I Want A Credit Card Immediately

I want a credit card and guess what? I want it asap! Wouldn’t it be perfect if it were that easy? For most of us, when we have decided to find a credit card that meets our requirements, we just want the approval process to happen immediately.. And there are hundreds of credit card websites offering instant credit cards, but does it really happen instantly? I don’t think so! So I thought I’d put the question to the test, and get to know just how much time it takes from telling yourself “I want a credit card”, to actually holding the card in your hand and in a postion to use it.

I started by requesting a print of my credit report, which I considered I’d need if I was to discover precisely those cards I could be approved for. That procedure took two days but I did traverse the ‘free credit report’ path and maybe if I had paid I would have received it sooner. I did not have perfect credit but was in good shape and my score was above average, so I was confident that I would have a reasonable choice of cards available to me. That evening I spent time on my laptop perusing the plethora of credit card websites particularly those that offered the opportunity to compare cards from different issuers. I was now 3 days from my ‘I want a credit card’ declaration and thought that I was now in a position to complete my online application.

I duly submitted my application on a portal offering instant credit card approvals, at around 9.00pm, on a Thursday evening and checked my email account the following lunchtime. The only mail from the card company was an automated reply confirming that my application had been received. I heard nothing from the card company until the following Monday morning at which time I was 7 days from when I first told myself, “I want a credit card”. A financial guy from the issuing company called me on my cell simply to verify one or two answers to questions in my application. Having straightened out those points I was told that I would receive an answer from them, by email, ‘within a few hours’.

It was 36 hours later when I got the email response I was waiting for, confirming that my application had been a success and that I should have my new plastic ‘within a matter of days’. It was precisely ten days later that my card dropped into my mail box (7 business days), and my calculation showed that from telling myself, I want a credit card to clutching my new card in my hand was 19 days.. Not very impressive for an instant credit card application! Not! Considering that my application was smooth with no extra hold ups for further investigations into my credit history to be made, I am now thinking that there is no such thing as an instant credit card. You might be wise to consider my experience the next time you tell yourself “I want a credit card and I want it instantly”!

Trevor Taylor

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