The Difference Between Secured and Unsecured Credit Cards

People often have to decide between selecting a secured or unsecured credit card. Both these types of cards are different in how they are availed and therefore there are some differences between the two. The levels of risks associated with these cards are also different.

The basic difference between secured and unsecured credit cards is that secured cards are guaranteed by the savings in the account holder’s account, while unsecured cards do not carry any such guarantees. Secured credit cards are provided to risky customers whose credit history might not be satisfactory to the lender. In such cases, credit cards are provided to a customer based on the bank balance that the customer maintains in his or her savings account. The credit card company provides the cards on the assumption that if the borrower defaults on the payment, the money that lies in the savings account may be used to cover the costs.

An unsecured credit card on the other hand, does not require the borrower to provide any security. Therefore, it is only provided to people who have a good credit history and have the means to pay back their debts in time. In both cases, the products that are purchased on debt using the credit card will be hypothecated to the credit card company. This means that unless the repayment is made in full, the credit card company legally has a claim on the product that has been purchased. However, credit card companies do not have the time and inclination to claim purchased goods if payments are defaulted.

An interesting observation about secured and non-secured credit cards is that both the cards charge the same rate of interest. Therefore, it is better to go in for an unsecured card than opt for a secured credit card.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 18th, 2007 and is filed under Credit, Credit Card Applications, Credit Cards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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One Response to “The Difference Between Secured and Unsecured Credit Cards”

  1. Loans Secured On Your Home on February 3rd, 2008 at 6:24 am

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How Credit Scores Affect Mortgage Applications

With a good credit score an applicant will receive prompt response from many lenders, all of them offering low interest rates and low down payment options. The loan amount offered also may be high. On the contrary a low credit score would result in a lot of rejection from various mortgage financers. Because creditors wouldn’t come forward easily to give credit to individuals that have a history of difficulty in repaying existing loans. After all, creditors take risk when they finance mortgages against the credit history of a debtor. Naturally, they will wish to remain on the safe side and pick up less risky ones that have good credit histories. A good credit score means less chance of missing on payments and therefore less risky.

But there are some real risk takers that will come forward to finance mortgages for individuals with bad credit scores. They would charge high down payments and always high interest rates though. They may also fix additional charges for every little paper work and may charge high closing rates. The loan amount offered will also be considerably less. The individual with poor credit scores will not have much choice but to accept the terms and conditions as there are no other alternatives. This is a tight situation and to avoid this you must have a good credit score.

People with bad credit may fall in to the trap of ’secured loans’. Secured loans are the ones where the loan applicant offers an asset as collateral security. The lender becomes secure about the repayment of the loan and not the borrower. Securing a loan with bad credit score becomes easy only when the applicant is willing to offer some asset as collateral security. This again is a very dangerous situation where an individual runs the risk of losing his entire collateral asset in case of failing to pay the loan installments in time. An individual should always avoid such type of a loan.

Resort properties normally require large amounts of finance which a person with bad credit may find it difficult to obtain. So it is always advisable to keep your credit score high. Incase the credit score becomes low due to unavoidable financial reasons it can be improved upon. There is no need to lose hope simply because a person has a low credit score. If the property that he intends to buy has good equity he should go out and try to obtain finances for it. There are many sub prime lenders willing to offer their services.

For a review of your credit report as it relates to a mortgage loan and a consultation on the best loans available to you, give us a confidential, no obligation and no cost call.