Credit Cards For People With Bad Credit – How To Avoid Getting Ripped Off
If you've had credit problems, then you've probably received offers for credit cards people with bad credit. These offers range from legitimate, to questionable, to outright scams. How can you tell the difference? The answer is to read the fine print, usually to be found in a document called "Terms and Conditions." To show you the difference between "the good, the bad, and the ugly" in the low-end credit card market, let's take a look at the fine print associated with such offers.
We'll start with one of the more popular low-limit "starter" cards available today. These are actual terms published by a major company at the time this article was written. The card comes with a Visa logo on it and looks like a regular credit card, so you can use it as an extra piece of identification when you're booking a hotel room, renting a car, and so on. In the "Terms and Conditions" document, the first thing we see is the annual percentage rate (APR), listed as 19.5%. That's not a particularly attractive rate, but it's not as high as a lot of other cards. A little farther down, we see that the APR for cash advances is higher, 25.5%, which is normal since there is greater risk involved to the company.
Where it really gets interesting is the section that lists the fees associated with the card. In this example, there is an annual fee of $150! There is also a $29 fee to open the account, as well as a monthly "maintenance" fee of $6.50. Whew! That's a lot of fees. But wait! It gets better. Toward the bottom of the document, buried in the fine print, we see something called "Available Credit Limitations." In 8-point typeface (very tough to read on a computer screen or printed page), you are informed that your generous initial credit limit will be a whopping $300. On your very first statement, you will be billed for the $150 annual fee, plus the $29 setup fee. The $6.50 monthly fees will start appearing after you make your first purchase on the card.
Let's take a closer look at the math here. It will cost you $179 up front, plus $78 per year, to obtain $300 worth of credit. Your total cost for the first year is $257, assuming you pay off the balance each month and don't incur any regular interest charges. Sound like a good deal? Does it make any sense at all to pay $257 to obtain $300 worth of credit? That's 85.6% in effective interest! If you keep a running balance of $300 on the card, and just make the minimum payments every month, your effective interest rate will be 105.2% for the first year, and 95.5 % for subsequent years. That's some pretty expensive credit! This credit card offer, while legal, still counts as a total rip-off.
As bad as the above sounds, it still only qualifies as "questionable" rather than being a full-on scam. There are much worse offers floating around out there. I've even seen some "deals" where the fees are so stiff you start out above the credit limit before receiving the card in the mail! In the bogus category I'd also include cards where you are forced to pay an advance fee prior to receiving the "guaranteed" credit card, which of course never arrives. There are also "catalog cards," where you supposedly build credit by purchasing items through a card tied to one particular company and their catalog of goods. The problem is that the catalogs usually consist of grossly overpriced junk.
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For the list of credit cards for people with bad credit CLICK HERE.
The A-Z About Bad Credit Cards
Today, credit cards are synonymous for convenience. There is nothing that cannot be bought with a credit card. You can shop online; get movie tickets, reservations and much more with credit cards. It seems like there was no shopping possible ever before credit cards came into existence.Every person out there has a credit card with him. But most of these people are people with good credit ratings. It is extremely easy for them to get a credit card with great interest rates, terms and conditions etc. But what if you have not been so lucky about your credit score? What if you came across a financial situation that created a mess on your credit report? Then it will not be very easy to get a good credit card for your. Then you will have to make do with a bad credit card or credit card for people with bad credit history.
Bad Credit Cards
Technically speaking, there are no cards called poor credit cards. But let us assume that here we are talking about credit cards for people with a bad credit history. These credit cards have very high interest rates. While the conventional card has an interest rate of 10 to 12%, bad credit credit cards have an interest rate that ranges from 27% to 39%. Now that is a huge difference. So you need to reconsider your decision before you decide to sign up for a bad credit card.
Review Your Credit Score
Oh, this process is so important for people with bad credit history. Believe me, it is more important than you can ever imagine. You need to review your credit report. It may contain some errors which can create a huge impact in the final credit score. Even a minute entry gone wrong can appear really badly on your final credit report. So the best thing to do is get your report from all three credit agencies and go through it. If at all you find any errors, you need to dispute them before you apply for any bad credit finance. If you are successful in correcting any errors, then you may no longer need to look at credit cards for bad credit. You may very well succeed in getting a more conventional card with great terms, conditions and interest rates.
