I have no credit, I'm in the mid-40s and have medical debt. Would I be eligible?

Yes, you should have a good shot at getting approved. The Discover it Secured Card was designed for (re)building credit and is available to people with bad credit. And while every secured card has minimum approval requirements, the only real deal-breaker that Discover calls out is if you have a pending, non-Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

There are a multtude of companies out there who offer secured credit cards. The hard truth is that there is no EASY and FAST way to establish or rebuild your credit. If your medical debt is showing up on your credit reports as delinquent, the road is going to be even tougher...but nowhere near impossible.  To start, if you are delinquent, you should contact your creditors and try to work a deal with them. Some will agree that after you make a certain number of payments that they will either remove or modify the negative information on your credit reports.  This of course isn't your only option, but it should give you an idea that there are solutions to delinquencies on your credit report.  The next step is the good old secured credit card.  Most have a minimum balance requirement of $200, some as high as $500 or more.  Make sure they report your good payment history to the credit bureaus, otherwise you are wasting your time. You will notice an almost immediate increase in your credit score after the first two on time payments. Not much perhaps if you DO have delinquencies, but an increase nonetheless. 

The sad part about poor credit is that it is earned, just as good credit is earned. We typically have to work at building poor credit...you know, making decisions to spend our money foolishly rather than paying bills. And then we get to a point where we would love to buy a home, or a nice car, but we find ourselve living in rundown trailers and driving 25-year old cars that run on a prayer. Poor credit scores unfortunately figure in to your cost of insurance, whether or not you can rent certain houses, even getting a good job.  It will take a minimum of at least three years before you can achieve a credit score that is respectable, but the effort is more than worth it.  Not only does it lower many interest rates, but it allows you to finally obtain the things in life that are out of reach with poor credit.  Yes, I know I have rambled on, but I speak from first-hand experience.  I remember the feeling I got when my credit score went from the very low 400's to well over 700 today.  My goal is to hit the 800's, and I know that goal is easily obtainable by simply paying everything on time, and not using my good credit to go out an buy thousands of dollars worth of stuff on credit.

I hope this helps...

Yup, that's usually how secured cards go. As long as you have a decent income and no pending bankruptcies, your approval chances are good. Keep in mind, you will have to pay that security deposit, otherwise it's a no go.