You can always get a credit card that requires you to deposit money ($300) and then you can draw against your own money. It is a for people with bad credit to start showing a good credit history if they make their payments on time.

The biggest legal scam with credit cards is that many companies will give you a credit card at a low/reasonable rate. Then when you run up $3000 in charges, they raise the interest to 30% per year, and stack on late fees.