The Best Credit Cards for People With Excellent Credit
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If you have excellent credit (your credit score is around the 720-850 range), you'll find that you can get some great deals. You'll be approved for a good mortgage rate, saving you thousands in interest. You'll have a better chance at landing a job, getting an apartment rental, and of course, getting a credit card that offers great rewards.
If you aren't already using your excellent credit score by scoring one of the best credit cards available, now's the time. Whether you opt for cash back or travel rewards, don't delay in getting the most back for your purchases and expenses. (See also: Cash Back vs. Travel Rewards)
The Best Cards for People With Excellent Credit
Each of the cards on this list are only offered to those with excellent credit, but they offer very high rates of cash back or points. Each has its unique advantages that appeal to different types of cardholders.
Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card
The Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card lets people with excellent credit earn some nice cash back rewards. This innovative card gives cardholders the best rewards in the categories they choose. Choose to get 3% cash back in one of six categories - gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings, and 2% at grocery stores and wholesale clubs (for the first $2,500 in combined grocery/wholesale club/choice category purchases each quarter, then 1%). You can also change the category once a month. There is no annual fee.
Bonus offer: Earn $200 online cash rewards bonus after spending at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening.
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
Earn 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets with the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express (up to $6,000 per year in purchases, 1% after that), as well as 6% on select U.S. streaming services, and 3% Cash Back at U.S. gas stations and on transit (including taxis/rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses and more). The annual fee is $0 the first year, then $95. See Rates & Fees.
Welcome offer: Earn a $250 statement credit after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months.
Terms apply.
Click here to learn more and apply for the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express today!
Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card
The Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card offers 1.5 points per $1 spent on every purchase. There is no limit to the points you can earn and no expiration date on the points. Redeeming points is easy - get a statement credit to pay for travel or dining purchases, such as flights, hotel stays, car and vacation rentals, baggage fees, and also at restaurants including takeout. That means no block out dates or other limits using loyalty points usually comes with. This card has no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees.
Online bonus offer: Get 25,000 online bonus points if you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening - that can be a $250 statement credit toward travel purchases.
Click here to learn more and apply for the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card today!
American Express® Gold Card
The American Express® Gold Card offers 4x Membership Rewards® Points at restaurants (plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.), and at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1x), 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com, and 1x points on other purchases. There are no foreign transaction fees. The annual fee is $250. Terms Apply. See Rates and Fees.
You can also get up to $120 ($10 each month) in Uber Cash each year by using your Gold card for Uber eats or Uber rides in the U.S. Terms Apply.
Welcome Offer: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $4,000 on eligible purchases with your new Card within the first 6 months of Card Membership.
Click here to learn more and apply for the American Express® Gold Card today!
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, please click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.
As a smart consumer with excellent credit, you should always be receiving the highest return on not just your savings, but on your spending as well.
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Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
The "extra" 1% or so is quickly offset by the annual fees. It's not worth it!
Depends on the math.
I spend about $1200 a month on a 1% card. The $140 or so worth of points I earn a year is $40 more than my annual fee, and I also get 6000 points with my annual fee. Tack that on to the 50,000 points I received for sign up, and I get a great deal.
Of course, carrying no balance is key!
I just got the Sapphinire card a month ago - I'm making good progress towards the $3,000 expenditure to get 50,0000 bonus points.
I will cancel the card when the $95 fee is charged next year.
I love that you can exchange the points for many differnet programs - I just do not love it enough to pay them $95 to do that.
I've had my Sapphire Preferred card for several years now. I am not thrilled about the annual fee, but I travel extensively throughout SE Asia, and not having an International Transaction Fee is a real money-saver. The Chase Customer Service team deserves praise, also. Each time I have had to contact them the representative resolved problems quickly and courteously.
Canceling the card will hurt your credit, David. This weighs heavily on your credit score. I would keep the card open and make sure you are spending enough money per year to make the rewards worth the annual fee.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the Sallie Mae 2% rewards visa. It's similar to the Fidelity Amex, but being a Visa, it is accepted at more places.
Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have any investment accounts with Sallie Mae, but they do handle my student loans. Do they have any special programs credit cards related to student loans?
Sallie Mae is a good card, but it has some flaws. Cash back is only at a rate of 1.3% if you redeem less than 25,000 points at once. So you only get your 2% cash back after spending at least $12,500. I think most people will earn less by redeeming fewer points at once. It's also a points based card, so the points could be devalued overnight at their discretion. Finally it also has a 3% foreign transaction fee.
