CardMatch is a tool that is offered by creditcards.com, it’s supposed to show you all of the pre-approved and targeted offers you currently have. The problem is that it only shows cards from issuers that they have an affiliate relationship with (meaning if you get approved, they get paid). CardMatch often shows offers that don’t show up anywhere else, so it’s definitely something worth checking on a regular basis. That being said, you should also check the pre-approval links from each card issuer separately as well.
Here is a story from reader Bryan which does a good job of illustrating this point:
When I used the Cardmatch tool, American Express cards didn’t even show up. When I used the American Express link to check for pre-qualified offers, I had the bonus 50k on the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card when you sign up and spend $1k in 3 months. I applied and was approved within a few hours.
Me and my mom checked the other day and she had both the 100k Platinum and 50k Gold offers on Cardmatch. My wife didn’t have any Amex offers on Cardmatch but we get a 50k standard Platinum offer every time we sign on to online billing down in the Offers section
As you can see, different people in his immediate family had different offers from different sources. It’s always a good idea to check regularly for this offers, because you never know what will show up. To make things easier for you we created this resource page which lists all of the pre-approval/targeted offer links for each card issuer.
Is CardMatch a recommended tool anymore?
If Chase cards come up, does that mean I will be approved despite 5/24?
Very good information. I regularly use card match. Been doing so for eight months. Never a good offer. But I’ve signed up for great sign up bonus for some Amex cards thru other means
I did use Cardmatch once for a really good AMEX EV Pre offer (30k) and since then haven’t seen any good AMEX offers. It may be because that was my first card, but now, nothing for Amex. I’ve been getting a lot more targeted offers for Chase for cards I already have… which would be fine if it wasn’t for new churning rules pertaining to the flagship cards.
Mind you, I used to get the typical Premier Gold 50k or Platinum 60k (never 100k unfortunately) but haven’t seen these pop up at all.
I don’t see the Special Offers tab anymore for American Express. Do you have to be logged in to see it? I followed the steps in the page you linked to.
Why are you using the word “pre-approved”? CardMatch does no such thing. It makes offers that you “are more likely to qualify for,” which is a very different animal.
I’ve seen reports from a couple of people who applied for a card through CardMatch and were stunned to be rejected, because they thought they were preapproved.
I find the opposite true in my case … lots of offers on card match and none directly through AMEX or Chase. I sent CardMatch an email asking if they have any idea why that is but they never responded.