When you first look at secured credit cards they may all look the same to you, but this isn’t the case.  The first thing that you will want to look at is to see if the credit card will report your activity to all three credit agencies.  You may be wondering why this is important, and it’s simple.  When you are trying to improve your credit you want everyone to know that you are doing a good job.  Raising your credit score is dependent upon the three major credit agencies getting wind that you are doing a great job making payments.

Next you will want to look at the interest rate.  You can expect for the interest rates to be about the same as unsecured credit cards or a bit higher.  The reason for this is that you are considered high risk because you do have challenging credit.  Simply try to find the best interest rate that you can with a card that still meets all of your other needs.  Interest rates don’t have to be a deal breaker, but you should take a look at them so you aren’t shocked when your bill comes.

You also need to look at what the credit limits are.  Some cards will allow you to have limits as high as $10,000 and others will allow you to have limits as low as $100.  You may fall somewhere in between so just be sure that the limit that you have in mind is the same as the credit card company’s.  Remember that you will be paying this money, so in theory you are setting your own limit.  You can only have that $10,000 if you have that money to give to the credit card company right now.

The last thing that you will want to consider is what the annual fee is.  Most secured credit cards do have an annual fee attached to them, it’s just part of the deal.  You should look for the credit card that meets all of your other needs and then try to find the most reasonable annual fee.  You usually will not see cards with an annual fee that is higher than $60 but often they are as low as $29 and some will even waive the fee for the first year just to get you signed up and ready to go toward a better credit future.