What a Secured Credit Card Company Looks For

A secured credit card company is likely to me much more lenient on their requirements than a traditional unsecured card company. They will still have several key factors they look at when approving a card. Here are a few things they look for.


Past Delinquencies
While having major delinquencies on your credit report isn’t a huge deal with a secured credit card company, having serious delinquencies with other secured card companies will be seen as negative. Many secured credit card companies will not issue a card to someone who falls under this umbrella. It’s best to pay off any secured debt you have before applying for more.

Work History
A secured credit card company may not look at your credit as a deciding factor, but they will want to know that you have a job and steady income. Even a secured card is useless if you’re not able to make your payments. If you don’t have steady income, be prepared to explain why you think you can still make the required payments.

Banking Relationships
Most secured card companies will want to see that you have an active checking and savings account before issuing a card. This is for a few reasons. They want to see that you’ve been able to maintain a positive balance in your other secured accounts, and many will also want you to set up automatic payments from your checking account. This makes you less of a risk for the card issuer.

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