Details: Bilt Launching Three Cardless Credit Cards, Ditching Wells Fargo

Ben, you win, you got this out before Gary, DoC, Frequent Miler, even those shills at TPG!

On the topic, I like BILT, generally, and remain skeptical of the transition to Cardless (because they are known to drop customers without warning.) As to the specific stated changes, sure, same card is good, no hard inquiry for selecting one of their three new cards (by February 7), and I guess, for those with mortgages, it's another option. I just hope the 'good times' will continue because I like earning an extra $1,000 in points off paying rent (and transferring them mostly to Hyatt, Alaska).

I'm confused...

Will I be seamlessly transitioning to Cardless without a credit pull and everything auto-updating, or will I be choosing to transition to 2.0 with a soft pull and/or an option to stay w WF?

I won't speak to Cardless as an issuer, but I will say I do have a bit of a concern on how points earnings will work with the new cards. I could easily see the no-AF card being nerfed, trying to steer folks to the $95 or $95 card.

Giving details in January for a change that happens in February makes me believe that the changes will be bad.

The real issue is that without a major 'too-big-to-fail' backer like a Wells Fargo, BILT's days are numbered.

BILT offering points on rent payments with no transaction fee is a net cost for the card partner (Wells Fargo) due to the points they award.

BILT cannot possibly offset this cost merely by increasing the use of the card for high-interchange non-rent purchases or by expanding its merchant and neighborhood network enough.

So, as always, do not hoard these points. Earn 'em, and burn 'em. As the great leader Immortan Joe says: "Do not, my friends, become addicted to (BILT). It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence!"

No, WF is done; not sure how they'll handle folks who don't elect which new product they prefer; for instance, they could close your account, or automatically push you into their no-fee card. But, starting February 7, 2026, your old WF MC will no longer work.

Do not hoard these points. Earn 'em, and burn 'em. As Immorten Joe would say: "Do not, my friends, become addicted to (BILT). It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence!"

Ben - Wanted to share a recommendation with you that Bilt helped make possible. A couple weeks ago my fiancé and I spent 4 nights at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. It was our second visit but exceeded our already high expectations. First, Banff is gorgeous...that same jaw-dropping beauty that only a handful of places can induce (like the first time seeing Big Sur). The hotel looks like a castle that naturally blends in with the peaks surrounding it. Unlike many mountain towns in the US that are centered around skiing, Banff is not a ski town (although they offer some skiing) and the Fairmont is not a ski-in, ski-out hotel. Their high season is summer - June - early Sept. Highly recommend a visit (especially over the summer or early fall), and worth booking one of the Two Terrace Suites if they're available. (Come with unlimited spa access to the beautiful and serene spa, with indoor and outdoor pools.) We booked one, but when we arrived we were greeted by the Fairmont's VIP concierge team (which services all suite bookings) and informed we'd been upgraded to the Crown Suite. Best complimentary upgrade we'd ever received...apparently the King and queen stayed there in the 30s. (It's been updated since then.) And the 6 lovely women that comprise the VIP concierge team were amazing throughout our stay. Regarding Bilt's role, I'd earned Bilt's platinum status for 2025, which gave me platinum status with Accor this year. I transferred 250,000 bilt points to accor for 500,000 accor points when Bilt offered that accor transfer special in the spring (a redemption rate of over $.04 per point; giving me between $10-11k that could be used to cover all or a portion of any accor hotel stay). The Fairmont Banff Springs is a very special place. The value we received from Bilt on this trip was absolutely insane. Highly recommend a visit.

Unheard of event in the tech world!: Product gains popularity by being a negative gross margin giveaway, effectively has value only by being a CRM of targets for an eventual new product with workable unit economics

my wife and I did our honeymoon at Fairmont Banff Springs. Truly amazing place - glad you enjoyed it

I just saw on Gary's site (and confirmed re-reading the email sent from Bilt) that all 3 cards can be used for mortgage payments with any bank, which is potentially huge. Now it's time to wait and see how it'll be implemented...

Burn the points every month before BILT goes bust!!

I'll keep this in mind.
Been steadily earning points on it from rent as it waives the fee on my rent payment portal, but haven't found great ways to burn the points.
Going through Bilt's portal uses less points, but it's Expedia so I don't get my hotel status.. don't frequently fly the airlines it's partnered with.
I guess I'll be back to comparing how much I earn vs how much I save in fees by using my Amex BBP vs Bilt when paying rent. (Last time I checked, it was about even but they raised fees for non ACH non Bilt accounts once the property partnered with Bilt)

I was about to apply for the current Bilt card for a family member. Would I be able to do that today and get approved or do I have to wait until Feburary?

