A secured credit card is similar to a prepaid credit card since the funds you are using are actually yours and not the issuer of the credit card. Generally people who apply for secured credit cards or prepaid credit cards are people with poor credit or unemployed.
A prepaid credit card spending limit is the amount of money you loaded to the card. There are no interest or finance charges on a prepaid card. With secured credit cards, your credit line could be from 50% to 100% of your deposit depending on the institution giving you the secured credit. Therefore the company giving you the secured credit card has zero risk.
A secured credit card can be very beneficial because it gives you an opportunity to rebuild your credit history and you are able to make purchases just as if you had an unsecured credit card. Many companies require that you have a credit card to make purchases, such as car rental, airline tickets, etc.
Closing unnecessary accounts and consolidating your bills to make payments more manageable could be an advantage financially. By not applying for too much credit within a short period of time is another factor that will help in rebuilding your credit rating.
Additionally, even though secured credit is like prepaid cards, they do have certain fees attached. Benefits are similar to that of an unsecured credit card, such as usually being paid interest on your balance in the bank, using Automated Teller Machines (ATM's) to make deposits, withdrawals, and making purchases at participating merchants.
Applying for secured credit card can be very beneficial because it gives you an opportunity to rebuild your credit history, and you are able to make purchases just as if you had an unsecured credit card. Many companies require that you have a credit card to make purchases, such as car rentals, airline tickets, etc.
Ensure that the company issuing the secured credit, routinely reports customers' payment history to any of the three main credit bureaus namely Experience, Equifax and Trans Union. This reporting to the credit bureaus will rebuild your credit history over time