Pre-paid Credit Cards

The Fitch report released a report today that credit card delinquencies of 60 days or more are up 24% since August. This is not terribly surprising with the amount of people who are struggling in today's economic times and with unemployment rates increasing every day.

If you find yourself in this position here are a few suggestions that may help. You may want to transfer balances of one or more credit cards that have a higher interest rate to one with a lower interest rate. Just watch out for any transfer fees. This can help you consolidate your credit card debt so you can make one payment instead of 3 or 4 and if you are late in making your credit card payment only one company will be sending a negative report to the credit reporting agencies instead of several. Late payments effect your credit rating score.

Another solution may be to use a credit repair or debt consolidation agency. They can often reduce the amount of interest you pay, reduce the number of bills you pay out every month by consolidating them, and they work directly with you and the people you owe money to and assist you in all of the arrangements. Keep in mind debt management services are not free and you should do your research before choosing a specific agency.

If you are not successful in solving your debt problems and your credit score is suffering because of it, or you have been forced into bankruptcy, there are some things you can do to help rebuild your credit. Although rebuilding your credit score does not happen overnight it can happen. There are credit repair companies to help you. You need to make sure you are paying all of your bills ontime. Avoid filling out any credit applications (even for the free set of knives at the department store) because each time you do it puts a little ding in your credit. It is often difficult to get a credit card once you have a low credit score. Some credit card companies offer a pre-paid credit card which allows you to deposit money onto the card and then use it. You rebuild your credit by sending them money on a regular basis they in turn will report back to the credit reporting companies. Not all of these pre-paid credit card companies will send a report so do your research before choosing one. You can find companies online that write reviews and compare credit cards for you.