If it didn’t work for Wells Fargo ($10+ million loss every month), what makes people think it will work for Cardless? It will not work or make sense for Cardless under the same points earning system. Only way Cardless agreed to this partnership is with a substantial change/devaluation of the benefits for the card users. I am transferring all my Bilt points.

You could have tried to find the card application in less time that it took you to write that comment.

Ben also answered the question in his post, but if you don't trust his answer, then be the datapoint you are searching for.

@JB I had heard from other sites that they will close at 12PM EST, so you may have a little bit of time to apply.

if you havent found great ways to burn the points thats a massive "you" problem. they have the best transfer partners by far along with great bonuses

Ben -- can you find out if this transition would count towards 5/24? It will obviously be a new credit report entry because the issuer is different, but the card number is the same.

Also, its interesting in Reddit that the company representative is answering a lot of questions, but not the questions about 1:1 points for rent/mortgage dollars.

Multiple commenters on Reddit say that it will count towards 5/24

thank you. Confused about these two bullets in the article though. I have the card. So am I someone seamlessly transitioning or someone that will have to choose Bilt 2.0

1 Bilt will be transitioning from Wells Fargo to Cardless, and existing cardmembers will be seamlessly moved to the new platform, with the card numbers staying the same, digital wallets auto-updating, and no hard credit inquiries
2 Those who choose to transition to the new Bilt Card 2.0 will be able to transfer any balance from their old account, with a soft credit pull; alternatively, they can close their account, or keep a Wells Fargo account, with the card becoming an Autograph Visa card with a different card number

Ben - while digital wallets should transition seamlessly with no change to the card number, I wonder how rent payments using the current ACH routing & account numbers transition over?

Don't get me wrong I regularly burn all my BILT points during a good transfer bonus. It's more that I rent in a VHCOL area and BILT has earned a lot of points. Sad to see if they do someone like no more monthly transfer bonuses or reduce the rate earned with rent.

It probably want but if they can buy unprofitable market share they can keep the VC carousel going until they’re credible enough to launch a scaled product that actually makes money

Word.

Another Bilt transition? That can be an interesting thing actually.

When I was transitioning from Beta Bilt card to the current one, I had a significant balance that came from parents' medical expenses shortly before they closed the Beta card. The interest rate was reasonable, so I was focusing on other financial goals and was just making minimum payments on it.

The Beta card was no longer usable in Jan. A few times I was receiving a "promo" saying that if I transfer this balance, they will offer me a $500 check. However, in Sept I received a "miracle" email stating that my entire balance (of about USD 10K) is being written off, and no further payments are required. I wonder if Wells will do the same with balances left from their Bilt relationships over time.

Wow -- did it hurt your credit score?

I wouldn't expect that this time. Bilt was previously using Evolve Bank and Trust, a small and not generally regulatory compliant bank servicing FinTechs. They were directed to improve their compliance in their FinTech banking-as-a-service business at some point, so probably wrote off your loan to completely closeout their Bilt relationship.

Wells, despite its regulatory issues, probably has no issue holding credit card debt for the long haul as long as it can charge you interest.

They marked the account as "Paid in Full as Agreed". And even if it did hurt the score a bit - credit score hits are temporary and their impact reduces over time, while USD 10K on my bank account is a much more permanent and useful thing .

You might also be interested in the ALL Accor Signature program for cheap points, great promo thru tomorrow

This article says almost nothing. There are no details about their new card line up....

It will, even if Cardless tells you it will not.

The early adopters have been lied to by Gary the Cardless pusher.
They were promised it wouldn't count. But after few months, it counts.

Cardless information coming from Gary, LOL.

People got burned so badly in the past.

@Andrew

Don't mistake their actions as being strategic.
Cardless is so basic and amateur, they probably need until January to even figure things out. I doubt they are fully operational by February.
Based on their history, change will be good for at least a year, then they will stab you in the back so fast you don't have time to burn what you bilt and runaway.

Seamlessly is a big word for Cardless.

I'm not surprised if they have to transition by hand one by one.

That's because those details haven't yet been shared. (Yes, Ben should have mentioned this.)

