Instant Credit Cards - How Instant are they?

In the infancy of online 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 away of reasons, identify 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 credit cards” aren’t that instant anymore.

At present, American Express is the major credit card issuer that advertises and delivers instant credit 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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