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What are the Best Credit Cards for Poor Credit?
People with a bad credit rating are keen to understand what are the best credit cards for poor credit. Yes, there are credit cards for people with bad credit some help people to rebuild credit credit cards meant for people who do not enjoy a good credit rating.Perils of Bad Credit
It is advisable not to make purchases beyond your paying capacity. On certain occasions, you may not be in a position to pay back the amount due on time and such instances could lead you to a situation where your credit rating is adversely affected. Some of the possible reasons leading to bad credit and lower credit rating could be loosing a job reducing your earnings, making heavy purchases beyond your paying capacity, incurring heavy medical expenses, having court cases and many other.
Options for Credit Cards For People With Bad Credit
Having a bad credit is not the end of the road for you because many companies have credit cards for bad credit history. These credit cards for bad credit rating not only help you in having credit card for your use but also help to build credit with credit cards for this purpose. There are some drawbacks for credit cards for bad credit. These cards are usually rather expensive and have a higher APR compared to normal credit cards. When applying for a new credit card with bad credit you should expect to be given a different treatment than normally given to people with good credit in the form of being charged higher annual fee, enrollment fee, etc.
In such situations it is necessary that weigh all the options available for best credit cards for poor credit and get a credit card low fee bad credit option. Yes, the competition among card issuers have launched low fee credit cards for people with bad credit rating. Before buying bad credit credit card scrutinize the terms and conditions attached with it. Applying for credit cards for people with bad credit implies that you will be reported to different credit card companies.
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Things You Need To Know About Bad Credit Cards
When you're looking for bad credit credit cards, weeding the bad credit cards from the good ones can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. With so many predatory lenders getting into the bad credit card arena, it's essential that you follow these seven rules if you want to avoid getting taken by the bad credit cards out there.
1. Never Pay Up Front
The first thing you need to understand when dealing with bad credit credit cards, and bad credit cards in general, is that no legitimate credit card offer is going to require you to pay money up front. If a credit card company won't process your application without you sending in an up-front fee, it's a scam. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
2. You May Have to Pay For it
Now, just because you're not going to pay up front for bad credit credit cards doesn't mean you aren't going to pay at all. When credit card companies require an annual fee, it doesn't mean that it's not a legitimate credit card offer.
The difference between the bad credit cards and the good credit cards is that the good credit cards will charge your annual fee to the credit card they are issuing -- they won't ask for you to pay the fee up front.
3. Interest Is Going To Hurt -- But It Doesn't Have To Kill You
When dealing with credit cards for bad credit, you are going to have to pay a higher interest rate than people with good credit. That doesn't, however, mean that you should pay through the nose.
If you're being charged more than 20 percent interest, you're dealing with poor credit cards. Even with bad credit, you should be able to keep your interest rate below 20 percent.
4. You Might Need to Secure It
If you're credit isn't good enough to enough to qualify you for an unsecured credit cards for bad credit, you might have to settle for a secured one. This means that you may have to give a security deposit that will be used to ensure your credit limit.
If you deposit $200, your credit limit should be $200. However, some of the poor credit cards will ask you to deposit more than the credit line they are issuing you.
If this is the case, go elsewhere for your credit card needs.
5. Secured vs. Prepaid
Now that we've covered secured credit cards for bad credit, it's important that you understand that secured credit cards for people with bad credit are very different from prepaid credit cards.
While pre-paid credit cards do serve a purpose, they are bad credit cards if you're trying to rebuild your credit, since they don't report anything to the credit bureaus.
Make sure when applying for a secured credit card for bad credit that the credit card company will report your payments to the credit reporting agencies.
6. Adding it Up
When applying for credit cards for bad credit people, make sure the fees and credit limit offered make sense in relation to one another.
There are some very credit cards for people with bad credit on the market that charge exorbitant fees and issue very small lines of credit.
For example, they company may charge a $79 annual fee and a $85 processing fee, but only issue you a $200 line of credit. This means that you only have a credit line of $36 available when the card arrives, and a debt of more than $160.
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