It’s no secret that your credit score is a key factor in determining your financial security and ability to access credit. A high score means you’re a low-risk borrower. But can a secured card raise your score? Find out!

If credit card companies or lenders consider you a low-risk borrower or client, you can get lower interest rates and better terms.

With a high score, you can get lower credit card APRs and more rewards. However, if you have a low score, you may need to get secured credit cards.

With secured cards, you can get approved for some, even with no credit history or with a really poor score. However, you’ll probably get higher fees and fewer rewards.

Also, if you have a low credit score and you think it needs a boost, applying for a secured card can help you out. So, keep reading to know how a secured card can help you raise your score!

Secured cards can be wonderful sometimes because you can use them to learn how to use a credit card. Plus, you’ll be able to have better control over your finances because there’s not much limit.

Also, if you learn about how they work, you can use them to raise your credit score to the point where you’ll be able to apply for an unsecured card!

So, if you want to know more about secured credit cards and how they can help you build your credit score, keep reading!

A secured credit card is built for those who need to use a credit card but can’t qualify for a regular card. Also, you don’t need to have a high credit score to qualify for a secured card. You don’t need any score!

However, what we will mention in this post is all about what generally happens with secured cards. Maybe you’ll find a different secure card with rewards and other perks.

However, in general, secured cards don’t offer any rewards or welcome bonuses for new cardholders. Also, you probably won’t get low APRs. The fees will be relatively high as well.

However, most secured credit cards send your monthly payment reports to all three major credit bureaus. With this, you can increase your credit score and have the chance to apply for an unsecured card.

Usually, the minimum deposit for a secured credit card is $200. However, some credit cards have a minimum of $500.

This type of deposit is a way for credit card providers to have a backup in case you don’t make your monthly payments.

If you already have plans to reach a certain point in your credit score, you may be considering getting a secured card. But, you should probably know that increasing your score may not be so fast.

With secured credit cards, you’ll probably need to wait a bit to have a significant increase in your credit score.

And if you don’t know, secured credit cards will send your monthly reports to the credit bureaus. But not all of them. So be sure that you get the right credit card for your needs.

Moreover, according to the average secured credit card, you can get an increase of 300 points in the course of 12 months in your score.

However, your credit score won’t magically increase while using a secured credit card. You’ll need to use your credit card correctly to get this outcome.

To increase your score with a secured card in the fastest way possible, you’ll need to make all your payments on time.

This way, the credit card provider will send your monthly payment reports to the credit bureaus. And they will have a good impression of your credit card usage.

There are many ways of improving your credit score fast. However, none of them perform miracles. If you have debts or anything that caused your score to lower, you’ll need to wait to increase it.

But one good way to start increasing your credit score in 30 days is getting a credit limit increase. But this will only work if you already have a secured card or any other credit card.

By increasing your credit score limit, you’ll be able to get a lower percentage of the balance on your credit card. This way, you’ll be able to lower your credit utilization.

When you lower your credit utilization, the credit bureaus see that you can have better control over your finances and can increase your score.

Usually, secured card limits are related to your security deposit amount. So, if you make a security deposit of $200, you’ll have a credit limit of $200.

However, with some secured credit cards, you can increase this credit limit. But you can only do it if you make all your payments on time during a certain period.

The highest starting credit limit you’ll find for a secured credit card is probably $500. However, some credit cards allow you to increase your limit up to $10,000 even.

However, these credit cards may not be so good for you if you don’t know how to control your finances.

So, be careful of how you use your credit card limit. If you don’t use much of your limit, you may be able to increase your credit score much faster!

If you are dealing with some debt and don’t have a high credit score, secured cards can be a good choice. Also, secured cards can help you out if you have a plan to increase your score and get an unsecured card.

Some credit card providers even have a plan for you to upgrade your secured credit card to an unsecured card if you use your card correctly.

However, you need to check if you can pay the commonly high fees related to secured cards. If you can, then it can still be a good option depending on the card.

And if you want to know which are the easiest to get credit cards that you can apply for even with poor credit, check out our post below!