Is it better to get a secured credit before or after you clean up your credit?

Answer 1

It depends on your goals. If you need a loan for a vehicle or something like that, you could possibly get a loan before cleaning up your credit (if you can find a willing lender, that is), but your interest rate and payments are going to be higher than if you waited. So if you can wait, it is probably a better idea to get caught up on any late payments, pay off anything in collections, and get your credit card balances down (less than 50% of your available credit limit is a good rule of thumb) before trying to get a secured loan. That will show any potential creditors that you are serious about cleaning up your credit and you will also get a better interest rate.

Answer 2

A secured credit card is designed to help you reestablish your credit, usually after bankruptcy.

I would suggest you clean up whatever problems you have now and try to live without credit cards for the rest of your life. About half of the US population already manages without them.

Answer 3

You can open a secured cc while you are trying to clean up your credit. Each account is independent upon the other. So, you can build good credit on one account while allowing the bad credit to slowly roll off your record.