What Should I Look for In a Secured Card? – Lorraine

“Dear Steve,

I have a really bad credit score, and I am trying to slowly but surely raise that. I have already paid all of my accounts that were in collections, and disputed two of those accounts.

I am going to follow your advice and get a secured credit card, but I am a little overwhelmed when it comes to finding the right one that won’t screw me over. Can you recommend a good secured credit card, or things I should look for in a good one?

Lorraine”

Dear Lorraine,

The goal of the secured card in this case is to help you rebuild your credit. To do that the card will need to report to the credit bureaus, preferably all three major credit bureaus. That would be my minimum requirement.

Outside of that the terms and conditions with each agreement will most likely be different. You will need to read those terms and conditions to compare the different fees and features of each card.

Interestingly, for me, the least important feature is the interest rate, since the goal is to pay the card balance off each month you won’t be charged interest.

Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.

Steve Rhode Debt Coach and Author

Steve Rhode is the Get Out of Debt Guy and has been helping good people with bad debt problems since 1994. You can learn more about Steve, here.

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