12 Credit Cards With Instant Approval by Type (April 2024)

Here is our roundup of credit cards with instant approval by category. It turns out that most credit cards can give you an instant approval decision when you apply online.

Sometimes, they will tell you that they need more information and will send a decision soon — in a matter of hours or days. Of course, sometimes the issuer will decline your application, but may offer an alternative card that better suits you.

Bad Credit | Fair Credit | Cash Back | Miles | Balance Transfer | Students | Business
FAQs & Ranking Methodology

In general, a bad FICO credit score is below 580 on a range of 300 to 850. About 16% of applicants fall into this category.

You can still get a credit card while having bad credit, but your choices are limited. The cards listed below are geared toward consumers who have bad credit.

The credit limits on these cards are low, and you can expect higher-than-average APRs. You may also face hefty fees, which can include annual, application, cash advance, and management fees.

Nonetheless, these cards can help you build your credit score so that eventually you may qualify for a less expensive card with a higher credit limit.

The FICO range for fair credit is generally considered to be 580 to 669. About 17% of applicants fall into this subprime category.

As you can see below, the universe of credit cards expands when you go from having bad to fair credit.

Relative to the cards for bad credit consumers, these tend to have higher credit limits, lower costs, and some even provide rewards. All the cards listed here will give you an instant decision when you apply online.

You should ascertain your credit score before applying so you apply for a card in the right category.

Cash back cards are popular because, well, who doesn’t love cash? These cards generally have a base reward level of $1 to $1.50 for each dollar spent on purchases.

Below are our top three choices of cash back cards.

Some also offer higher reward levels for purchases at specific types of merchants. The schemes for higher rewards generally fall into two types.

The first is tiered rewards, with one or more elevated reward levels permanently linked to specific merchant types. The second uses a quarterly rotating set of favored merchants that provide high rewards as long as you activate the category each quarter. Cards often limit the cash back on the higher reward levels to a specific amount of purchases per quarter.

If you are a frequent flyer, air miles cards may be just the ticket. Instead of cash back, they offer air miles you can use to book your next flight, or your next hotel stay.

The better cards allow you to use your miles to book flights with no blackout dates. See our favorites below.

These cards often provide signup bonuses in which you can earn a mother lode of miles when you spend the specified amount on purchases during the first three months after opening the account. Some allow you to transfer your miles to their travel partners’ reward programs on a 1:1 basis.

Generally, you can also redeem your miles for reduced-rate or free stays at selected hotels.

A balance transfer is a way to consolidate your credit card debt to one card. The cards reviewed here all provide a period after account opening in which you will be charged 0% interest on balance transfers for a specified number of months.

A one-time fee may apply, generally around 3% for each transfer.

By transferring your balances to one card, you simplify your monthly payment schedule and perhaps reduce your monthly minimum payments. The period of introductory 0% interest is your opportunity to eliminate balances on your other cards.

However, do not close these other credit card accounts because doing so will reduce the age of your credit history and thereby hurt your credit score.

Students are singled out for a credit card category because they frequently lack credit history. For many students, these cards will be the first cards they own.

That’s an important audience for issuers, who would like to build brand loyalty starting at an early age. The hope is that after the students enter the workforce, they will apply for a fancier credit card from the same issuer.

The perks on these cards vary. Some offer items like good-grade rewards, Cashback Match, and/or elevated reward levels on merchant categories favored by students, such as gas stations and restaurants.

You’ll also notice that many offer reasonable APRs given that students often have thin credit reports.

If you’re a business owner, these credit cards allow you to build rewards from your own purchases and the purchases of employees. Most issuers will provide free cards to employees who earn rewards for the owner.

This can be especially lucrative when you have employees who frequently travel and therefore rack up rewards for flights, hotel stays, restaurant dining, and car rentals.

Business credit cards may offer elevated tiered or quarterly rewards in addition to their base reward level. Their benefits are usually geared to business expenses, such as supplies, travel, travel insurance, and dining.

Some cards single out business-to-business services, such as phone, internet, and cable, for higher rewards. Business cards often offer rewards in the form of miles or points.

The 21 credit cards in this review all offer an instant approval decision for a wide range of consumers, including the credit-challenged, students, frequent travelers, consolidators, and businesses.

Your credit score is one of the key determinants as to whether you will receive instant approval. That means you should know your credit scores from the three major credit bureaus — Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.

You need all three because each credit bureau independently assigns you a score, and those scores can differ based on the unique information available to each bureau.

As we show, there are instant-approval credit cards for each credit type, from poor to exceptional. To increase the chances of approval, you can first research to find which of the three bureaus your credit card issuer uses in your state.

For example, you’ll find that Discover favors Equifax, Capital One pulls credit reports from all three bureaus, and Chase prefers Experian (although in some states it favors TransUnion).

Knowing which credit bureau your card uses is useful because it allows you to focus on cleaning up your credit report from that bureau first. By “clean up,” we mean remove errors that hurt your score.

You can attempt this yourself or hire a credit repair company to do the work for you. Several credit repair services can offer expert help for a reasonable fee.

We recently reviewed 27 credit cards that offer same-day use. These cards allow you to use your account even before you receive the physical card.

Until the card arrives, you’re limited to card-not-present (CNP) purchases, either over the phone or online. This is usually implemented using virtual account numbers.

A virtual account number is cooked up by the credit card issuer and bears no relationship to your actual number. Most are one-time use only, but some can be reused.

Typically, you go online to a merchant and enter the virtual card number as you would the actual number. Single-use virtual cards limit the damage fraudsters can inflict if they happen to steal the virtual number.

Some issuers offer virtual account numbers on all their cards. For example, you can use the Eno® feature to generate virtual Capital One card numbers.

Another issuer of virtual cards is Citibank, which offers this service on select Citi® cards. In addition, American Express offers its vPayment virtual card service, but only on business cards. Bank of America recently discontinued its ShopSafe® program that provided virtual cards.

Another alternative is to use a third-party service, such as Privacy, that issues virtual card numbers. You can limit a virtual number to a specific merchant, for specific dates, with pre-set spending caps. This keeps your card from being exposed to fraud at a different merchant and limits the damage the fraudster can do.

Typically, it will take seven to 10 days after approval to receive a credit card in your mailbox. That length of time is necessary to create the card, mail it, and wait for delivery. The issuers save money by using standard mail instead of one of the expedited services.

The major credit card issuers have created extremely efficient operations, which means that they can usually print your card and get it in the mail by the next business day. Some exceptions may take longer.

For example, some issuers offer heavy credit cards made of metal and other non-plastic materials. It may require more time to create one of these heavyweight cards.

Discover is an issuer that has semi-expedited its card mailing service by using Priority Mail. You can expect to receive your Discover Card in three to five business days after approval.

This is an automatic feature that applies to all cards issued by Discover. In addition, the issuer will replace lost or stolen cards using overnight shipping.

Some other credit card issuers offer overnight shipping for lost, stolen, or damaged cards. They may offer the service for free or may charge a fee.

One example is Chase, which offers free overnight shipping if you ask for it. You can then expect the card to arrive in one to two days.

Capital One sometimes will provide expedited shipping, but it may require you to plead your case.

Our rankings of the best credit cards with instant approval are categorized by credit score requirements, rewards offered, and special qualifying criteria, such as being a student or owning a business. We evaluated each card’s likelihood of approval for poor credit applicants, the ability to rebuild credit with responsible use, APRs and annual fees, 0% promotional periods, and other criteria relevant to this article.

CardRates’ reviews undergo a thorough editorial integrity process to ensure that content is not compromised by advertiser influence.