What is a credit card?

Rebuilding credit, what secured credit card is best?

• My husband and I are wanting to continue to rebuild our credit, and have been told that having a credit card, making small purchases and paying them off monthly is a really good way to do that. While our credit is now good enough to not have deposits on things like cell phones, it's not good enough to buy a car from anywhere other than a buy here/pay here, etc...so it sounds like a good plan. I seriously doubt we'd qualify for an unsecured credit card at this time, and I realize a secured credit card is kind of crazy IF you have good credit. But, we don't. So, is this a good plan (we figure fill both our tanks once a month on the card, pay it off monthly) and build credit on a secured account, OR should we wait until our credit is good enough to have an unsecured credit card? We don't need credit now, but it would be nice to have an actual credit card for travel reservations so we aren't always stuck with a hold on our money like it is now using our debit card. Thanks!

• Answer:

  US Bank has some good options (some also have travel rewards such as flier miles..) and their cards are very likely to unsecure after 13 months of good usage and payment history. :) Minimum deposit is $300. You apply online, print the application and mail it with the check to open it. If you wait til your credit is "good enough" it could be years. Might as well take advantage of being able to help yourself in this situation and open one that can benefit you (check out the ones I mentioned as they unsecure fairly quick compared to most and offer flier miles). I included the link to their list of secured card options below.