Guaranteed Approval Credit Cards

Guaranteed approval credit cards with $10,000 limits for bad credit don’t really exist. A secured credit card that allows you to place a very sizable deposit is the closest thing you’ll find. For example, the Wells Fargo Secured Credit Card allows you to put down as much as $10,000 and offers nearly guaranteed approval. But your spending limit equals the amount of your deposit, so it won’t help you buy something that you can’t already afford in cash.

There are a couple of important reasons why guaranteed approval credit cards with $10,000 limits for bad credit are not available. For starters, no credit card offers 100% guaranteed approval. There’s always some sort of minimum eligibility requirement that you must meet. That’s even true with secured credit cards.

Furthermore, credit cards for people with bad credit tend to have spending limits that are far below $10,000. Most unsecured cards for bad credit give you a starting limit of around $300, and fees eat into a lot of that early on. So if you have bad credit, you’re not going to find a credit card capable of financing a big-ticket purchase.

At the end of the day, getting a credit card with a specific spending limit should not be your top priority when you have bad credit. You’re unlikely to get an unsecured card with a $10,000 limit until you have excellent credit. So rebuilding your credit as inexpensively as possible is the best approach in the long run. Above all else, that means getting approved for a credit card as quickly as possible and paying your bill on time every month.

To help point you in the right direction, WalletHub’s editors compared dozens of credit cards for bad credit and picked their favorites.

Here are some nearly-guaranteed approval credit cards for bad credit with high limits:

• Wells Fargo Secured Credit Card: $300 - $10,000 limit (same as deposit amount)
• Aeromexico Secured Credit Card: $300 - $5,000 limit (same as deposit amount)
• Harley-Davidson® Secured Credit Card: $300 - $5,000 limit (same as deposit amount)
• First National Bank of Omaha Secured Visa® Card: $300 - $5,000 limit (same as deposit amount)
• OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card: $200 - $3,000 limit (same as deposit amount)
• Discover it® Secured: $200+ limit (same as deposit amount)

These offers are among WalletHub’s picks for the best secured credit cards. They all can make shopping more convenient. And as long as you pay your monthly bills on time, they’ll help you improve your credit score. If you’d like some tips for how to speed up the credit-rebuilding process, you can get personalized credit-improvement advice by signing up for a free WalletHub account.

There is no way to get guaranteed credit card approval with a high limit. That’s because no credit card issuer guarantees approval – they make a decision based upon your credit, income, debt load and many other factors. In addition, credit cards with the highest starting limits require good credit (score of 700+) or excellent credit (score of 750+). So only people with a long history of responsibility can get them.

Your best chance for nearly guaranteed approval and a high limit is with a secured card. Secured cards require a security deposit, and they’re the easiest type of credit card to get. Unless you have no income or a currently pending bankruptcy, your odds of rejection are very low. On secured cards, your credit limit is equal to your deposit. So the more you deposit, the higher your credit limit becomes. Issuers tend to set upper limits, but if you have a lot of cash on hand, there are several cards that allow users to deposit quite a bit. Your deposit is refundable once you pay any balance owed and close the account.

If you happen to have good or excellent credit history, make sure to take a look at WalletHub’s picks for the best high limit credit cards overall.

Your best options to get a credit card today are American Express cards, Capital One cards and some store cards. While it’s pretty common to get approved for a credit card the same day if you apply online, you’ll still usually have to wait another 7-10 business days before your card comes to use it.

All American Express cards give you the potential for an instant card number after approval, which will give you access to part of your credit line until your card arrives. Capital One cards provide instant use through the Capital One app, but that’s only possible if you’re an existing Capital One cardholder. Store cards, such as the Target REDCard, may give you an instant number or code to use as a temporary version of your card.

Here are the best credit cards you can get today:

• Bad credit – Capital One Secured Mastercard: Requires a minimum security deposit of $49, $99 or $200. Your credit line will always be at least $200. No rewards. No annual fee. Must be an existing Capital One customer to see your card information through the app.
• Limited credit – Capital One QuicksilverOne: Unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases. $39 annual fee. Must be an existing Capital One customer to see your card information through the app.
• Fair credit – Target REDcard: 5% off at Target and Target.com. 30 extra days on returns. Free shipping. No annual fee. Gives a temporary number after approval to use until your card comes.
• Good credit (miles) – Capital One Venture: $50,000 bonus miles when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months. Unlimited 2 miles per dollar on all purchases. $95 annual fee waived the first year.
• Good credit (cash back) – Capital One Quicksilver: $150 bonus cash back when you spend $500 in the first 3 months. Unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases. No annual fee.
• Good credit (cash back) – Amex Blue Cash Everyday: $150 statement credit when you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months. 3% cash back on the first $6,000 per year at U.S. supermarkets, 2% at U.S. department stores and U.S. gas stations and 1% on everything else. No annual fee.
• Excellent credit – Costco Anywhere Visa: 4% cash back on the first $7,000 spent on gas per year, 3% on restaurants and travel, 2% at Costco, 1% on everything else. No annual fee but must be a Costco member. Requires excellent credit. Gives a temporary code to scan at checkout until the actual card arrives.

