Options on Credit Cards for Bad Credit

There is one way to get a credit card for people with bad credit... The answer is: you must apply! It's not quite that simple, as you have to meet the lender or bank’s criteria for offering credit lines to consumers, but the best way to understand what they are looking for and then apply for several offers and hopefully get approved. Typically, there are several considerations that a bank reviews when extending a credit card to people with bad credit. I will review what a lender would look at, each one in turn.

1. Loan to value: This is calculation looking at how much you want to borrow, typically this is relative to the value of a home or asset. It is directly impacted by the amount of money that you can put down on your new home or asset (in the case of a fully secured credit card, you literally put down 100% of the amount that can be borrowed). The more that you can put down, the less risky the new loan is to the lender.

2. Debt to Income: This ratio looks at your monthly debt obligations (payments of interest and principal) as a percentage of your monthly income. The goal is measure your cash flow and your ability to repay the loan.

3. Credit Rating: Your credit card or loan, including terms like interest rate and points, will depend on your credit worthiness. One measure of credit quality is a credit score (sometimes a specific FICO score). Your credit rating is calculated based on several variables, including: your payment history (do you have any late payments, charge-offs, etc.), the amount and type of debt that you owe, if you have maxed out any of your trade lines, and then several other secondary factors like the length of your credit history and how many recent inquiries have been made to look at your credit history. If you have a good credit score, you will get a better loan.

Five key factors go into calculating your credit score, with certain items carrying more weight than others. The factors are:

1) Payment history, which counts for approximately 35% of your score, is the most heavily weighted factor used in calculating your credit score. Consistently paying your bills on time has a positive influence on your score, while late or missed payments will hurt you in this area. If you have delinquent payments, the older the delinquency the less the negative impact on your score will be. Collection accounts and bankruptcy filings are also taken into consideration when analyzing your payment history.

2) Total debt and total available credit, which counts for about 30%. This section looks at how much debt you have compared to the total available credit on your accounts. If all of your accounts are maxed out, you will be considered a poor credit risk, because it appears that you are struggling to pay off the debt you have already incurred. If your account balances are relatively low compared to your available credit, this part of the risk analysis should help your overall credit score. The score calculation also looks at these two factors independently. Having too much available credit, whether you have used it or not, could hurt your credit score, as statistical studies have shown that people with excessive amounts of available credit are a higher credit risk. Unfortunately, the bureaus do not define exactly what they consider excessive, so best tip is to use credit conservatively and to keep your debt to credit limit ratio low.

3) Length of positive credit history, which counts for about 15%. The longer you maintain accounts in good standing, the better your score will be. This shows that you are able to make a long-term commitment to a creditor and are consistently responsible about making your payments.

4) Mix of types of credit, which counts for approximately 10%. Having several different types of credit, such a credit cards, consumer loans, and secured debt, will have a positive influence on your credit score. Having too much of one type of credit can have a negative impact.

5) The number of new credit applications you have recently completed, which accounts for about 10% of your score. Applying for too much new credit in a short time period makes indicates that you could be credit risk, as you may be desperately trying to keep your head above water. The models make an exception for people who are shopping around for a loan, so if you are simply applying to see who can give you the best rate on a new loan, you need not worry too much about damaging your credit score.

While you cannot realistically calculate your own credit score, you can review your credit report for on the five factors I named above to get an idea of whether the accounts listed on your credit report are hurting or helping your credit score.

Also, factors such as age, sex, income, and length of employment, have no direct affect on your credit score, and are not considered when the bureaus calculate your score. Keep in mind that for most lenders, your credit score is only one aspect, albeit an important one, of your overall "credit worthiness," meaning the creditor’s view of your ability to repay a loan. Your income, for example, is not considered in the calculation of your FICO score, but most lenders will ask you what you earn to analyze your ability to repay the loan. Even if you have an 800 FICO score, if your income is only $10,000/year, a lender will probably not loan you a large sum of money, because despite your past credit habits as measured by your FICO score, the lender can see you probably cannot afford to repay the loan.

If you would like to learn more about credit reports, credit scoring, and what it means to you, I encourage you to explore the wealth of material offered by Bills.com at the credit page

I hope this information helps you Find. Learn & Save.

Best,

Bill

Bills.com