
Finding the best credit card after bankruptcy is not that difficult, if you know where to look and what to look for.
Let’s start by talking about secured and unsecured credit cards. When it comes to applying for a credit card after bankruptcy one question that a lot of people seem to have is: Should I apply for a secured credit card or unsecured credit card?
In case you don’t know the difference, a secured credit card is “secured” by a special savings account you establish with the credit card issuer which acts as collateral for your credit limit.
For example, you deposit $500 in a special savings account and then have a $500 credit limit. If you default, the credit card issuer simply takes the money in your special savings account.
Unsecured credit cards are just that – unsecured. Meaning the person fills out a credit application and, based on their credit report, income, etc. are approved for a certain credit limit. Of course, they could also be declined depending
on the credit card issuer’s guidelines.
So which is best? It depends on your credit history. However, if you apply for a secured credit card you have a higher chance of getting approved versus an unsecured credit card.
But be careful. Not all secured cards are created equal. And to make matters worse, there are tons of banks out there pushing secured credit cards!
So how do you find the best credit card after bankruptcy? Come up with a list of criteria that the secured card needs to meet in order for you to consider it. When I’m researching secured cards, I apply eight criteria. Not many meet these criteria so I’m able to narrow down the choices quickly.
What are the some of the eight criteria? For example, a low interest rate is important. While researching some secured credit cards I ran across one with an interest rate of 23.99% and another with an interest rate of only 9.25%.
This is just one of the criteria I use to find the best credit card after bankruptcy – and look at the potential savings! Over several years you could save hundreds or even thousands of dollars in interest depending on the balance you maintain.
Okay, here’s another criteria: application fees. Again, I found some secured credit cards that have no application fees and one that had a… are you ready for this… $120 application fee! Sadly, people have paid it!
Let me give you one more criteria you can use to find the best credit card after bankruptcy: You want to make sure the secured card issuer reports to all three credit bureaus. But you also want to make sure they report it a certain way.
I don’t have room here for all eight criteria, but hopefully this gives you an idea of some of the things you need to look at when it comes to finding the best credit card after bankruptcy.
By the way, don’t apply for too many credit cards at once. If you do, it can hurt your credit score. That’s why if you’re uncertain as to whether or not you’d be approved for an unsecured credit card it may be better to apply for a secured credit card.
Now you know some steps you can take toward finding the best credit card after bankruptcy!
=============================================================
Copyright
Tags: Applying For A Credit Card, Collateral, Credit History
Posted in Credit Card | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

In this series we are going to cover one of the biggest problems all over the world. Credit card fraud.
For those who may not exactly know what credit card fraud is, a simple definition. Credit card fraud is the act of making a purchase using someone else’s credit card information. Sounds like something that should be difficult to do. Unfortunately, it’s not.
There are many types of credit card fraud, the most common we’ll cover in this article.
First there is what is called “mail non-receipt fraud” which is when a new or replacement card is sent by the bank and never received by the person it was supposed to go to. This has been mostly combated by the banks sending out inactive credit cards where the person has to make a phone call in order to activate the card. Otherwise it can’t be used. Unfortunately there are some banks that do not do this and still send out cards that are already activated.
Then there is what is called “chargeback fraud” where a legitimate cardholder uses the card to purchase goods or services. Then when the statement comes they call the credit card company and claim they never received the item or service or that they never authorized the transaction.
Another type of credit card fraud is called “skimming” where an employee or merchant makes a second copy of the person’s credit card details before processing the payment. This copy is then sold on the black market to professionals who clone illegal copies of these cards. Fortunately, skimming has become less of a problem since the introduction of CVV and CVS codes. These are not encoded on the card strip but are physically written on the back of the card. This is a required three digit code to finalize all transactions. Without this code even a cloned credit card will not work.
Skimming at ATMs has also been a problem. What the illegally set up ATM machine does is place a skimmer device somewhere in the machine that reads the magnetic strip attached to the card. This is used together with various devices that monitor the keypad of the ATM by attaching a fake fascia over the original keypad. Fortunately, this is not as common today as it was years ago when ATM machines were relatively new.
Then of course there is “online credit card fraud” which is the most common type of credit card fraud today with all the transactions that people do each day. This type of fraud gets a little complicated but simply stated, when a person uses their credit card online, hackers monitor the person’s entry into the merchant’s system and essentially steal the credit card information without the person having any idea this is happening. Another way to get a person’s credit card info online is to send an official looking email telling the person that they have to update their credit card info. They are sent a bogus link to go to where the info is collected and used for whatever purpose the scammer wants, whether to sell the info or use it to make purchases himself.
In the next article in this series we’ll go into credit card fraud into more depth.
By: Michael Russell About the Author:
Caffeinated Content – Members-Only Content for WordPress
Tags: Credit Card Details, Cvv, Receipt
Posted in Credit Card | No Comments »