Approval Odds: Your Key To A Successful Application | Bankrate (2024)

Key takeaways

  • Having a credit score that’s in line with a card issuer’s requirements doesn’t always guarantee you’ll qualify
  • Each time you apply for a credit card, your credit score can be affected
  • Bankrate’s Approval Odds feature can give you insights upfront about the cards you’re most likely to be approved for
  • Using Approval Odds is fast and easy — and it will not affect your credit score

Researching which credit card is right for you can be intimidating and time-consuming, especially if you’re unsure which cards you’ll qualify for. That’s where Bankrate’s Approval Odds feature can help.

What is Bankrate’s Approval Odds feature?

To get you started, each credit card featured on Bankrate carries a recommended credit range so that you can roughly estimate your approval odds before applying:

  • Excellent Credit: an 800 to 850 FICO Score, or a 781 to 850 VantageScore
  • Good Credit: a 670 to 799 FICO Score, or a 661 to 780 VantageScore
  • Fair Credit: a 580 to 669 FICO Score, or a 601 to 660 VantageScore
  • Poor Credit: a 300 to 579 FICO Score, or a 300 to 600 VantageScore
  • No Credit History: No credit history is required to apply

An on-par credit score doesn’t always guarantee you’ll qualify, though. Issuers may deny your application for other reasons, like multiple recent credit applications or a lower income than they’d prefer. In fact, the Bureau for Consumer Financial Protection’s latest Consumer Credit Card Market Report notes that credit card approval rates on general purpose cards have been declining since 2015, with a large 10 percent to 11 percent drop for those with prime or near-prime credit (a score of 620 to 719) as the economy tightened during 2020.

Considering that applying for a card can temporarily hurt your credit score — which can be a big setback if you’re on the edge of a favorable credit score or you don’t have much credit history — knowing your approval odds ahead of time helps you prioritize your picks.

Fortunately, Bankrate’s Approval Odds feature can give you a heads-up about how likely you are to qualify for a credit card on our site — with no impact on your credit score. That way, you can apply for the perfect card confidently. Think of it like a calculator of sorts; an approval odds calculator that helps steer you in the right direction before you formally apply for a credit card.

Our tool compares your credit report with historical approval data and issuer criteria to comprehensively calculate your odds of being approved. If your odds are excellent, you also might receive personalized card recommendations and prequalified offers through CardMatch.

How to use Bankrate’s Card Approval Odds

Getting started with the Approval Odds feature only takes one click. First head to a credit card category page or open an individual credit card review page. On participating credit cards, you’ll see a button labeled “see your approval odds” which will help you access your approval odds.

Once you’ve clicked “See your approval odds” on the card you’re interested in, you’ll be prompted to share your:

  1. First and last name
  2. Mailing address
  3. Employment status and annual income
  4. Monthly rent or mortgage payment
  5. Social Security number’s last four digits
  6. Email address

After that, clicking “Agree and see results” will finish setting up your account. Bankrate will immediately authorize a soft credit pull, which won’t affect your credit.

Congrats! The legwork is already done. If you’re on a card review page, you’ll see your approval odds for that card, ranging from “poor” to “excellent.” If you’re on a comparison page with multiple cards, you’ll see your approval odds for participating cards on that page.

From there, you can confidently proceed to the final step in the process: applying for a credit card. Of course, the credit card issuer has the final say in whether you’re approved, and you won’t know your status for certain until you’ve formally applied.

What do the Approval Odds ratings mean?

Each of the four Approval Odds color-coded ratings you’ll see in card tiles describe how likely you are to be approved for that card:

Ratings definitions

Excellent chance of approval
You are highly likely to qualify for this credit card. In fact, your high approval odds may also grant you access to “Special Offers” — meaning you may be preapproved for this card and possibly an elevated welcome offer if you apply through Bankrate.

Good chance of approval
You’re a strong candidate to be approved for this card. However, there’s a small chance that a few credit profile variables may slightly affect your likelihood of prequalifying for the card or nabbing its lowest APR.
Fair chance of approval
You may not have a perfect application, but there still may be a chance of approval. However, know that there is a risk of being declined or receiving a high APR. But if this card is the perfect fit, you might want to revisit it in the future after learning more about your credit score and which factors you can work on to increase your approval odds.
Poor chance of approval
You’ll want to avoid applying for this card. But although you probably won’t qualify right now, there are several ways to improve your credit score, even without a credit card.

The bottom line

Your credit score takes a small hit with every credit application, so it’s best to get it right on the first try. Although the credit card issuer always has the final say on whether you’re approved, knowing your Approval Odds can help you approach your next credit card application with an extra layer of confidence and potentially less risk to your credit score.

