you can offer token payments (£1 or £2 a month) depending on your current financial situation, although if you earn more they will expect you to pay more they will take into account your current expenses such as travel, rent or mortgage payments, food bill, utilities etc.
Don't let them bully you – you can demand that they do not phone you, that you will only deal with written correspondence etc and you can give them deadlines by which they have to act – a while ago (feb this year) I e-mailed a company telling them they had 10 days to provide me with account details so that I could set up automatic payment (this was the third time I'd asked for those details, mind) and if they didn't respond within that time frame I would take that as refusal of payment – they rang me in JULY(!!) about the e-mail at which point I said that they had refused payment and I wasn't prepared to do anything else – I haven't heard from them since, and if they try to take me to County Court – I'll just send the court a copy of the email.
Don't forget that there are lots of places you can go to get help with debt – go to the charities and not the companies. Charities will help you, possibly for free, but the companies will take a whack of money from you, as thats what they are there to do – make money!
Hope this helps!
October 7th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
I suggest you open a secured visa with 2 hundred dollars…then you will be able to use it for the things you need….and rebuild your credit….and 2 hundred dollars is not that much so you could pay it off monthly and this will show a instant good credit history….if you can afford more, then secure a higher amount use it for everything and pay it off monthly…and in 12-18 months they will send you your money back and you will have earned a unsecured visa…also take the time to get in touch with your creditors and explain why your in this mess, and work out payments with them…also if you owe the bank money, all you have to do is pay off the bank and they will let you open a new account…only use your debit card…dont use checks…and never use the credit button always use debit and the money comes out immeaditaly so you can't over draw….
for a secured card try http://www.orchardbank.com
I heard you can pay online…
I hope this will help you…GOOD LUCK…
if you like my answer vote for me …k…
October 8th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Here are 11 of them. They all meet the criteria you are looking for. Good luck.