Secured Credit Card Marketing Scams

Your major credit card is waiting. October 1996 … you a credit card, legitimate credit providers … A call to a ‘900′ number for a credit card.

FTC Facts
F o r C o n s u m e r s Federal Trade Commission
For The Consumer
www.ftc.gov 1-877-ftc-help
Secured Credit Card Marketing Scams
Ads like this may appeal to you if you have
a poor credit history or no credit at all.
Beware: while secured credit cards can be an
effective way to build or re-establish your credit
history, some marketers of secured cards make
deceptive advertising claims to entice you to
respond to their ads.
Secured vs.
Unsecured Cards
Secured and unsecured cards can be used to pay
for goods and services. However, a secured card
requires you to open and maintain a savings
account as security for your line of credit; an
unsecured card does not.
The required savings deposit for a secured
card may range from a few hundred to several
thousand dollars. Your credit line is a percentage of
your deposit, typically 50 to 100 percent. Usually, a
bank will pay interest on your deposit. In addition,
you also may have to pay application and processing
fees-sometimes totaling hundreds of dollars.