Credit cards with instant approval offer a 'soft search' credit check, which means that it shouldn’t impact your credit score if you're rejected.

Eligibility checkers used ahead of applications also leave no visible footprints on your credit report.

However, if you're accepted and proceed, your application will be recorded and will be visible if a company does a credit check on you.

Also, be aware that too many formal applications can damage your credit rating, so always choose a soft search option or eligibility check if it's available.

If you’ve been rejected, rather than applying again it could be worth looking at your credit report to see why you’ve been declined or asking the credit card provider why. 

Credit scoring is a measure of how creditworthy a lender thinks you are, based on a picture of your current and past financial circumstances.

That depends on your personal financial circumstances and your credit rating. It also depends on how much potential credit you already have, and whether you have made a lot of recent applications for credit.

There are bad credit instant decision credit cards available for people with a less than perfect credit history.

There are instant credit cards available for those with bad credit, though these typically come with higher APRs and lower credit limits. 

The better your credit rating, the better the offers you’ll be able to get on your credit card. So if your credit rating isn’t up to scratch, it’s worth taking steps to improve it – such as paying bills on time and correcting any mistakes on your credit file. 

If you don't think you can clear your balance at the end of each month, a low APR credit card may be more suitable.

APR stands for "annual percentage rate" - it's the interest rate charged on money borrowed on your credit card. 

It reflects the costs you'll pay over the course of a year and includes any standard fees associated with the card. 

In most cases, you can avoid paying interest by paying off your credit card balance in full by the due date of every billing cycle.

There is a range of interest rates available on easy approval credit cards.

Some instant decision credit cards might not offer the most competitive interest rates or APRs (annual percentage rates), but others might offer lower rates.

If you want a credit card and plan to pay off the outstanding balance in full each month, you don’t need to worry too much about the card’s APR.

However, if you think you might not pay off the balance in full, the APR is important. 

The higher the APR, the more you’ll pay in interest, and potentially, the longer it will take you to pay off your credit.

When we use the term ‘most popular or ‘popularity’ on Uswitch in reference to credit cards, these cards are ranked by the number of clicks they have received on the site in the past 30 days.

The most clicked on cards are at the top, with the least at the bottom. This reflects how popular they are with visitors to Uswitch.com. Consequently, this is a good table to look at if you’re interested in seeing which cards most people think are worth getting.

We compare over 100 credit cards from all of the major banks and credit card providers.

However, we do not compare all the credit cards that are available in the UK.

This is because some credit card providers have offers that are only available exclusively through their own website or branch, or through other comparison websites - in the same way some credit cards are exclusively available through Uswitch.

There are also many credit cards that are only available to people in member organisations and clubs.