Credit card issuers are ramping up lending to consumers with poor credit but borrowers beware — the terms aren’t always going to be good. Lending to subprime consumers — typically those with a FICO credit score of below 660 — climbed 41% last year, with banks issuing 1.1 million new credit cards to riskier consumers, a four-year high, according to a recent report from credit reporting agency Equifax.

Part of rebuilding your credit is proving that you can pay your bills on time. If your bad credit episode left you without any credit cards, you’ll have to open new ones.

Secured credit cards are great for establishing or rebuilding your credit history. Unlike prepaid cards, secured credit cards give you a credit line, and your payment activity will be reported to the major consumer reporting agencies.

So, it’s been 30 days since I sent my dispute letter to one of the 3 major credit bureaus and no response. How can I know if they’re doing something, did something, still yet to do something, or if they’re just simply ignoring me? Are they even allowed to just ignore people? What should I do?

FICO Score is a term used to describe the number assigned to you in relation to your credit. It is simply a number used to represent your financial obligations in relation to your credit history. It is called FICO because this score is determined by software created by Fair Isaac and Company.