SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR RECOMMENDING MERCHANTS

A computer system for recommending merchants to a candidate cardholder is provided. The computer system includes a memory device and a processor. The processor receives transaction information for a plurality of cardholders from a payment network. The transaction information includes data relating to purchases made by the cardholders at a plurality of merchants, where the purchases satisfy a first criteria. The processor also receives candidate cardholder preference information for at least one of the merchants input by the candidate cardholder. The processor further determines a merchant rank for each merchant based on the received transaction information and the candidate cardholder preference information, and determines a neutral merchant rank for each merchant based on the received transaction information and neutral cardholder preferences of the plurality of cardholders. The processor also determines a merchant score for each of the plurality of merchants by comparing the merchant rank to the neutral merchant rank.