Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
While applying for a new credit card is typically the fastest and easiest way to rack up a meaningful number of points and miles, sometimes the first welcome offer you see for a given card isn't always the best.
Before applying for a new credit card, it's wise to take a few minutes to ensure you're getting the best deal possible.
This is important because you can often only get card welcome bonuses once — or at least only once for several years. Sometimes, targeted offers are available to lucky individuals who can get a higher welcome offer than just by going with the publicly available link.
Targeted offers can be sent in the mail, via email, might be lurking in your online bank or loyalty account, can be sent to you by friends who make referrals or might sometimes even live in the CardMatch tool.
It's important to say upfront that we'll never know the full answer to how to get a better credit card welcome offer, as companies spend a lot of money developing proprietary methods for generating and targeting these offers.
Still, we've been around card offers enough to make a few educated guesses on how this works — and how to improve the chances you find and notice these offers.
Related: These credit card offers are worth $1,000 or more
Use the CardMatch tool
Let's start with a tool that is an obvious first stop when seeing if you have special offers available to you.
Using the CardMatch tool (offers subject to change at any time), you might be able to access elevated welcome offers on cards such as The Platinum Card® from American Express or the American Express® Gold Card.
In the past, we've seen CardMatch include an up to 125,000-point welcome offer for the Amex Platinum and up to 75,000 points on the Amex Gold after meeting minimum spend requirements.
The CardMatch website explains that a soft credit check will be performed after you input your information.
This means CardMatch accesses the information on your credit report, but this won't show up on your credit report or affect your score in any way. Of course, if you go ahead and actually apply for one of these cards, then that will show as a hard inquiry on your report.
CardMatch partners with several banks, including Chase, Amex and Capital One, and based on the information they obtain from your credit report, they use a proprietary algorithm specific to each card issuer to generate offers for you.
Anecdotally, we've seen some of the best CardMatch offers with American Express, specifically often available to those who don't have any other open accounts with that bank. Since offers can change regularly, it's worth checking back frequently until you find the best offer for you.
Related: How to use CardMatch to potentially get better offers
Check your pre-approval offers
Sometimes, you have better offers — or perhaps even better eligibility terms — available to you via some pre-approval offers.
These offers may arrive in your email or physical mailbox, but you can also look for them. While a pre-approved offer doesn't guarantee you'll get approved, you likely have solid odds — and potentially access to better offers.
When logged into your Chase account, you can scroll to the top and select "Open an account." Then, click on the "Just for you" option to see if any special terms or offers are available for you based on your existing Chase relationship.
While it's not an exact science, the more accounts you already have open with Chase, the smaller the chance a new account will be dangled in front of your face.
Related: All about the Chase 5/24 rule
Get a referral link
Sometimes, a bank decides that the best way to find cardholders similar to the ones they already have is to let their current cardholders do the 'work' by referring their friends.
If someone gets approved with their link, the person who makes the referral usually gets a set number of bonus points or miles, making it a potential win-win.
These friend referral links can be the same, better or occasionally worse than the common public offer.
If you decide to share your referral link with someone, one important thing to note is that any points or miles you receive from a referral bonus are taxable, unlike the rewards you earn through welcome offers or other spending.
Depending on how much you earn in a given year on referral bonuses, you may or may not receive a tax form from an issuer.
Even if you don't receive anything, it's best practice to report any taxable rewards you've earned when you file your taxes. Consult a tax professional if you're uncertain how to report referral bonuses.
Related: The best time to apply for these popular American Express credit cards based on offer history
Ask in person
There are some increased card offers that you can only get in person at the physical bank. For example, we've seen the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) have a 10,000-point higher bonus in the physical Chase bank than online.
Related: The best time to apply for these popular Chase credit cards based on offer history
Pay attention to your inbox
Sometimes, the best offers come directly to you and aren't available via shareable links. When you get a credit card mailer in the mail or in your email, it's certainly worth reviewing it and comparing it to the publicly available offers.
We've seen individually targeted offers as high as 200,000 points for some cards when public offers are just at 100,000 or less, so always keep your ears and eyes peeled when something is addressed directly to you. Don't opt out of marketing emails and sends from banks unless you really don't want to receive anything.
Related: The best time to apply for these popular Capital One credit cards based on offer history
Bottom line
While we'll never know exactly why one person receives a targeted offer and the next person doesn't, it helps to put yourself in the mind of the companies sending out these offers and think about what they're trying to achieve: new business.
When it comes to new card openings, banks are looking for responsible and valuable long-term customers, while airlines and hotels are simply looking to attract new customers away from their rivals. If a targeted offer succeeds in getting even a few years of loyalty, it's likely done its job perfectly.
Related: The best time to apply for these 9 popular travel credit cards based on offer history
