Secured Credit Cards For Those With No Or Bad Credit

Secured credit cards are meant for folks who wish to build or rebuild their credit history. More often than not, they are more cost effective than unsecured credit cards that target the subprime market. Below are our recommendations as well as a list of cards available in the market.

Best Secured Credit Cards Recommendation

The Orchard Bank Classic MasterCards is perhaps the best credit card in the market for those with poor credit. Orchard Bank is slightly different from other credit card companies. When you apply for their credit card, you may be offered a secured credit card or an unsecured credit card (so if your credit is better than you think, an unsecured credit card is not out of reach), with different terms and conditions, which will be disclosed to you before the application process. Their fees and rates are very reasonable compared to most other credit card issuers. This is the card you should consider first before other cards.

The First Progress secured card is issued by Synovus Bank along with Orchard Bank, has probably the lowest fees and rates among its peers. This is another card we feel comfortable recommending.

Other Secured Credit Cards

The Applied Bank Gold Secured Credit Card has a low interest rate. However, there is no grace period for this card. This means you will be paying interest even if you pay your bills in full every month.

The Platinum Zero Secured Visa Credit Card from Applied Bank is the only card we know that has a zero percent APR. But it comes with a monthly fee that adds up to over a hundred dollars a year. Hence, for those who would carry a high balance, perhaps this might be a card to consider.

The First Premier Bank Secured Credit Card is the secured offering from First Premier. It has one of the higher annual fees in this segment and APR as well.

The Centennial secured credit card is actually another secured card from First Premier Bank. And it has exact identical features and fees. Why they have two identical cards I do not know. Perhaps, it is for marketing reasons.