I just signed up for the Sapphire Card, thanks for letting me known about the no foreign transaction fees. I am in the midst of planning my summer trip and this is one more thing to check off of my list!
I've been offered a few cards that will give me 1% back on everything plus a one-time bonus of $100 or $50 if I charge $500 in the first three months. I was going to give it a try, but this was after christmas and I had no plans to charge much. We use a cash envelope system and are on a pretty tight budget. Anybody get these to work out in their favor?
Check out the Amex Blue Cash Everyday card. It's not mentioned here, but there is no annual fee and you get 3% back on groceries (up to $6000 in purchases per year) plus unlimited 2% on gas and department stores plus 1% on everything else.
Just be sure to pay it off every month because the interest rates are punishing and negate any rewards.
Nice list Jason. I roll with the Venture card and apart from the statement credits, the one cent per mile gift card options are really good compared to Ultimate Rewards, especially when used for Itunes giftcards, which cost 2,500 miles for $25 with Capital One but 3,000 points for $25 with Ultimate Rewards.
I've got an Amazon Visa that I really like. 3% back on Amazon purchases. 2% on food and gas (which includes purchases at Super Target, which I guess is classified as a grocery store), 1% on everything else. No annual fee.
The rewards are only good on Amazon, but I shop there for tons of stuff, especially for gifts, anyway, so that's not a hindrance for me.
It does have the standard 3% international transaction fee, but I travel internationally very rarely.
I have the same card and love it. You don't have to spend the rewards at amazon, cash back is an option too.
For Amazon, we use a Discover It card. For the last 6 months of 2015 you will get 5% for Amazon. No annual fee.
Is there a good mastercard option? I already have a Visa Platinum Plus Rewards card from BofA that I got in 2006 that I LOVE. That's the kind of card I want...0% APR too. I only have the one Visa card, a FICO score in the upper 700s, and I do pay my balance of in full every month.
Any suggestions?
barclaycard arrival
I suggest that you apply for more cards with some diversity using this list as a starting point. To increase your score even more, you need a nice balance of revolving accounts, installment accounts etc. So, you can easily be in the 830's if you add some more high limit cards with low balances. Use the cards, pay them off and take advantage of your rewards in the 1st year as offered and then lay off them. Spread your balances among MANY of your cards and keep them each below 20% if you can... (10% is optimal) I do all of the above and my scores are 838, 833, and 841 across the board. I think most credit experts would agree that having more cards will help rather than hurt you. If you want to test my theory, have your spouse, or parent add you as an A.U. on a couple of their cards without even giving you the physical card (to avoid risk if they worry about abuse) watch your scores go through the statosphere if the balances are low because it increases your presumed available amount of credit and expands your ratio of credit vs balances
The Chase Sapphire card is what I use personally. Sometimes they are harder to get, but they have excellent limits and terms for consumers wanting credit cards. I'd take a look into them given your in the market for a new card.
I had a Capital One credit card for many years with a 1% cash back reward. When I closed that account out, I received a check for $320. I got to thinking that there must be a card with better rewards, so I went looking online and found my current card, a Capital One Cash Rewards card with 1%back on everythng, $100 bonus after spending $500 and a 50% cash rewards bonus at payout ( not including the $100 bonus). So if I have a total in rewards of $200, I would actually receive a check for $250. There are no categories to choose from and no annual fee. The only real requirement is you must have excellent credit. Some months I use my card a lot and some months I don't, but I know it will pay off at pay out time. I know there are cards that pay 2% on groceries and 3% on gas or whatever, but being a widow, I don't spend a lot of money on either one of those categories, so my Capital One Cash Rewards card is the best one for me.
Remember that when you cancel a credit card, your FICO score takes a tremendous drop......something to keep in mind.......low scores yield higher rates on loans and many other transactions.
Chase Sapphire Preferred no longer offers their 7% annual points dividend. I had enjoyed this card for a long time, but they sent notice to card holders last summer that January 2015 would be the last points dividend. I canceled it shortly afterwards. You don't mention the Barclaycard Arrival+ World Elite with 2 points for every dollar spent plus a 10% redemption dividend. It effectively equates to a 2.2% return on all money spent if you redeem the points for travel.