With the current credit crisis in the U.S. and abroad, the flow of credit card offers that used to pour into so many mailboxes has slowed to a trickle. For those who have credit, maintaining a good score is crucial; but for the literally hundreds of thousands of men and women who have damaged or even ruined their credit as a result of the recent economic downturn or just due to poor money habits, getting credit reestablished seems nearly impossible.

Ironically, one of the best ways to build a good credit score is through the wise use of credit cards. But the credit industry is unforgiving; even one mistake can cause your credit score to plummet, and may result in other accounts being cancelled, as well. So, if you need credit to build a good credit score, how do you start that process when you have no credit history, or a very poor credit history?

Fortunately, there is a way to get a credit card with no credit check – even with a bad credit history. Secured credit cards are an ideal way to build an initial credit history, or to rebuild a less-than-perfect credit score. They are the perfect no credit credit cards. A secured card is like a prepaid credit card: you sign up for a card and place a certain amount of money in a bank account that is held by the card issuer. Your credit limit is based on the amount of money you deposit in that account. The amount of credit required for a particular limit is determined by the card issuer. For instance, for a $500 credit limit, some issuers may ask for a $500d eposit, while other issuers may require $750 or even $1,000 to be deposited.

You use a secured card just like you would a regular credit card or prepaid card. But the primary difference – and potentially major benefit- between a prepaid card and a secured card is that most secured card companies report to the major credit bureaus. Prepaid cards – like your bank debit card – do not report to major credit bureaus, and so do not influence your credit score – unless, of course, your card is tied to your bank account and you become overdrawn. With a secured card, if you do not make a payment on time, the credit card issuer has the right to deduct your payment from the secured account you establish with them. Of course, to rebuild credit history and increase your credit score, it is VITAL that your repay these cards on time.

I have personally had two different types of no credit check credit cards. Since opening credit card accounts is crucial to building credit, I thought that I could help a lot of people by telling a little about the cards that I was able to get with no credit.

Student Credit Cards

The first card that I was able to get with no credit was a student Visa card that I got during college. I started getting card offers in the mail and finally sent one in (today’s equivalent of accepting online). I was approved and given a card with a limit of $500. After I had that card for a few months I was offered a second card from another bank. The limit on the second card was $750.

When I got the first card, I definitely didn’t have any established credit. I think that some card companies assume that since you’re in school, your parents will be giving you money or you’ll take out loans and that allows you to make your payments.

The interest rates on my student credit cards wasn’t that great but it was definitely nice to get them without putting down a deposit. If I remember correctly, the interest rates on the cards was about 19% (the first one might have been barely over 20%).

Unfortunately, I ruined my credit with those two credit cards because I let them max out and stopped making payments. That was REALLY stupid but honestly I didn’t have the money to pay them off and this was the main reason my credit score was under 500 the first time I checked it. That meant I had to dig out of that hole and for that, I used another type of no credit credit card:

Secured Credit Cards

Since I ruined my first two credit card accounts, I no longer had the option of using student cards – I couldn’t get approved for them anymore. I needed to re-establish my credit history but it wasn’t going to be so easy. I did a ton of research and figured out that I could get a secured credit and rebuild my credit that way.

Using secured cards is a little annoying, but looking back it was worth it. It cost me $300 to get started (with secured cards you have to put down a security deposit). That security deposit becomes your credit line. You still have to pay interest but after a year of on-time payments, they’ll return your deposit.

The idea here is to use the secured card(s) to re-establish your credit history and after that you’ll start getting card offers again. For me this took about six months. After that I was able to get regular, unsecured credit cards without any trouble.

Honestly this was all a huge hassle and I wish that I had never ruined my credit. Fortunately for me, I learned from my mistakes. I now have a credit score that’s just short of 800 because I’ve been paying my bills on time and keeping my balances low on my credit card accounts.

Hopefully this lesson has helped you to learn how you can use a no credit check credit card to better your financial position. It certainly helped me.