How are lenders able to make credit decisions so quickly?

About the quick decision process

Several factors make up your credit score including payment history, available balances, and recent inquiries. This may leave you to wonder how it is possible for lenders to come up with decisions so quickly after you apply for a credit card account.

The truth is that seldom is your application processed by a human loan officer, but instead is quickly analyzed by a computer program designed to ascertain your creditworthiness based on the acceptable terms of the lender.

Some lenders simply will not grant credit cards to borrowers within a certain credit score range, so the computer program automatically denies these applications. In a similar sense, most lenders have a certain credit score threshold which will result in instant approval credit cards.

For example, if your credit score is 800 (which is considered excellent) then your application will likely be instantly approved by the program. These programs may also determine the annual percentage rate (APR) and the available credit you are granted.

Although some applicants do not like the idea of a computer program deciding their financial fate, most applicants enjoy the speedy reply made possible by these types of programs.