I googled for some credit card offers. Apparently, there are quite a few cards, where there is no minimum income requirement, bad credit is OK or no credit checks are made and the approval is guaranteed. So... where is the catch? Sure, the interest rates aren't great and there usually is an annual fee, about $50 - not a big deal.
Oh, and those cards do not seem to be of the "prepaid" or "secured" variety. So... any ideas?

Thanks!
Bartek

You answered your own question in the highlighted area

Make a late payment or miss a payment and watch them hammer you with very high charges and massive interest rates......

If you don't want to go down the secured route, look for a card that asks for household income rather than individual income. The first card I got in my own name asked for gross household income on the application which was great as at the time I wasn't working. I was approved for this card as the primary card holder with my wife as an authorized user. There was no annual fee and 12 months interest free on balance transfers AND purchases. Perfect !!

Mark

there is only about a handful of banks that offer credit to bad and no credit people. Their interest rates are very high and they charge large upfront fees. The offers that claim no credit checks and bad credit or no credit it's ok, are secured credit cards, you have to deposit a certain amount and that is your credit.
Secured cards are a good way to start establishing credit. Other options are the high interet cards.

brtlmj,

And possibly a rather low credit limit.

Yodrak

Is $50 annually a large fee, or have I missed something? If there was something about an additional $200 written in a corner of the page, in a very small, light grey font, then it would be the catch I asked about


Yep... I am aware of this. I was just curious if there is anything else... any extra chrges that I wiuld not know until it was too late.

Bartek

Is this the applied card bank credit card by any chance?

I'm gonna stick my neck out here and say that PROVIDING you are a good money manager, this might not be a bad way to establish credit.

If there are no other hidden fees, and you pay your balance monthly I don't see the harm in this type of card.

50 bucks annual fee beats putting up $500 for a secured card IMO. Use it for a year then close it out.

Wes hasn't gotten any offers like Mark mentioned - asking for household income alone. That indeed would be the BEST way to go. Maybe my man's not on enough mailing lists yet....

Here is what I did: add Kim to my existing AMEX, DISCOVER, VISA and MASTER Cards as "authorized user". I cloned my credit for Kim. Only took them 6 months to start sending Kim her own "Pre-Approved Credit Card" offers from ALL of the above banks/credit-card company. Remember, if your credit score is crap, it's best not to add her to yours.... it's better for her to have no credit than having 300 Score! I personally wouldn't mess around with those offers OP mentioned here. Too risky! Must see and read all the fineprints.