http://www.charlieandthecreditfactory.com/credit/credit-cards/secured-credit-cards/ Secured credit cards - The good, the bad, and the ugly about secured credit cards. en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT Weblog Editor 2.0 Ok, so say you've woken up one morning and decided that the current life you're leading as a pencil pusher trapped in a cubicle all day is simply not for you. You're miserable, bored out of your mind, don't have a secured credit card, and loathe your boss. So you decide to make a difference. Both your girlfriend and mother have mentioned a few times that you're a pretty good cook and thinking you've got what it takes, you decide to open up a restaurant. You figure if people like Jennifer Lopez and Cameron Diaz with their secured credit card can do it with no previous business management experience, then so can you. You throw a hammer at your piggy bank and see very little there so you charge most of your expenses onto your credit cards. You name your restaurant Wolfgang Buck. Things are going great until you realize that unless you have friends like Matt Damon or George Clooney to pay for overpriced filet mignon, your profits begin to sink as does your credit score. You're spending more than you earn and now have a spaghetti mountain high of debt. And the cast from Ocean's Twelve have not been returning your phone calls, either. Check, Please In order to repair both your broken heart and blemished credit, you would need to consider applying for secured credit cards or bad credit credit cards. What's great about secured credit cards, is that they give you the opportunity to flex some muscle with plastic, but also give you the added feeling of security of not falling into the black hole of debt with no savings account for back up. Secured credit cards gives you a great opportunity to improve your credit rating once again by only making a few purchases a month and paying for them. Using secured credit cards still allows you to make regular purchases such as buy airline tickets online or a bottle of wine to drown down your sorrows after your failed business attempt. Hold the debt, but add a little credit to that Shop around and check out the different secured credit cards that are out there and find the one that best suits you. Remember to read the fine line with each offer, as some secured credit cards might offer lower interest rates and waive annual fees. Not every bank offers secured credit cards or even prepaid credit cards to their customers, so do your research or ask family members and friends about any secured credit cards they might recommend. Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT