Ginko Financial

Many people are under the impression that if they don’t take out any cheap loans and don’t have any credit cards then their credit rating will be 100% perfect.  Unfortunately it’s doesn’t quite work like that.  If you haven’t been making use of loans or credit cards, you will find that your credit score is a lot lower than someone who does have loans and credit cards. If you don’t even know what your score is you can get your score from myFICO by clicking here.

This is because banks and other organisations offering credit want to know if you are trustworthy.  So if you haven’t got a credit card or loan to your name, then how are they supposed to know whether you can be trusted?  This is why you might have bad credit, or at least you might have what’s known as “fair credit.”

If you have had some financial problems in your past such as bankruptcy or foreclosure you’re going to end up with really terrible credit.  When this happens, getting any kind of credit or a bank account can be very difficult.  It might seem like things will never improve however there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Getting a secured credit card with bad credit isn’t going to be easy.  There are credit cards on the market for those with bad credit however they tend to have a high interest rate though.  This doesn’t mean to say that they are completely useless.  Instead you need to use them as a tool to increase your credit rating.

If you spend a small amount of money every month and pay off the bill in full, you will gradually see your credit rating improve.  If you use this along with other techniques you will eventually improve your credit rating so much that you will be able to get an unsecured credit card at a decent rate of interest.

For whatever reason, you might not even be able to get a bad credit credit card.  There is an alternative which is to apply for a secured credit card.  The idea is that you have money set aside as security and the more you set aside the bigger your credit limit will be.

Another alternative to secured credit cards are prepaid credit cards.  As the name suggests, you have to pay in advance and if your account runs out of money you won’t be able to spend anything on your card.  It should also be noted that if you are looking to raise you credit score, prepaid cards won’t help you with this.

So how you go about getting an unsecured credit card if you have bad credit will really depend on your personal circumstances, how bad your credit rating is, what your income is and such like.  Ideally you should approach the bank you currently have an account with and if that doesn’t bring you success you can always try other banks and credit unions.