Credit score tips to obtain the top secured credit cards in 2021

The best secured credit cards with zero credit checks with eastwoodbank.com? Prepaid debit cards offer convenience and are a safer alternative than carrying cash, but they don’t help you build credit. With a prepaid debit card, you “load” money onto the card, and the purchases you make are paid for with that money. Since you’re not borrowing money, there’s no effect on your credit score. See NerdWallet’s best prepaid cards. Offered mostly by smaller financial institutions, such as credit unions and community banks, these loans are designed to help you build a good payment history. The money you “borrow” isn’t actually given directly to you. Instead, it’s held on your behalf in a savings account while you repay the loan in monthly installments. Once you’re done, the money is released to you — and your credit report shows a paid-off loan. Learn more about credit-builder loans.

OpenSky Secured Visa Credit Card: Details and benefits: The two reasons you may want to apply for the OpenSky Secured Visa Credit Card is if you don’t own a checking account, but still want access to a credit card, or if you’re looking for a secured card with a decent annual percentage rate. For everyone else, the $35 annual fee should make this card a non-starter. That being said, OpenSky Secured Visa can help you build or rebuild your credit, as the issuer, Capital Bank, reports your monthly payments to the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

You don’t have to undergo a credit check to apply, and you don’t need a bank account to qualify. If these are areas of concern for you, the OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card is definitely worth a look. If not, there are better (and cheaper) alternatives. The issuer doesn’t run a credit check on OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card applicants, making this an attainable option for people with severely damaged credit. You can make your deposit — minimum $200, maximum $3,000 — and pay your bills with a debit card, wire transfer, check or money order, making it one of the few secured cards that doesn’t require a traditional bank account.

The Self Visa is our top rated secured card for credit building because it offers an unusual on-ramp to building a positive credit history through the creation of both an installment loan and a credit card account. If you’re able to meet the Self Visa’s lenient eligibility requirements, you’re granted a CD secured loan. Once you’ve made three on-time loan payments that unlock at least $100 of value in your CD, you can open a secured card using the repaid funds as the security deposit. You earn interest on CD (while also paying interest on the loan), but the card also comes with its own set of interest rates and fees. It offers no rewards or other benefits.

Lenders don’t want to lend money to those who historically have shown poor financial management, so they will set criteria for their lending. They may decide, for example, that they will grant a credit card to anyone with a credit score over 700. If your score is 625, then you will be declined. There’s no way of knowing exactly where each lender sets the bar for an “acceptable” credit score. All you can do is hope your score is good enough for the lender as per their individual criteria. Discover more information on secured credit card.