While there’s no guarantee these options will get you a credit card today, they’ll certainly give you your best chance. Don’t forget that if you get approved for a Capital One card you’ll need to both already have another Capital One card open and have downloaded the app. Unfortunately, this option isn’t available to every Capital One customer but Capital One doesn’t disclose who is eligible for instant card information. In the same way, all Amex cards give the potential for instant numbers, but aren’t guaranteed to give you one.

And if you’re interested in a store card, make sure to ask if they offer instant use first. Lastly, when your physical card arrives by mail in 7-10 business days, be sure to activate it right away.

There are two kinds of credit cards for a 550 score: secured credit cards and unsecured credit cards for bad credit. A 550 credit score is within the bad credit range, unfortunately. Bad credit goes from 300 to 639. But picking the right 550 credit score credit card and using it responsibly could help you improve your score to “fair” territory within 12-18 months.  

The best credit card for a 550 score is the OpenSky Secured Visa. There’s no credit check when you apply, so approval is almost guaranteed. You just need at least $200 for a security deposit and enough income to make monthly payments. It also reports to all three major credit bureaus every month, which is your ticket to a better credit score. And a $35 annual fee isn’t too much to pay for that.

The Discover it Secured Card is another great 550 credit score credit card. It has no annual fee and actually rewards you for making purchases. A 550 credit score won’t keep you from getting approved either. But a pending non-chapter 7 bankruptcy will.  

Those aren’t the only credit cards you can get with a 550 credit score. If you’re looking for a card with no deposit, the Credit One Bank Platinum Visa for Rebuilding Credit is the best you’re going to do. But it has an annual fee of up to $99. And it’s probably a bit stingier with approval than secured cards. In particular, you may run into issues if your monthly income isn’t at least a couple hundred dollars higher than your expenses. So consider all your options. 

Here are the best credit cards for a 550 score:

• OpenSky® Secured Visa® Credit Card
• Discover it® Secured
• Credit One Bank® Platinum Visa® for Rebuilding Credit
• Capital One® Secured Mastercard®
• Milestone® Mastercard® - Bad Credit Considered

Before applying for a card, make sure to check out its terms and conditions, or a FAQ page if there is one, just to make sure you fit the criteria for eligibility. You can also try getting pre-approved for a credit card. It won’t hurt your credit.

Easy credit cards for fair credit are cards that even people with limited credit or bad credit can get. There are plenty of credit cards that require fair credit, at a minimum. But if easy approval is what you’re after, you’ll want to exceed the card’s requirements rather than just meeting them.

Checking for pre-approval will give you a good idea of which credit cards will be easiest to get with your fair credit score. If you get pre-approved for a credit card, you have about a 90% chance of a successful application. Most major credit card companies let you check for pre-approval, including Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Discover, and Wells Fargo.

That said, I’ll highlight a handful of specific cards that offer great terms and tend to be pretty easy for people with fair credit to get.

Easy Credit Cards for Fair Credit:

• QuicksilverOne Cash Rewards Credit Card. The annual fee is $39. You’ll get 1.5% cash back on all purchases. The card requires limited credit.
• Capital One Platinum Credit Card. There’s no annual fee or rewards. You can get the card with limited history.
• Capital One Secured Mastercard. This card doesn’t charge an annual fee. The initial deposit will be $49, $99 or $200, depending on your credit worthiness. There are no rewards, and you can get approved with bad credit.
• Discover it Secured Card. There’s a $0 annual fee and the minimum security deposit is $200. You’ll get 2% cash back on your first $1,000 spent per quarter on gas and at restaurants. You get 1% everywhere else. You can get this card with bad credit.
• Target Credit Card. There’s a $0 annual fee. You save 5% on Target and Target.com purchases. Free shipping on most Target.com purchases. This card requires fair credit.

It’s not hard to find easy credit cards for fair credit, even ones with rewards. But it is hard to find 0% intro rates for financing. So it’s probably best to pay off your balance in full each month. And if you pay it on time consistently, you should see your credit score start moving up toward the good credit range.

