One of the little known secrets to establishing credit and repairing bad credit is through secured lines of credit. Traditionally, a secured credit line would be secured by an expensive, high ticket item. Car loans are secured by the vehicle that was purchased, and mortgages are secured by the homes occupied.

Prepaid Rush Cards are secured through funds that you deposit into an account with the bank. The amount deposited is set by the you as the consumer, and that money immediately becomes available to charge through a card that will monitor and report activity to the three major credit bureaus. Using a prepaid card is simple, and has many advantages that could lead its user to financial freedom.

Here’s a little about prepaid lines of credit:

Depositing Money for Use

Prepaid cards are easy to use because you are the one in control. Your credit limit is essentially set by yourself, when you deposit money into the account to use. With a prepaid Rush Card, depositing funds for use is easy. While there may be a daily limit as to the amount you can transfer in, there are many ways you can get the money into the account.

For the ease of the consumer, you can transfer money into your prepaid credit line via direct deposit from your employer, through a Money Gram, from a PayPal account, and even by mail. While the time it takes to be credited to your account may vary, with direct deposit, the funds are available the same day as the deposit.

Using Your Prepaid Rush Card

With a prepaid credit card, you can use it just as you would use any other secured or unsecured card. If your card is a Visa, you can use it anywhere that takes Visa. The only requirement is that you have enough funds deposited into your account to cover the amount of your charge. This seems like a contradiction to some consumers. Why would you use a charge card if you have the money available to use? Why deposit it into a charge account for future use?

There are many answers to those questions, and the most obvious reason for having a prepaid credit card is to establish credit. If your credit is poor, or you have none at all, depositing funds into a Rush Card will guarantee that credit activity will begin to accrue on your credit report. Charging and paying on the line of credit on a regular basis will greatly aid in establishing credit, and you’ll always know that you have money “set aside” in the case of an emergency.

Advantages and Disadvantages

There are many advantages to having a prepaid Visa or MasterCard,and very few to no disadvantages for most consumers. The only drawback of a secured card of this nature is that you need to have funds available to deposit into the account. Once that is taken care of, however, the benefits don’t stop. From establishing to repairing credit, prepaid credit cards make sense.

For those with well established credit in good standing, there are advantages as well. Setting aside a sum of money into a prepaid account can be the equivalent of having a savings account. While it may not earn any interest, you will have those funds set aside in case you should need them for any expenses that arise unexpectedly. In addition, if you don’t want to keep all your money in one account, you can use a prepaid card as a secondary banking account – with all the benefits minus the checks.