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How does the approval process happen when you apply for a credit card?
When you apply online for a credit card, how long does it take to be approved? How does the approval process work? Here is what happens. Once you have filled up the necessary information (like SSN, household income etc) and pressed the apply or submit button, your credit report will be pulled by the credit card issuers. Which one is pulled depends on the issuer and your location. Then there could be three outcomes.
Instant Approval - You could be approved instantly. In your credit report score is good and there is nothing negative that the issuer can find from their proprietary information, you could be approved instantly. Some issuers like Discover, Citi and American Express can approve you immediately.
Notified in 3 to 7 days - If your application needs further investigation, you will get a note (from the website and your email) saying that you will be notified of their decision in 3 to 7 days. The reason could be due to them requiring more investigation of your credit situation. Or some issuers simply do not approve you instantly.
When do you receive your credit card? - Even if you are approved instantly, it will still take a few days (3 to 7 days) for your credit card to be actually mailed to you. For example, when we recently applied for the Plum Card, we got approved instantly but the card took about 5 days to arrive in the mail.
Best Credit Cards if you need one in a hurry
 The Blue Cash® from American Express is a card that I personally have this card and have always earned over 2% in cash rebates every year just from using the card, especially at gas stations, supermarkets and drugstores. (see formula in the screen shot below). I got approved instantly after I applied for this card online.
 The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express is perhaps the most popular travel and affinity credit card (and I would argue the best). The reason is simple. Aside from having the best hotel frequent guest program, Starwood allows you to transfer StarPoints into frequent flier miles to over 30 airlines (most on a one to one ratio). Furthermore, you get 5,000 miles when you actually transfer 20,000 points into miles! They also allow you to use StarPoints to book flights directly, a very rare feature today. If you are a member of a few frequent flier program, this is the card I recommend.
 The American Express(R) Premier Rewards Gold Card is a great card for folks who travel a lot and are frequent flyer members of a few airlines. This card allows you to earn more points (triple points) on your airline ticket purchase than any other card. Furthermore, you can earn double points at gas stations and supermarkets. Not many reward cards pay you extra points for travel and gas, grocery spending.
 The Blue Sky from American Express(R) is the perfect credit card for folks who want to earn rewards for travel but are not frequent flyers. By not earning actual frequent flyer points, you can avoid the hassles like blackout dates etc. Simply book your travel with anyone, submit it and you'll get a statement credit using the points you have earned the following month.
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