What Credit Score Do You Need for Rewards Credit Cards?

No issuer publishes a minimum credit score for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the American Express Gold, or the Citi Double Cash. What exists are third-party estimates. Most of them start at 670, the bottom of the "good" FICO band, and member data shows most approved applicants score well above that. A score is one input. Income, recent applications, and your history with the issuer matter too, and the issuer makes the decision.

The FICO bands

FICO range	Band
800 to 850	Exceptional
740 to 799	Very good
670 to 739	Good
580 to 669	Fair
300 to 579	Poor

For context, FICO's Spring 2026 Credit Insights report put the average FICO Score at 714, with 48.1% of scores at 750 or higher.

What is published, and what is not

Card	Issuer minimum	Published estimates	Member data
Chase Sapphire Preferred	Not published	The Points Guy: 700 or higher FICO. Motley Fool: 670 to 850	Credit Karma, for this card or similar cards: average 715, most common 810 (VantageScore 3.0)
American Express Gold	Not published	Motley Fool: 670 to 850 (good to excellent)	Not used here
Citi Double Cash	Not published	CreditCards.com: 670 to 850. NerdWallet: 630 to 850	Not used here

Treat every number above as a third-party estimate. Credit Karma's figures come from its own members and a different scoring model (VantageScore 3.0), so they will not match your FICO Score. As of September 2026, Credit Karma showed about 71% of members with this card in the good or excellent range (40% good, 31% excellent).

How to read each range

This is a way to frame the decision, not a prediction of any outcome:

FICO Score	Band	A reasonable approach
Below 670	Fair or below	Hold off. Work on utilization and on-time payments first, then check again.
670 to 699	Good, low end	Use pre-approval tools that run a soft check first, and apply only where one comes back positive.
700 to 739	Good	A plausible candidate for all three, if income and your count of recent accounts also fit. Chase first.
740 and up	Very good or exceptional	Score is rarely the blocker. Watch your Chase 5/24 count, recent inquiries, and income.

Check before you apply

American Express offers Apply with Confidence, which tells you whether you are approved before you accept the card. It uses a soft inquiry, and a hard inquiry happens only if you accept. Chase and Capital One have similar pre-approval checks. See what issuers check before approving premium cards.

Each hard inquiry can lower a score slightly, which is why the order and spacing of applications matter. See the Chase 5/24 rule and the order to apply in. If a balance is holding your score down, how utilization is reported is usually the fastest fix.

What to do with a score in the right range

Find out whether a new card would earn more than the cards you already have before applying. The free rewards calculator shows what your current cards earn, the best two- or three-card stack for your spending, and the gap. The framework behind it is in the card stack guide.

Approval, credit limits, and welcome offers are the issuer's decision. Nothing on this page predicts an approval.

Cards mentioned

Chase Sapphire Preferred (issuer terms)
American Express Gold (issuer terms)
Citi Double Cash (issuer terms)

What credit score do you need for rewards credit cards?