It is tough to gain access to credit these days, especially if you have a poor credit score. The recent “great recession” came about in part because of banks and other creditors lending money to people they should not have. Too many people ended up defaulting on their loans which caused many banks to go out of business entirely!
It is possible to obtain a credit card if you have bad credit, but you have to be willing to make concessions. First off you can forget about paying a normal APR of between 14-15%, as someone with bad credit you can expect to pay between 20-22% on your purchases on average. Credit card companies have to make more money off interest from people with bad credit because they are taking a huge risk by giving people with a poor history of handling credit hundreds or thousands of dollars to spend in the first place. The worse your credit score the more likely you are to default on your card, companies like Visa, Discover, and American Express know this better than anyone.
To counteract this you have to be serious about paying off your balances in full at the end of each month. Your reason for having a credit card should be to raise your credit score, if you pay off your balance during the grace period your credit card offers every month you will see your credit score shoot up and you will not have to pay crazy amounts of interest to the credit card company. Even if you run a balance of a few hundred dollars you will still end up paying a lot of money in interest at 20% APR or more!
You also have to be okay with having a lower credit limit than usual. Many credit cards offer limits well into the thousands, but those are for people who have proven that they can handle credit over years and even decades. If your credit score is very poor you can expect a limit of between 300-500 dollars that is reasonable for all parties involved.
Here are two guaranteed approval credit cards for people with bad credit:
Horizon Gold Card
This is a good credit card for people with bad credit who are looking to improve their credit score. This is a guaranteed approval card so they will accept applications from people with the worse credit scores and situations imaginable. The maximum credit line you can have is 500 dollars, which is reasonable. You do not pay interest at all while using this card, 0% APR throughout the entirety of the time you own the card, not just an introductory period. The only catch here is that it does cost 6 dollars to own the card each month, which turns out to be 72 dollars each year, that is how Horizon makes their money. This card might not be perfect for everyone, but considering they accept applications from everyone, guaranteed, it is tough not to recommend.
Mango MasterCard Prepaid Card
This is in a completely different category than the first card. Prepaid cards are basically like debit cards, you add money to your account and then you can spend it however and wherever you would like, it still has its place though. If you have bad credit this is one option that you should seriously consider. For the Mango card there is no activation fee, no hidden fees, free direct deposit and you get a twenty dollar sign up bonus, what more could you ask for?