Yes, you’re going to want a 640+ credit score for Best Buy Store Card approval. That’s in the fair credit range but not quite at the bottom of it (620), so as to give you better odds of approval. Fair credit is the minimum credit standing required. And barely meeting a card’s minimum requirements is far from the ticket to high approval odds. Still, store cards like the Best Buy one aren’t beyond the average person’s reach. The average credit score is around 680. And there are other things besides your credit score that matter for Best Buy Store Card approval.

Here’s what you need, along with a fair credit score, for a Best Buy Store Card:

• All the basics. You can’t get approved without a U.S. mailing address and Social Security Number. You also need to be at least 18 years old and have income, or access to it.
• At least fair credit. That means 620+, but your approval odds only increase as your score gets higher.
• Some money to spend. You’ll have to list your income and assets on your application, along with how much debt you owe. That’ll show how much you’re still free to spend.
• Other information. Exactly what Citi takes into account and how much weight each factor carries isn’t public information. But things like your employment status and how many other cards you’ve opened recently have been known to play a role.

Make sure to check your credit score before you apply. Is it 640+? If not, you may want to take some time to improve it. You can raise your score by using less of your available credit, paying on time and reducing debts.

Unless you have good or excellent credit, you’re not going to find a guaranteed approval credit card with a $1,000 limit. The best you’ll be able to do is either place a deposit of $1,000 on a secured credit card or apply for an unsecured card that you are way overqualified for. The Discover it® Secured is one good option, for example, as it doesn’t charge an annual fee and allows deposits of up to $2,500.

It’s important to remember that no credit card really offers guaranteed approval. Secured cards have the highest approval odds because they require you to place a refundable security deposit, the amount of which matches your spending limit. But that means you won’t be able to use them for any purchases you don’t already have the money for.

Beyond that, the better your credit is, the higher your approval odds will be for unsecured credit cards. But credit cards for people with limited or fair credit may or may not offer $1,000 spending limits, so you’ll likely have to set your sights a bit higher to be sure of getting that much fire power. And that means you need really good credit for approval to be anywhere close to guaranteed.

For tips to help you get the credit needed to qualify for the best cards, check out WalletHub’s credit improvement guide. You can also get personalized recommendations for credit cards with high approval odds by signing up for a free WalletHub account.

The short answer to this question is “not exactly.” Secured credit cards offer nearly guaranteed approval. In other words, most people should be able to get one, even with bad credit. But approval requirements vary from credit card company to credit card company.

Many issuers will reject people with certain types of negative information – usually a non-discharged bankruptcy or pending tax lien – on their credit report. Other secured cards don’t even perform a credit check. They simply require you to earn more than you spend each month.

So while secured cards don’t offer truly guaranteed approval, they give you the next best thing. And it’s as good as you’ll get with any credit card.

Instant credit is short for instant credit card, which is a credit card that gives instant approval to qualified applicants who apply online and can be used to make purchases immediately, before the card arrives in the mail. But instant credit can mean other things, too, as it’s a pretty general term. For example, people often use it in reference to instant approval credit cards that don’t necessarily allow instant use.

You could also make the case that you’re getting instant credit anytime you’re approved for a new credit card or a credit limit increase. Along those lines, you’re getting instant credit whenever a credit card payment goes through since it frees up some of your credit limit for spending.

But people in search of instant credit typically need it to face some sort of financial emergency. Many also have bad credit. Unfortunately, there are only two instant credit cards for bad credit, and neither is good for financing emergency expenses. 

Hopefully, you can afford to wait the 14-24 business days it usually takes to get a credit card in your hands. If not, you can check out some of your best choices below.

Here are some of the best instant credit cards:

• Instant Approval and Use: Capital One Secured Mastercard – $0 annual fee
• Instant Approval and Use: Fingerhut Credit Account – $0 annual fee 
• Instant Approval: Credit One Unsecured Visa – $0 to $99 annual fee
• Instant Approval: Discover it Secured Card – $0 annual fee
• Instant Credit Card for Good Credit: Capital One Venture – $95 annual fee (waived the first year)

Finally, it’s worth noting that some people might use instant credit in more of a credit-score sense, meaning either instant credit improvement or instantly establishing credit from scratch. Both are possible, to a certain extent, but you can’t expect overnight miracles. 

For example, you can get your first credit score within weeks of opening a starter credit card. And you can improve your score just as fast by paying down your credit card balances and any collections accounts you may have.