If you have a poor credit rating or have damaged your creditworthiness due to past difficulties with money management or unforeseen emergencies, you’re not alone.  Very few people can boast of a flawless credit rating and there are more people looking up from the bottom of a low FICO score than you’d probably believe.

You’ve undoubtedly heard the news about the way banks are tightening the screws on consumer credit during this recessionary period.  That might lead you to believe that finding a credit card for bad credit situations is next to impossible these days.

Don’t make the assumption that you can’t get a card.  There are great cards for those with so-called “less than perfect” credit.  In fact, there are card options for everyone and some of them don’t even involve a credit check.  If you need a credit card, you can get one.  It’s that simple.

You do need to understand a few things about getting credit cards under these circumstances, though.  If you’re dreaming of a high-limit card with a tiny interest rate, you need to recalibrate your thinking.  Lenders aren’t interested in risking a great deal of their capital on those with poor credit histories.  When they are willing to offer a card, they certainly won’t do it in a way that would promise them only limited profit potential.

Your bad credit is going to cost you on both fronts.  If you qualify for an unsecured card, you can expect a relatively low limit and a higher-than-average interest rate.  If you consider the position the lenders are putting themselves in when they extend credit to those with a “checkered” past, that makes sense.

In some cases, your history (or lack thereof) may eliminate any chance of getting an unsecured card.  Instead, your route to finding a credit card for bad credit may involve securing the card with a matching deposit into one of the banks accounts.
These secured credit card options are a great way to re-establish your creditworthiness while simultaneously gaining all of the advantages associated with having your own MasterCard or Visa.  If you can scrape together a few hundred dollars to make a qualified deposit, there are companies who will issue you a card with a limit based on that deposit.

This is a great solution for those with a series of negative credit experiences in their histories.  That’s because the banks who issue these secured cards often don’t even make a credit check as part of the process.  They realize that their investment is protected by the secured deposit, eliminating their risk exposure.

There’s another way to get a credit card for bad credit.  You can purchase a prepaid card that bears the Visa or MasterCard logo.  These are accepted in the same retails stores that take the standard cards and can even be used in ATMs.  Their overall utility is limited compared to traditional cards in some respects, but they can be a perfect match for many people.

Before you close the door on the idea of getting a credit card due to problems with your credit card history, consider the many different options available to those who don’t have a great credit score.  No matter who you are and what you’ve done in the past, you can get a credit card.