I was watching a Frontline program, The Card Game, which talked about the recently passed CARD Act. It was broadcast in November 2009 but by then the regulations and rules that would take effect in March had already been written in stone. The first piece talks about Providian, a secured credit card company that was purchased by Washington Mutual (and then acquired by JP Morgan Chase when WaMu “failed”), and a cut of the commercial showed a consumer say – “people treat you differently when they see you have a gold card.” It was Providian’s “gold” secured card.

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The key to building your credit history and getting it as high as possible is very simple: act responsibly with credit.

Sounds simple enough right? The problem is that the system is a bit of a catch-22. Companies won’t issue you credit if you don’t have a credit history. You can’t develop a credit history unless you start getting credit. Sometimes you can get around this if your income is high enough and the credit card limit they offer you is safely low enough. If you don’t fall in that category, how do you start building your credit history?

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I’ve been reading a lot of credit and credit scores lately because a lot of people are focusing on cleaning up their personal finances during this recession. For folks to have no credit or poor credit, rebuilding or building up your can be difficult and expensive. If you can’t get unsecured credit to establish your history, the next best option is to get secured credit. If you need a car and can get a car loan, that’s the best way. If you don’t need a car or you can’t get a loan, the next best thing out there appears to secured credit cards.

Read on to learn more about secured credit cards, how they compare to a debit card, how they improve/build your credit score, and what to watch out for if you’re looking for one.

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