The two types of credit cards most commonly available to people with poor credit are secured cards and unsecured cards. Both of these options have advantages and disadvantages, primarily surrounding affordability, and deciding which one is best may come down to a few key differences.

Some of the best credit cards for bad credit are secured, which means the issuer requires a security deposit to get the card. Credit card security deposits serve as collateral for an issuer in exchange for lending a line of credit to what it may consider to be a “risky” borrower.

Secured credit cards are tools for building credit because they typically have more relaxed credit requirements, which could make them more accessible to people with average, limited or poor credit. However, secured cards often carry higher APRs than cards for better credit (often considered above 660 FICO).

Unsecured credit cards for poor credit differ slightly from secured cards in that they do not require a security deposit. If a consumer prefers not to (or can’t) provide the funds for a security deposit, unsecured cards for bad credit are available, though they usually aren’t as common.

Many unsecured credit cards for poor credit tend to be expensive, since they also have high APRs (even higher than on some secured cards) and some can even charge annual fees.