by S. Graveson

Created on: January 05, 2010   Last Updated: January 06, 2010

Times like now are proving difficult to get credit products. Not only the credit crunch which has seen the world's credit markets crippled for the past 2 years, but also having just seen Christmas go by we're usually not in the best position financially. Some people will be wanting some money just to see them through the next few weeks until pay day, if like some company's (such as Agilisys) you get paid early in December you may be struggling for money come the new year and need an emergency credit card. So how would you go about it?

Well if you've already got a good credit rating you may find yourself getting one with out too much of a problem, even in a tight market if you've got a proven track record of being able to control credit maturely and correctly you are still pretty likely to be given a credit card. If your credits not too good but you have time to build up your credit rating then do it, you may already have forms of credit, make sure you pay off your bills, and repayments and everything else as quickly as possible, your less likely to be given a card if a credit check shows you have missed a payment. It's better to pay it late than to have it outstanding, so get them all paid off before you approach any bank for a card or you're almost certain to be turned down. If you have time things like small phone contracts can be a clever way to up your credit rating, just pay them off every month and you'll get a positive marking on your credit record, these are what you need to build up to get a good credit card.

If however you've not got a year or two to build up your rating you may need to look for either a secured credit card or a sub prime one. For people with some money to begin with a secured credit card may be the only option where a person deposits up to 200% of the desired limit into an account that the bank keeps as security. These are often a last chance for people desperate for credit and the fact that the deposit is so high is seen as a deterrent to avoiding repayments which attempts to stop the customer from deliberately missing payments. These are especially helpful for rebuilding a credit record though more importantly for someone who needs easily available credit these are perfect and as long as they are used well they won't need to risk the deposit. If you can make the deposit and handle the credit effectively you've got your security building at a saving rate and you've got a credit card for purchases and all the advantages they have.

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