Although the approval process takes only a few minutes, the credit card company will still need to manually mail you the physical card. This may take up to 10 days before you receive it. However, this is considerably faster than the traditional ways.

It can take up to a month or two before you receive your credit card if you apply for one via the tradition ways. This is because you have to visit the office of the card company personally or call up the customer service hotline to request for an application form to be mail to you. Then you have to submit your supporting documents and wait for a reply as the company runs a check on your credit history.

To ensure that you application get approved instantly, you should maintain a healthy and excellent credit history. That does not mean that your application will be rejected if you credit history is less than perfect. With so much competition going around in the credit card industry, many companies are willing to take the risk and accept applicants with average credit history. Some of them even provide a card for those people with bad credit.

Before submitting your application online, make sure you visit a legitimate credit card directory to compare card information first. Consider the benefits that you want to receive as you do your research. You will also want to read the terms and conditions at least once. The important items to take note are annual fees, interest rate during the introductory period, interest rate after the introductory period, length of grace period and minimum payment amount. Also take note of late payment fees and other unusual penalties. Call up the respective customer service department if you have doubts or any queries with the terms and conditions.

Remember that you should always use your credit card in a responsible way. Be sure to pay your outstanding balance before the due date and, if possible, pay the entire balance each month to save on interest fees. This will ensure that you do not get into debt problems. In addition, your credit rating will look great as well.