Swipe Right on CardCon 2025, the Must-Attend Event For Credit Card Media and Affiliate Marketers

The credit card news cycle can move quickly. Reports of issuers releasing new products and enhancing existing ones compete for reader attention against stories about political maneuvers that have the potential to impact the industry.

Those covering payments news may need to take a step back from the fast pace of their daily jobs at times to reflect on their successes and failures and fine tune their craft. 

Attending a conference that allows for interaction with other industry professionals can give credit card experts a chance to recharge their batteries while attending educational presentations and panel discussions.

The CardCon Conference, now in its ninth year, markets itself as “the only conference for journalists, bloggers and other content creators that focus on credit cards.” Employees of financial institutions and fintech representatives also attend CardCon. The conference’s scope is expanding this year to become an event for affiliate marketers as well.

We caught up with Jason Steele, credit card expert and Founder of CardCon, to learn more about the conference and how it can provide a boost to attendees looking to glean credit card insights and network with industry insiders.

Steele, who holds a commercial pilot’s license, is also a flight instructor. He sat down with us just hours before settling into the cockpit for another flying lesson. Steele has been writing about credit cards and other personal finance matters since 2008.

Attending conferences over the years led him to the realization that credit card experts needed a day for themselves.

“I created CardCon because I wanted to go to a conference with my fellow credit card experts,” Steele told us. “And when I looked and I looked, there wasn’t one.”

Steele is a fan of traveling, which is something you may have expected from a pilot who also writes professionally about how cardholders can use the credit card rewards points they earn to roam the world. 

This year’s CardCon, set for May 6-8, will be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Past versions of the conference have taken place across the U.S., in cities such as Dallas, Denver, Nashville, New Orleans, San Antonio, and Washington, D.C., Steele told us.

“I’m very excited to do this in South Florida, where I have a little bit of roots,” Steele said. “I have a lot of family down in South Florida, so this will be a very familiar, comfortable place for me.”

Steele was forced to shift CardCon to a virtual event during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He told us that, although the virtual conference was successful, it reinforced his belief that in-person events are valuable when it comes to attendees’ ability to forge deals with one another and make meaningful connections that stand the test of time.

Past versions of the conference were tightly focused on credit cards, but the scope of this year’s event is more expansive.

“Last year at CardCon, I happened to notice people striking up conversations about deposit accounts, lending, and things like that,” Steele told us.

“And it occurred to me that it’s the same journalists, it’s the same financial institutions, and it’s the same affiliate marketing companies that are handling not just credit cards, but other personal finance products at the same time,” he continued.

Steele hasn’t rebranded the conference in 2025, but he told us he is steering this year’s program to focus more on affiliate marketing.

In terms of attendee makeup, Steele said that last year’s CardCon drew approximately one-third of its attendees from the media while the remaining two-thirds came from industry insiders.

With more affiliate marketers participating in this year’s event, Steele told us that the attendees at CardCon 2025 will represent a well-rounded portion of the industry ecosystem.

Freelancers can earn a scholarship to attend CardCon in 2025.

Freelance writers are welcome to attend CardCon, and this year’s conference provides extra incentive for freelancers to get to Fort Lauderdale in early May. Capital One is covering the cost of registration for freelance writers who cover credit cards and other consumer credit topics. Interested freelancers can apply for the Capital One scholarship online.

Multiple affiliate marketing companies are sponsoring this year’s CardCon, Steele told us, which aligns with the conference’s shift to feature more topics important to affiliate marketers. 

“I think leaning into affiliate marketing is frankly where the money is,” Steele said. “Years ago, I learned that people come for great content, but they come back because they have great networking opportunities, they make money, and they make deals that affect their bottom line. And we have a lot of great sponsors who come back year after year.”

One of the highlights of attending an industry conference is the opportunity to learn directly from trailblazing professionals who’ve learned the tricks of their trade from their experiences. 

CardCon gets down to brass tracks on the final two days of the conference following a fun-packed schedule on May 6 that will allow attendees plenty of time to mingle and exchange business cards.

May 7: The agenda for CardCon on May 7 is loaded with presentations geared toward affiliate marketers. One session aims to cover the digital journey of a credit card affiliate marketer, touching on developments that have taken place over the prior 25 years and what a future powered by innovation may look like for industry professionals. 

Of course, any conference about payments would be lacking if it didn’t devote time to discussing the perils of fraud. A CardCon presentation featuring speakers from Experian and Credit One will focus on the risk fraud can bring to an affiliate program.

Writers must walk a fine line when covering negative news about an affiliate partner. A session hosted by speakers from The Points Guy will cover how to balance affiliate partner needs with sensitive subject matter.

The internet yields more new content in a day than a single reader can ever hope to absorb. With so much competition for reader attention, it can be difficult for companies to stand out in a crowd.

But credit card companies can grab a reader’s attention through personalization. A session on the afternoon of May 7 will cover establishing meaningful connections with customers. 

May 8: The final day of the conference, May 8, kicks off with a keynote address from Scott Johnson, President of the Card Division at LoanPro. Johnson’s speech will cover the different strategies companies can follow when seeking to launch a credit card program. 

Johnson can draw from his career of over 20 years in the card industry to deliver powerful insights that help those weighing the pros and cons of outsourcing or building a card program from scratch.

Consumers in the market for a new credit card have no shortage of information to sift through to help them decide which card is right for them.

Prequalifying offers can help sweeten the deal for consumers who are on the fence about whether to add a new card to their wallet. A morning session on May 8 will examine how consumer insights can boost prequalifying offers.

The conference’s final session explores the future of consumer payments and how relatively new payments companies, including buy now, pay later providers, threaten to shift the payments marketplace. 

Those who have taken part in a professional conference with attendees numbering in the thousands know that large crowds can make it difficult to connect with someone everyone wants to meet. That’s not a concern at CardCon, where Steele told us he expects between 250 and 300 industry professionals to be in attendance.

The first day of the conference is intended to give attendees a chance to network in relaxed environs. Conference registrants can sign up to participate in events to take place on May 6, which CardCon has officially dubbed the “Fun Day.” Steele told us the other days of the conference also allow time for attendees to interact with each other.

“Penfed is sponsoring the Fun Day, and, in South Florida, there’s plenty of fun to be had,” Steele told us. “You can choose to do a tour of a nature center, a tour of a really interesting Japanese-American cultural center, or a trip to Delray Beach.”

“And then we’re having a beach party, because you can’t really go to South Florida at the end of winter and not go to the beach,” he said.

Speakers can be in high demand at conferences, but CardCon has a solution to allow attendees to converse with speakers. Steele told us the conference will have a lounge where speakers can spend time after their presentations.

A lounge will allow attendees to interact with conference presenters.

Guests will be able to interact with speakers in the lounge and have deeper conversations with them than a typical question-and-answer session would allow.

Additional opportunities to rub elbows with fellow attendees include invitational dinners, happy hours, and poolside receptions.

“If you want to meet someone, you might be able to sit by them on the bus for the Fun Day or catch up with them over a drink by the pool,” Steele said. “Nobody will come home saying, ‘I really meant to catch up with this person, but I just didn’t have the chance.’”

Registration for CardCon 2025 remains open, and interested parties can register online.