Benefits of a Prepaid Credit Card or Bad Credit Card

Should you apply for a prepaid credit card or a bad credit card? Either way it doesn't matter to your acceptance, because you will be accepted for either as long as you haven't totally shot your credit by not keeping to even a bad credit card agreement. Believe it or not, some do this!

Most people have lost their credit card because they couldn't keep up the payments. Most people also wish they could have a second chance, because they have learned their lesson. I know, because I was one of these people. I had 12 credit cards at one time, and was behind in my payments on all of them. Even though I had court judgments against me on some of these, and came to a low monthly payment agreement on others, I was still able to get a bad credit card and a prepaid credit card was also offered to me by several firms.

Until I had none left, I did not realize how important a credit card was to modern life. Try making a hotel booking online or by telephone without a credit or debit card. Try booking a flight or a vacation without a card of some sort. Impossible! Even try to walk into a hotel and book a room and tell the receptionist you are paying cash and you get looked at as if you are some kind of terrorist or money-launderer.

"No Credit Card Sir? Do you have your passport or some other means of identification? We don't want the paintings stolen, do we?" You might laugh, but my wife and I booked into a hotel in Toronto and that was exactly what was said to us: we were informed that if we stole the paintings the hotel would have no means of charging us for them.

We did have our passports, but rather than stay there the week as we intended we stayed only one night. Then to another hotel, and guess what? Yes, you got it! Same thing! So, I decided this would never happen to me again and I applied for and got a bad credit card that I still have. I also have gold and platinum Visa and MasterCards now, but I will never forget these times and I keep my bad credit card to remind of where I once was.

Like you, I had a bad credit record at that time and that is why I know how you feel. Believe me, all is not lost. A prepaid credit card can help you make payments that cash cannot: online bookings, purchases and services that are not open to you without a credit card or debit card. When I applied for a bad credit card I got it without any problems: the credit limit was only equivalent to $500, but that was fine for hotel bills and theater bookings.

The guys that offer you these cards know your credit is poor so they don't even bother with credit checks - they just give you the card and leave it to you. It's like getting a fresh start - but you have to take it. Sure, the interest rates are a bit higher, but that's just another reason to make your payments on time.

If you have to make online payments or bookings, or travel with your business and sometimes pay your own hotel bills in front of your colleagues ('Look, Jim's paying cash - his credit must be shot') then you can avoid that embarrassment with a prepaid credit card or a bad credit card.

Each of these has its advantages: the prepaid credit card charges you for using it, and the bad credit card charges a higher interest rate. They are also quickly on to you if you are late with a payment, but if you conduct your account properly they leave you alone.

In each case you can make the booking, pay the bill and pull it out in front of your friends (the credit card!) without any embarrassment. There is no doubt whatsoever, and I can say this through personal experience, that if your credit is poor then you should at least have a prepaid credit card if not a bad credit card with enough credit on it to enable you live a normal life without the embarrassment of not being able to pay anything in any way except with cash.

So, if your credit is shot, make sure that when you pull it out it is something that your colleagues will not gasp at, but will not even notice: a credit card, whether that is a prepaid credit card or a bad credit card makes no difference. It looks right and that's what is important.