First Progress Select Mastercard® Secured Credit Card

Good personal credit is very important these days, but unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly difficult to establish. This could be due to stricter corporate policies and higher penalties, but it could also be more difficult when the economy is tougher. No matter the reason, if you need to build better credit than you currently have, you might want to consider credit card alternatives, such as a secured credit card.

A secured credit card is an intermediary step between a prepaid debit card and a traditional credit card. With a prepaid card, you can only spend the total amount of money that you have deposited into your account. With a secured credit card, though, you get access to an actual credit line as long as you make a deposit into your account to "secure" your funds, much like you would produce collateral for a loan.

The First Progress Platinum Select Mastercard Secured credit card is designed to help consumers establish a strong credit history with the major consumer credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. When you make your security deposit, a credit line is issued to you, and when you make your monthly payments, your responsible behavior is reported to each of the three credit bureaus.

Now, there are some unsecured credit cards (ones that do not require a deposit) that are more lenient towards poor credit scores, but these typically charge astronomically high fees or come with other restrictions. One of the great benefits of a secured credit card is that your collateral deposit cushions your default rate, which means that your rate is often substantially lower than it would be had you not made the deposit.

Like other credit cards, though, you could expect to pay things like an annual fee and various maintenance fees. This is certainly true of this particular credit alternative. While your deposit is usually equal to your credit limit, you will not have to continuously replenish this amount when you want to spend.

Another benefit of this particular secured Premium Elite Mastercard is that it is a full-featured card. This means that you can use it just like a real credit card because it is, in fact, a real credit card. You can use the purchasing power of MasterCard to purchase goods and services at thousands of locations all over the world, as well as on the internet.

You will also be able to take advantage of cash advance options. Of course, each of these features has its own processing charges and limitations, as do all credit cards.

The review prepared by CreditCardsCo™. Opinions expressed therein are solely those of the reviewer.