I'd apply for the card now too. Me and my wife just got it and she's almost in the 700 club I think, but only has a single store card with significant age. So it does seems like they are more open to approving apps right now for this card. The inquiry is worth it in my opinion, especially since they pull TU which not many bank rely on. If they piled on experian inquiries like other banks I'd probably be more cautious.
Okay thanks for the info. What about the Chase Sapphire Preferred? I got linked with CSP on Cardmatch and was surprised given my short credit history. Should I give that a shot too or is that pushing it?
They will probably pull experian or equifax depending on where you live so if you do these applications close together they probably wont effect each other, but if you are going to app for the Sapphire I'd do that first, since Barclays reports almost immediately upon approval, which at that point would affect your Sapphire application even if it doesn't mean you'll get denied necesarily.
As far as cardmatch, I'd take what they show you with a grain of salt. I think early on in my credit rebuilding when I was barely over 600 they gave me a special offer for BCE and PRG AMEX and I doubt I would have been approved at that point. So if the offer is good and you think you might get approved and/or can spare the inquiries I'd go for it. But I wouldn't just do it because cardmatch found it, even though I actually used cardmatch for my EDP AMEX.
What kind of offer did you get for CSP? I got the normal 40k + 5k for an AU.