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How do secured Credit Cards work?

I’m am working on rebuilding my credit. I heard that one of the best ways to improve a credit score is to show a good payment history on a line of revolving credit. I’m 99.9% sure that I will not qualify for an unsecured card again (that’s how my credit got bad in the first place) so unsecured seems like the best way to go. Can anyone offer information on secured Credit Cards (NOT prepaid Credit Cards because they don’t report to credit agencies)?

Basically, you hand over a certain amount of money to the bank & they deposit it into an account and open a credit account with (usually) the same amount in credit as you deposited. You earn interest on the money depostited. As you use your card, charges build up like any other credit card & you pay them, preferably in full, each month. If you miss your payment, it comes from the money deposited, along with the usual late fees, over limit fees, etc., that Credit Cards come with. This also reduces your overall credit limit and shows as a late payment on your CBR. Never a good idea to miss a payment on a secured account as you get the old double whammy, late fees & reduced credit limit. As you pay monthly, especially if you pay your balance in full monthly, you get reported as a good repayment history on you CBR and, in 6-12 months, depending on the bank you use, you can get your initial deposit back, if you have maintained a good history. Normally, the bank will require at least 6 months of ontime payments before they will release the deposited funds. Miss the 6th payment in a string of good payments, and you start over.

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