The first thing you need to do to move from a secured credit card to an unsecured credit card is use your secured credit card responsibly. Keep your balance low (well below your credit limit), make your payments on time, and pay off your balance in full as often as possible. If you can do these things consistently, most credit card issuers will qualify you for an unsecured credit card after about one year.

After you’ve proved your reliability, there are three likely scenarios for making the transition from a secured credit card to an unsecured credit card. The first is that you close your secured credit card account completely after being approved for a new unsecured card. As long as you close your account in good standing and carry zero balance on the card, your entire security deposit will be returned to you. Generally your credit card company will send your money in the form of a check.

Another possibility is that your credit card company will offer you a credit limit increase on your secured credit card. In this scenario, your credit line will be increased above the amount of money you deposited, converting your secured credit card into a partially secured credit card. You will not get your deposit back until you close your now partially secured credit card completely with a zero balance.

The third possibility is that the credit card company will convert your existing secured credit card into an unsecured credit card without closing the account. In this case, you could either receive a check for your entire security deposit (as long as you carry zero balance on the card) or you could receive a statement credit in which your deposit is credited to your new unsecured account. A statement credit is rare, however, because credit card companies want to avoid having a customer carrying a negative balance. You could have a negative balance if, for example, you were carrying a balance of $150 on your secured credit card and then received a statement credit for your entire deposit of $400, bringing your balance to -$250.

For more information on secured credit cards, see the complete secured credit cards guide.