Approval Odds: Your Key To A Successful Application | Bankrate (2024)

FAQs

What do approval odds mean? ›

Approval Odds serve as guidelines regarding the likelihood you'll be approved for a specific credit card.

What does 90% chance of approval mean? ›

90% – 99% chance of approval

This means that you're very likely to be approved for a loan or credit card based on what you've told us.

How can I increase my approval odds? ›

How to boost your personal loan approval odds
  1. Check the accuracy of your credit report. ...
  2. Improve your credit score. ...
  3. Prequalify before formally applying. ...
  4. Work on reducing your debt. ...
  5. Find ways to increase your income. ...
  6. Don't apply for too much money. ...
  7. Adding a cosigner or a co-borrower.
Aug 30, 2023

Why i can't approve my credit card application? ›

Common reasons include a high debt-to-income ratio, a low credit score, insufficient monthly income, a limited credit history or delinquencies. Once you know why your application was denied, you'll know what to work on.

What does give good odds mean? ›

to offer a bet with favourable odds.

What does odds of success mean? ›

1 (of a chance, horse, etc.) rated at even money or less to win. 2 regarded as more or most likely to win, succeed, happen, etc.

Can you get denied if you are preapproved? ›

However, even though prospective homebuyers get pre-approved for a mortgage before shopping for homes, there's no 100% guarantee they'll successfully get financing. Mortgages can get denied and real estate deals can fall apart — even after the buyer is pre-approved.

What if my pre-approval isn t enough? ›

If the amount is too low, you might not be able to buy the home you want. To raise the loan preapproval amount, you might need to increase your income, lower your debt, improve your credit or do a mix of these factors.

How many times can you apply for pre-approval? ›

You can have multiple pre-approvals at the same time, and in fact, it's often a smart move done by savvy first-time home buyers and real estate investors. There is technically no limit on the number of pre-approvals you can get which makes shopping around with different lenders a no-brainer.

What is the 5 24 rule for Chase? ›

Many card issuers have criteria for who can qualify for new accounts, but Chase is perhaps the most strict. Chase's 5/24 rule means that you can't be approved for most Chase cards if you've opened five or more personal credit cards (from any card issuer) within the past 24 months.

What credit card is the easiest to get? ›

Comparing the easiest cards to get
Card NameAnnual feeFICO score required
Indigo® Mastercard®$0-$99 depending on creditworthiness300 to 670
Capital One Platinum Credit Card$0580 to 740
Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card$0580 to 740
Discover it® Student Chrome$0No credit history
3 more rows
Jun 28, 2024

How can I increase my approval rate? ›

There are a number of things you can do to increase your authorization rate, including: Collect and submit additional billing information: Make sure you're including as much information as possible in the charge requests, which gives the banks more details to verify legitimate transactions.

How can I make sure my credit card application is approved? ›

  1. Know what's in your credit reports. When you apply for a card, any errors on your credit report that haven't been corrected could impede your approval. ...
  2. Pay your bills on time. ...
  3. Watch your credit utilization. ...
  4. Create a diverse range of credit. ...
  5. Find a co-signer. ...
  6. Apply at your bank or credit union.
Aug 13, 2024

Does being denied a credit card application hurt your score? ›

A hard inquiry from a card application can cause a small, temporary drop in credit scores. A denial or approval won't hurt your credit scores, because decisions aren't reflected in credit reports. When making lending decisions, card issuers use credit reports and credit scores to determine creditworthiness.

How bad is it to not get approved for a credit card? ›

No, a credit card denial does not affect your credit. However, you might see a slight drop in your credit score due to the hard credit inquiry associated with your credit card application.

Can you get a loan with fair approval odds? ›

Fair credit, as defined by FICO, is a credit score between 580 and 669. While you'll be able to score a loan with a score below 670, you shouldn't expect the most favorable terms. High loan limits and low interest rates are typically reserved for those with the highest credit scores.

What does 130 odds mean? ›

This means you need to risk $100 to profit a certain amount. For example, if the odds for a bet are +130, a bettor would have to risk $100 to profit $130.

What does it mean when asked what are the odds? ›

The odds are the chances that something will happen. If you flip a coin, the odds are 50-50 you'll get heads. When we talk about odds, we're talking about probabilities, specifically, how likely it is that something will happen.

What does 5000 odds mean? ›

Higher numbers like +400, +500, +5000, etc. represent how much of an underdog the team is in the game. The higher the number the more likely the team is expected to lose in the eyes of the oddsmakers. The number also indicates how much money would win in comparison to every $100 you wager.

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