I won't deny that it's a 'me' problem.
I'm in this spot now because my property partnered with Bilt, my fees for paying rent with a CC went from a flat $30 to a percentage based which worked out to about $200 unless I used a straight up bank transfer or Bilt which waived the fees.
I have an upcoming trip to Europe so I'll have to look into combining points with my Chase UR since they share transfer programs if I can find a good deal on one of them.

I need y'all to stop saying the transition will be “seemless” when this will require getting an entirely new line of credit, and there’s not even a guarantee that every current user can make the transition to the new cards.

Do we know what will trigger NEW ACCOUNT and add to chase 5/24? Is it the new Bilt card or transition to Autograph?

The big question I still have that Bilt nor WF have clearly answered (aka- I’ve heard conflicting things from people within the same companies) is how do we avoid getting the autograph card. WF essentially told me tough luck, you’re getting the card or you can cancel the whole thing now and reapply for the new Bilt card in Feb. Someone else said “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Not only will the transition not generally go well, it will net slur for very few “power” (high spend) users…and BILT will end up closing up shop. Only question will be how soon.

You also forgot to add in article how poor with customer privacy BILT is. They sell customer data to ANYONE. BILT is gross.

The fact they still don’t have the details ironed out all but guarantees this will be far from ‘seamless’

Big bonuses are in the rear view mirror in clouds of dust.

X2. I got a letter from Wells Fargo saying that my Bilt card would automatically transition to an Autograph card unless I cancelled before Feb 6. There was no mention of a transition to the new Bilt. So obviously - according to the letter - my only choice was to cancel. Now I wonder if I'll still get transitioned to the new Bilt card.

X2

On the topic, I like BILT, generally, and remain skeptical of the transition to Cardless (because they are known to drop customers without warning.) As to the specific stated changes, sure, same card is good, no hard inquiry for selecting one of their three new cards (by February 7), and I guess, for those with mortgages, it's another option. I just hope the 'good times' will continue because I like earning an extra $1,000 in points off paying rent (and transferring them mostly to Hyatt, Alaska).

No, WF is done; not sure how they'll handle folks who don't elect which new product they prefer; for instance, they could close your account, or automatically push you into their no-fee card. But, starting February 7, 2026, your old WF MC will no longer work.

Seamlessly is a big word for Cardless.

I'm not surprised if they have to transition by hand one by one.

Do not hoard these points. Earn 'em, and burn 'em. As Immorten Joe would say: "Do not, my friends, become addicted to (BILT). It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence!"

@Andrew

Don't mistake their actions as being strategic.
Cardless is so basic and amateur, they probably need until January to even figure things out. I doubt they are fully operational by February.
Based on their history, change will be good for at least a year, then they will stab you in the back so fast you don't have time to burn what you bilt and runaway.

my wife and I did our honeymoon at Fairmont Banff Springs. Truly amazing place - glad you enjoyed it

You might also be interested in the ALL Accor Signature program for cheap points, great promo thru tomorrow

Cardless information coming from Gary, LOL.

People got burned so badly in the past.

Word.

You could have tried to find the card application in less time that it took you to write that comment.

Ben also answered the question in his post, but if you don't trust his answer, then be the datapoint you are searching for.

@JB I had heard from other sites that they will close at 12PM EST, so you may have a little bit of time to apply.

It probably want but if they can buy unprofitable market share they can keep the VC carousel going until they’re credible enough to launch a scaled product that actually makes money

Multiple commenters on Reddit say that it will count towards 5/24

It will, even if Cardless tells you it will not.

The early adopters have been lied to by Gary the Cardless pusher.
They were promised it wouldn't count. But after few months, it counts.

Wow -- did it hurt your credit score?

I wouldn't expect that this time. Bilt was previously using Evolve Bank and Trust, a small and not generally regulatory compliant bank servicing FinTechs. They were directed to improve their compliance in their FinTech banking-as-a-service business at some point, so probably wrote off your loan to completely closeout their Bilt relationship.

Wells, despite its regulatory issues, probably has no issue holding credit card debt for the long haul as long as it can charge you interest.

That's because those details haven't yet been shared. (Yes, Ben should have mentioned this.)

X2

X2. I got a letter from Wells Fargo saying that my Bilt card would automatically transition to an Autograph card unless I cancelled before Feb 6. There was no mention of a transition to the new Bilt. So obviously - according to the letter - my only choice was to cancel. Now I wonder if I'll still get transitioned to the new Bilt card.