by Amber Hilton

Created on: January 06, 2010

Thanks to technological advances like the Internet, Americans are becoming increasingly accustomed to instant gratification. Gone are the days of sending in a paper credit card application and waiting weeks or months for a reply. Even applying via telephone has become outdated. These days, consumers can simply hop online and apply for an instant approval credit card with a few clicks of the mouse, receiving a response with one minute of submitting an application.

This process works well for people who have busy lives and excellent credit, but for many others, instant approval isn’t really as instant as it sounds. People who have poor or fair credit are typically denied during the instant approval process or may receive a message that more time is required to look into their application. Therefore, you may be waiting for several weeks to get a final response, which may still be a letter of denial. For those consumers with good credit who are instantly approved, it may be on a temporary basis while the company does more detailed research on their application.

However, if you have good credit and you’re looking to speed up the application process, a card company that offers instant approval may be a good idea for you. Instant approval offers are sometimes available for store credit cards or via mail offers that can be activated over the phone or online. However, if you don’t have any current offers, you can search for them online using websites like Credit.com, which allow consumers to search by the type of card that they are looking for. Simply select “instant approval cards” as your search criteria and you are provided with a list of applicable offers.

Basic information, such as the APR, annual fee, balance transfer fee, and reward options are typically provided for each card offer, so take some time to compare offers before applying. Remember, unless the card is a prepaid debit card or a secured credit card, the instant approval option is typically only available for people with good or excellent credit.

After submitting your completed application, you should get some sort of response within a few minutes, although it may only be a notification that more time is needed to look into your application. However, even if your application requires more time, this process is still typically faster than applying over the phone or applying for a card that does not offer instant approval. If you’re looking to make a large purchase very quickly or simply don’t have a great deal of patience, an instant approval credit card may be the answer.

Learn more about this author, Amber Hilton.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.