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Congratulations! Having good or excellent credit means you’ve managed your credit well and have earned the privilege of being able to select from the best credit cards available.
The world of enjoying premium travel benefits, paying for your trip with miles or points, earning cash-back on your purchases, and knowing you have coverage when things go wrong is great to experience.
However, you probably didn’t reach a high credit rating without having a few premium cards already, so you’ll want to select any new credit cards wisely. Consider factors such as Chase’s 5/24 rule, avoiding duplication of benefits, and the expense of high multiple annual fees not offsetting the benefits received.
Let’s take a look and compare some of the best credit cards for those who have achieved a good to excellent credit score, review the benefits and drawbacks of each card, and determine which cards are worth adding to your credit card portfolio.
Credit scores are used by lenders to determine whether to grant you credit and the terms under which they’ll extend that credit. Having a credit score that is good to excellent will get you the best terms, including the lowest interest rates, lowest down payment, and lowest fees.
The exact numbers for a good to excellent credit score vary. Credit reporting agency Experian, for example, defines a good credit score as one that is 700 or better and an excellent credit score as 800 or better. Equifax, another of the 3 credit reporting agencies, describes a good credit score as being between 700 and 750 and an excellent score as 750 or above.
VantageScore, a credit scoring model developed by the 3 credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Transunion, and Experian), concurs that a good credit score is one that is at least 700 to 749 and an excellent score is one that is 750 to 850.
Bottom Line: If your credit score is between 700 and 850, you fall into the good to excellent credit range. If your score is still low, you might need to look into getting a credit card for bad credit to start boosting your score.
For information on monitoring your credit score, see our article on the best ways to monitor your credit score and credit report.
Let’s start off with the best personal cards to get for good to excellent credit! In this section, we’ll show you our favorite picks.
| Card | Welcome Bonus and Annual Fee | Benefits |
| The Platinum Card® from American Express |
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| Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card |
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| American Express® Gold Card |
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| Citi Premier® Card |
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| Chase Sapphire Reserve® |
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| Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card |
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Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus offer of up to 125k (or 150k) points with the Amex Platinum. The current public offer is 80,000 points. (This targeted offer was independently researched and may not be available to all applicants.)
The Amex Platinum card is one of the most popular ultra-premium cards — it happens to be one of the most exclusive cards out there.
In general, the Amex Platinum card is best-suited for those with good to excellent credit, and it has amazing benefits that make it oh-so-worth-it and a welcome bonus that’s worth well into the 4 figures.
The card earns 5x Membership Rewards points on the following purchases:
All other purchases earn 1x points per dollar spent.
This card benefits frequent travelers tremendously thanks to its series of travel benefits:
There are also some impressive shopping and lifestyle benefits, such as:
We love the fact that this card has no preset spending limit, as well as some incredible travel insurance in an increasingly uncertain world of travel.
American Express has done a fantastic job fine-tuning its signature rewards program, known as Membership Rewards.
If you follow our points and miles valuations, you’ll discover that Amex Membership Rewards points are the most valuable, worth 2.2 cents each. And if you earn 5x points, you’re earning a return on your spending of around 11%.
That said, it’s best to use your points for luxury award travel through the Amex transfer partners if you want the best value.
You can also use your points for cash-back, statement credits, charity, Amex Travel bookings, gift cards, merchandise, and more. Just don’t expect to get anywhere near the same value as you would when using Amex’s transfer partners.
Our next, runner-up credit card for good to excellent credit is the Capital One Venture X card. Anecdotally, the Capital One Venture X card seems to be more difficult to get approved for than the Amex Platinum card, but it actually has a slightly different value proposition.
In fact, it might make sense to have both the Amex Platinum card and Capital One Venture X card in your wallet.
In any case, cardholders will enjoy a substantial welcome bonus, as well as up to 10x Capital One miles:
Even though earning 10x miles is certainly an attention-grabbing benefit, we love the fact that you earn at least 2x miles on all non-bonused purchases.
In addition, we love the anniversary bonus of 10,000 miles every cardmember year, up to $300 Capital One Travel credit, and these airport lounge access privileges:
There’s even a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee reimbursement and complimentary Hertz’s President’s Circle elite status, which is the top level.
The Capital One Venture X card also happens to be one of the most well-rounded credit cards because it boasts cell phone insurance, top-shelf travel insurance (including primary rental car insurance), up to 4 authorized users for no additional annual fee, benefits at Gravity Haus, no foreign transaction fees, and much more.
Hot Tip: Learn more about the benefits of the Capital One Venture X card in our detailed guide!
Capital One Miles shares a lot of similarities with American Express Membership Rewards. These can be used in a variety of ways, and we generally value Capital One miles at 1.8 cents each.
That translates to a maximum return on spending from the Capital One Venture X card of 18% if earning 10x miles on certain purchases.
