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.

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.

If you have been using credit irresponsibly and finally decided to do something about it, you can start by getting a few secured credit cards to rebuild your credit history.

If you have bad (a 500 credit score to 580 credit score) to poor (a 581 credit score to 639 credit score) credit but want to increase your FICO Score by 150 points then read on to find out how to boost your credit score in the next 6 months.

Having a bad credit score will cost you a lot more than a higher interest rate for a few loans. It extends into many parts of your financial life. So many people fail to understand how important their credit is until they try to buy a home or take out a loan. People with bad credit usually know that they will have to pay higher interest rates. But they often don’t realize how deeply they will really be affected.