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Recent Instant
Credit Card
Articles
Instant Approval Credit
Cards: How Instant Are They?
In the infancy
of instant credit card applications, it was possible to apply for a
credit card and receive not only confirmation of your approval,
but also the card’s 16 digit number and expiration date as well.
Getting a credit card online was truly an instant process back in
the early days. For a wide array of reasons, identity theft being
a major one, the instant online credit card approval process has
changed. While a handful of credit card issuers will provide
instant online credit card decisions, the vast majority of
“instant approval credit cards” aren’t that instant anymore.
At present,
American
Express® is the major credit card issuer that advertises and
delivers instant credit card decisions upon submission of an online
application. To be precise, they offer 60 second decisions. If
you are approved, you are given notice of your status. If you do
not qualify for online approval, then your application is reviewed
and you are notified of your decision via mail. For consumers
with good to excellent credit looking for an instant credit card,
American
Express® credit cards might be the best place to start.
The remaining
players in the credit card industry generally take anywhere from
five to seven business days before reaching an approval decision.
With some companies, you can expect to wait as much as 30 days.
Yes, 30 days. So is the instant credit card gone? In a nutshell,
the “instant” answer is yes.
Individuals
that are in a rush to get a new credit card, for whatever reason,
can now expect to wait at least five business days to get the card
they applied for. The length of this wait varies not only between
companies, but also, within companies. For example, if a
particular company decides to take more time than usual before
making an approval decision, you may be waiting on a decision for
a few weeks. These far from instant decisions often effect people
with borderline credit more so than those with excellent credit.
So what should
one do if they truly need an “instant credit card”? One solution
is to consider applying for credit cards from different issuing
banks. Since each bank varies in its approval time, applying for
credit cards from different companies can expedite the process of
obtaining an “instant credit card.”
This also
provides you the opportunity to make a more informed decision on
which credit card to accept. A quick glimpse at the fine print of
most credit cards will show you a simple and important fact: the
lowest APR available is not necessarily the one you will be
granted. Thus, if you apply for three credit cards from three
different companies, you have the ability to evaluate the actual
APRs you are given and make a more informed decision. Yes, you
will probably be waiting over a week to make your decision about
which “instant credit card” to use. However, you will be
ultimately saving yourself money on interest in the long term.
So, perhaps the
end of the “instant credit card” is not such a bad thing after
all. Aside from protecting you from identity theft, the waiting
time consumers must now endure before the completion of the
approval process allows you time to evaluate the credit cards you
are approved for and make more thoughtful decisions on which
“instant credit card” is the right one for you.
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