Use This Tool to Find Credit Card Promotions Not Listed
If you want to buy a new credit card, but do not want to waste time looking for pre-approved transactions on company websites , issuing credit cards, think about CardMatch – a tool that can detect higher bonuses for registration than what otherwise publicly available. While this tool is not a one-stop shop for credit cards, it is a good place to start shopping. This is how it works.
What is CardMatch?
CardMatch is an online tool that matches credit card deals for you based on your credit score (you can find it here ). If your credit score is higher, you may see signup bonus offers (in reward points or air miles) that are higher than those usually available on public channels.
For example, with CardMatch I am pre-approved to use an AmEx EveryDay credit card with a sign up bonus of 15,000 bonus points. Without this tool, web searches only offer 10,000 bonus points, a difference of 5,000 points, which is about $ 30-50 according to the American Express points calculator.
What’s the catch with CardMatch?
The trade-off with CardMatch is that you must provide personal information, some of which can be used for marketing emails and text messages. You will need to include your email, address, phone number, salary, and the last four digits of your social security number, as the tool will trigger a soft solicitation check to generate offers (unlike a hard solicitation, a soft solicitation does not affect your credit rating). Sure, you can opt out of receiving these marketing texts and emails as they come in, but they are annoying anyway.
From a security standpoint, the tool is operated by Bankrate, a consumer financial services company that The Points Guy says uses bank-level security to keep your personal information safe. Again, if you don’t want to risk spamming, or don’t want to share so much personal information, that’s okay too. But if you are already shopping? This is not much different from applying for pre-approval directly from credit card sites.
Another consideration is that the tool is not comprehensive – since the tool is based on partnerships with credit card companies, you won’t see every card on the market. Using CardMatch is a good way to get started shopping, but you can still do some research outside of this tool.
Prior approval does not mean actual approval
CardMatch simply tells you which cards you are likely to qualify for, based on a soft request for your loan. If you do apply for a credit card, the lender will conduct a thorough investigation of your loan, which will dive deeper into your credit history and may temporarily lower your credit rating by several points. In this case, it is possible that the tool will recommend a card that you are not actually eligible for. However, barring any hidden surprises in your credit history, you should be eligible for a card that is pre-approved.