Note that you’ll get the best value by transferring your rewards to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners for award travel.
Although your redemption value can exceed our valuations when booking award travel, it will sink dramatically if you use miles for other purposes, like gift cards, statement credits, travel booked through Capital One Travel, or online shopping.
Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a welcome bonus offer of up to 90,000 points with the Amex Gold card. The current public offer is 60,000 points. (This targeted offer was independently researched and may not be available to all applicants.)
The Amex Gold card probably isn’t as prestigious as the Amex Platinum card, but it offers some exceptional rewards for the food-minded individual.
Amex offers a nice welcome offer on this card, as well as up to 4x Membership Rewards points on purchases:
Based on our valuations of 2.2 cents per Amex point, you can get a return on spending of up to 8.8%!
With this card, you’ll also get up to $240 in statement credits per year:
Hot Tip: The Amex Gold card often has additional discounts and bonus rewards you can take advantage of through Amex Offers!
Benefits include access to The Hotel Collection, travel insurance, and no foreign transaction fees. Lastly, you’ll enjoy no preset spending limit, extended warranty coverage, and purchase protection, as well as no-additional-fee cards for up to 5 authorized users (rates and fees).
One of our favorite credit cards for earning transferrable rewards is the Citi Premier card. If you want just 1 card to cover the vast majority of your everyday and travel expenses, the Citi Premier card could be a fantastic choice for you.
And also, the Citi Premier card, which is best suited for those with good to excellent credit, may be slightly easier to get approved for than the other personal credit cards in this guide.
First of all, the Citi Premier card usually offers an amazing welcome bonus. But what gives this card the X factor is the ability to earn 3x ThankYou Points in many categories with no caps or limits:
From this list, you can start to appreciate how these purchases probably cover the vast majority of your spending activity, which will have you racking up rewards quickly.
All other purchases earn 1x points.
This card offers an up to $100 annual hotel savings benefit for a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) when booked through thankyou.com, once per calendar year.
The Citi Premier card also comes with no foreign transaction fees, zero liability fraud protection, contactless payments, access to Citi Entertainment, and authorized users for no additional annual fee.
We peg Citi ThankYou Points as being worth 1.6 cents each, which translates to a 4.8% return on spending when earning 3x points.
And it’s easy to get outsized value from these points, thanks to the ability to transfer rewards to travel partners to book award travel.
You can also use Citi ThankYou Points for cash-back, statement credits, bookings through the Citi ThankYou travel portal, gift cards, and more, albeit at a reduced redemption value.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card offers some incredible benefits and rewards for the ultra-premium customer.
In general, good to excellent credit is required for this credit card, and you can expect to earn a welcome offer plus up to 10x Ultimate Rewards points on purchases:
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card comes with up to $300 in travel credits, a complimentary Priority Pass Select membership, complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status, a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck/NEXUS application fee reimbursement, and some of the best travel insurance you can find from a credit card.
It also has a unique benefit of a 50% redemption bonus when booking travel through Ultimate Rewards and when using Pay Yourself Back on select rotating categories, which gives you a redemption value of 1.5 cents per point.
It doesn’t end there — you can get hotel perks at The Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection, purchase protection, extended warranty coverage, and no foreign transaction fees.
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are our second-most valuable rewards currency, right behind Amex Membership Rewards. We value them at 2.0 cents apiece, which translates to a maximum return on spending of up to 20% when using the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
It turns out that these points can also be used for even more value in many instances if you book award travel through the Chase transfer partners.
Alternatively, you can “settle” for lower value through other redemptions like gift cards, statement credits, Pay Yourself Back, Chase travel portal bookings, Amazon.com, and charity.
The last, but certainly not least, personal credit card in this guide is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which is Chase’s flagship mid-tier credit card.
The approval criteria for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is generally a bit more relaxed than that of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
Right now, it has a terrific welcome bonus and an earning power of up to 5x Ultimate Rewards points:
As you can see, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card carries some exceptional rewards. It gets even better because cardholders get a 10% anniversary bonus of rewards earned after every cardmember year.
This is compounded by the fact that the Chase Sapphire Preferred card comes with a complimentary DoorDash DashPass subscription, amazing travel insurance, a $50 hotel credit every year, purchase protection, extended warranty, no foreign transaction fees, and no additional annual fees for authorized users.
What if you’re a business owner with good to excellent credit and want to get a shiny new credit card for your business?
Whether you’re looking at a new credit card for an existing business or a new business you’re planning on starting, we’ll show you the best options here!
| Card | Welcome Bonus and Annual Fee | Benefits |
| The Business Platinum Card® from American Express |
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| American Express® Business Gold Card |
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| Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card |
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| Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card |
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| Ink Business Cash® Credit Card |
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Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a huge welcome bonus offer of up to 170,000 points with the Amex Business Platinum. The current public offer is 120,000 points. (This targeted offer was independently researched and may not be available to all applicants.)
