How to Get a Credit Card with Bad Credit

There will be few options for credit cards for those people with bad credit since few credit card companies like to take the risk of offering a credit card to people who might not be able to pay off the bills. The lower your credit score is, the more time it will take you to get approved. Compared to people with excellent credit scores, choices of credit cards will be fewer for you. However, it doesn’t mean that it will be utterly hopeless for people with bad credit to apply for a credit card.

We’ve offered a round up of some ways as for different credit scores. Please take the following situations for reference and come up with the means to get back on track.

What is bad credit?

Generally, bad credit means that cardholders once had a past failure to keep up with the loan agreements or they hadn’t paid their past credit obligations on time, and they were not able to get approved for new credit cards.

In the situation above, credit cards companies will collect their credit account history or credit report which will be the negative information of those cardholders. The negative information will be used to calculate your credit score. And the credit score which ranges from 300 to 650 will be regarded as bad credit.

How to get a credit card with a bad credit score:

For a credit score of 500 and lower

It might be a little difficult for people with 500 and lower credit score to get approved for a conventional card since most credit cards companies consider this score as a pretty high credit risk. The only option for such score would be a secured credit card. People with this score will be required to offer a security deposit as collateral in this situation. Generally, the security deposit which is used as a guarantee to your lender should be equal to the card’s credit limit.

For a credit score of 550

With a credit score of 550, you will try hard and experience a complex procedure to get a traditional credit card. Lenders still regard this score as high risk though it is higher than 500s. Similar to those people with 500s or lower scores, the only method for you is to get a secured credit card initially.

For a credit score of 600

You can get qualified for a conventional unsecured card by some lenders once you hit 600s. Generally, you will get more options for those in 500s. However, there will be a difficult way full of obstacles for you to get a conventional card since most lenders will also consider this score as a high credit risk. Therefore, you may get those cards which come with high-interest rates and fees.

For a credit score of 650

You will be qualified for a credit card easily with a score of 650s. However, this score is also considered as subprime and credit card banks take it as high risk, which means that you will face the high-interest rates as well as fees. Meantime, you need to make a positive payment history to improve your credit. You can enjoy all the rewards and perks which offers for people with good credit if you can hit 700s.