There you are, trying to order a copy of a document you desperately need online but they want you to pay their fee with a credit card. Now what? You lost your credit card a while ago when you failed to make payments on it. The banks have turned your applications for credit cards down since then. Are you surprised? Which profitable business wouldn’t? You ruined your credit score and now you don’t look like an acceptable risk anymore. Don’t despair. There is hope for you yet. You can apply for a Applied Bank® Secured Visa® Credit Card. 

This is a way for you to slowly reestablish a better credit rating. You will have to open a deposit account at Applied Bank®. The amount of money you need to deposit in this account equals your desired credit limit. For the  Applied Bank® Secured Visa® Credit Card  that can be anywhere between $200 and $500. 

With a secured credit card, you are depositing the money you intend to spend before you spend it. You have to maintain that amount of money in the account while you have the credit card. It is the bank’s guarantee that you won’t skip out on payments. In return, Applied Bank® will report your payment history on the credit card to the credit reporting bureaus. As you build a history of ontime payments, your credit score will begin to climb again. 

Don’t expect this to be a fast process, but in the meantime you do have the use of a credit card for those transactions that really make life easier when you have one. Imagine arriving at a self service gas station late at night when there is no attendant on duty anymore. Most gas pumps now accept credit cards. I have yet to see one that accepts cash. 

The Applied Bank® Secured Visa® Credit Card comes with a low fixed rate annual percentage rate of 12.99% on purchases and cash advances. Banks tend to have lower APRs on secured credit cards since they know the money to pay for your purchases is in the bank already. Your credit card is still accepted at all the same places an unsecured credit card would be accepted at. You are also protected by zero fraud liability, so if someone you don’t know uses your credit card, your money is protected. Just don’t hand your credit card to someone else. Negligence is not covered by the liability protection. 

Applied Bank makes it very easy to apply for their secured Visa® credit card. After all, they offer this credit card because they want customers. You don’t have to worry about the safety of your deposit account. It is FDIC insured and Applied Bank is considered among one of the top banks for financial strength. 

Should you be in the unfortunate position of not having quite mastered the art of paying every bill on time, this may be the bank you should look at. Many secured credit cards have increased annual percentage rates once you are late with a payment. At Applied Bank, they won’t raise your rate if you happen to make your payment late. 

Do remember that you are trying to improve your credit score though. You really do not want to make your payments late. You want to be a model bill payer. You want to see your credit score rise so sometime in the future you may be able to qualify for a bigger loan such as a car loan or even a home mortgage. To make sure, your efforts are being reported, request your credit history annually from the credit bureaus. You are entitled to a free annual report from each of the three credit bureaus.