The business version of the Amex Platinum card is the Amex Business Platinum card. But don’t be misled by the similar names because these 2 cards actually have a totally different set of benefits for their cardholders.
Similar to the Amex Platinum card, though, the Amex Business Platinum card offers a huge welcome offer to its new cardmembers.
You can earn up to 5x Membership Rewards points on purchases with the Amex Business Platinum card:
And if you pay close attention, you can get more than $1,400 in statement credits every year:
You’ll also get up to $100 credit for Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fees, as well as these tremendous travel benefits:
Finally, the Amex Business Platinum card has cell phone insurance, purchase protection, extended warranty coverage, no foreign transaction fees, and no preset spending limit (rates and fees).
Hot Tip: Check to see if you’re eligible for a huge welcome bonus offer of up to 110,000 points with the Amex Business Gold card! The current public offer is 70,000 points. (This targeted offer was independently researched and may not be available to all applicants.)
We love the Amex Business Gold card because it excels in rewards without the large price tag associated with offering luxury travel perks as the Amex Business Platinum card has.
At the moment, the Amex Business Gold card is being promoted with an exceptional welcome offer and the ability to earn 4x Membership Rewards points on the top 2 categories where your business spends the most every month from this list:
Your 4x points are capped at the first $150,000 spent every calendar year, which should land you at 600,000 points earned with a return on spending of 8.8%, worth more than $13,000!
Additionally, the Amex Business Gold card has the ability to book stays at The Hotel Collection, no preset spending limit, and no foreign transaction fees (rates and fees).
The Amex Business Gold card has no additional annual fees for employee cards after the first employee card of $50 per year (rates and fees).
Currently, the Ink Business Preferred card is one of Chase’s most popular business credit cards. And it’s easy to see why because Chase reels you in with an enormous welcome bonus and the ability to earn 3x Ultimate Rewards points on the first $150,000 in combined purchases every cardmember year in these select business categories:
So if you see yourself spending a lot of money on ads or travel for your business, for instance, you can enjoy some fabulous rewards, worth a return on spending of up to 6%.
Furthermore, earn 5x points on Lyft purchases through March 31, 2025, and 1x points elsewhere.
This credit card is a bit light on travel benefits, but it still comes with exceptional travel insurance (including primary rental car coverage), purchase protection, extended warranty, cell phone insurance, employee cards for no additional annual fee, and no foreign transaction fees.
The Ink Business Unlimited card, which is also issued by Chase, appeals to those who need rewards on all business purchases at an enhanced rate, as opposed to specific bonus categories.
This card entices you with a fantastic welcome bonus, plus a flat 1.5% cash-back rewards on all purchases. Note that you’ll still get 5% cash-back on Lyft purchases through March 31, 2025, on this card.
Additionally, the 0% introductory APR promotion, as shown in the table above, can help you fund your business and defer your interest payments for a little while.
This credit card earns rewards that can be converted from 1.5% cash-back to 1.5x Ultimate Rewards points if you happen to also have a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, Chase Sapphire Reserve card, or Ink Business Preferred card.
Lastly, there’s purchase protection, extended warranty coverage, primary rental car coverage, no-additional-charge employee cards, and more. Best of all, there’s no annual fee.
The very last credit card we’ll be highlighting in this guide is the Ink Business Cash card, which many people consider to be the sister credit card to the Ink Business Unlimited card.
Right now, you’ll earn an incredible welcome bonus, as well as the 0% introductory promotion as part of the bonus.
Also, you’ll earn up to 5% cash-back:
Just like the Ink Business Unlimited card, this card earns rewards that can easily be converted to Ultimate Rewards points if you have an Ultimate Rewards card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which would transform your 5% cash-back to 5x Ultimate Rewards points, doubling the value of your rewards.
The Ink Business Cash card also has roadside dispatch, purchase protection, extended warranty coverage, primary car rental coverage, fee-free employee cards, and no annual fee.
Although this may seem like an exhaustive list, this is only a sample collection of credit cards we consider best for good to excellent credit. Depending on the category of card you’re looking for, you’ll find dozens, if not hundreds, of other choices.
We’ve abbreviated some of the benefit summaries for condensed content and easier comparisons, so you should review cardholder agreements for each card before applying.
For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.
Enrollment required through Capital One website or mobile app. Upon enrollment, eligible cardholders will remain at upgraded status level through December 31, 2024. Please note, enrolling through the normal Hertz Gold Plus Rewards enrollment process (e.g. at Hertz.com) will not automatically detect a cardholder as being eligible for the program and cardholders will not be automatically upgraded to the applicable status tier. Additional terms apply.
The information regarding the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, click here.
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Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used by hundreds of clients.
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2 comments
David
May 24, 2018
Very helpful article. Thanks for sharing.
Michael McHugh
May 24, 2018
Thank you for reading and letting us know David.
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