New Bilt Credit Cards & Housing Rewards Launch, And Everything Changes

Tried to make a hotel booking to use the $200 palladium credit. Didn’t see anything to toggle which the T/C say you need to do. Wonder if they’re behind on that or whether it’ll just be applied automatically later

Credit card fatigue is real. I have too many to keep up with.

The $495 card could have been good, but not for me.

The terms and conditions expressly state that the credit will automatically credit.

But, as with credits seen on other cards, the credit might take X weeks to be applied.

The Bilt Cash credit must be selected prior to booking.

Now that Biltpay for rent/mortgage is default. I really don't get the reason why they have their own random ACH details to mandate payment with to earn points (after having to use your biltcash anyway.... or the points ponzi scheme). I already have my own ACH set up as of now and it is super annoying to do this with my mortgage provider. I have written to bilt asking to let me just use my own ACH or provide a voided check to let my mortgage bank do that. Would appreciate data points! Should really be able to your own ACH deets to get the points as opposed to their's...

The bilt app still shows these charges going to the credit card. Are we sure it does an ach directly from your checking account?

Ugh, what a mess. Also, separate from the $200 Palladium semi-annual statement credit, the BILT Cash maximum is like just $50/month, and also requires 2-night minimum prepaid. Yikes.

Activation offer... countdown clock... 3 days... up to five hundred. For those expecting 5x for 5 days, is that all you see?

Do you have to first redeem Bilt cash for mortgage payment amount needed? I have to do a manual check setup but didn’t want to process it until I know if I must first redeem part or all of the Bilt cash or will Bilt now I have 500 Bilt cash and deduct the amount themselves? Thanks

I would have gotten an Obsidian card if it was offering category bonus for both dining and grocery but it only offers either one. That minor detail pursuaded me not to get a bilt 2.0 card.

It's $100 per month and can be combined with the semi-annual $200 for a total of $300 on a single booking. At any property bookable via Bilt Travel. For some, in spite of the 2-night requirement, $300 off is nice. (Chase and Citi have their own 2-night requirements.) For others, there is an expectation of not spending a penny over $300. C'est la vie

I am confused how you pay your mortgage. I have my lender now connected in the Bilt account but do I have to each month go pay manually and then turn off auto pay from my actual lender?

just got my stupid Wells Fargo Autograph card and now I have to waste time on the phone figuring out how to cancel it

They want your transaction data… without that that they would literally be handing out points for a small fee. There is always a bigger picture

I really think people are sleeping on the points booster (the extra 1x) for $200 Bilt Cash. By my math I spend enough to get points on rent and keep the points booster mostly active, which makes the Palladium a 4x+ card for everyday spend… at least until you run out of boosters for the year. I got the Bilt Cash welcome bonus right away and activated it immediately.

Plus, if you don't want to deal with rent at all (or want to charge it to the Atmos card, say,) the booster is a pretty good substitute for the rent points in a lot of situations. Not quite as many points, but close.

Perhaps it is you that is stupid rather than the card considering how long you had to decline keeping the WF account around.

I declined it during the transition (there was a specific question) - still got it nonetheless...

Activated the Palladium card, then activated a points boost. Tried to make an online payment on my Palladium card and it was declined. Not a great start.

i got email this morning confirming my offer: 50k after $4k spend in 97 days, plus also, 5x points on up to $10k spend in first 5 days (technically the t's and c's say feb 12th at 11:59pm which is 6 days but whatever lol)

This is true! But the points are no longer just a small fee. Bilt cash is no different than 3% fee. So it’s just as inconvenient as using Bilt than any other credit card

This is true! But the points are no longer just a small fee. Bilt cash is no different than 3% fee. So it’s just as inconvenient as using Bilt than any other credit card

I setup a manual check and it AutoPay. When I did AutoPay it gave the option to earn rewards via Bilt cash. Seems like doing it one time check did not give the option to redeem Bilt cash for the payment to earn rewards

That is annoying. You are probably better off using 180$ bilt cash to unlock 6k rent/mortgage points than the gimmicky points boost which gives 5k points after 200$. Ask for a refund? (:

I just went with the Blue card and the 4% cash back option since my apartment complex isn't part of the consortium and charges an unconscionable amount for using my Bilt card for rent, but my pharmacy is part of the consortium and I use my Bilt card for prescription drugs.

I’m planning to do both the points boost and points on my mortgage (+ the SUB). I just want to actually be able to use the card.

A ton of people, including myself, haven't gotten the card yet

You have to use the virtual card number available in the BILT Wallet in the BILT app for all online purchase. The physical card number will not work. It would have been nice if BILT had informed its customers of this !

Tried that and it didn’t work either. Eventually was able to make the payment using PayPal as the middleman. Mildly annoying but at least I was able to quickly clear the SUB spend.

Just used it for uber eats and worked just fine.

Meh it earns 2x less than Amex Gold but it's also $230 cheaper which at $.02 translates to about $11.5k of spending before you will be losing out. Plus you will get a 2x catchall which you don't have with the gold and 3x on all travel when you activate points accelerator

Actually it is different because you are not paying a 3% fee it is just a way to track that you have spent enough to for them to waive the 3% fee. You aren't paying 3% extra for any of your other charges or to pay your housing payment. It's just a counter. People need to stop thinking that they are paying a 3% fee. There's no where in your statement where you will see a 3% fee tacked on.

Yep all cardtubers didn't think it thru before rage uploading hate videos. A 3x catch all was the holy grail. I remember when the Robinhood Gold launched with 3% and everybody was going nuts over it. Now you can easily get 3x Bilt points and people are upset...

You could just run the Palladium, turn on the 1x accelerator as well as housing spend for another 1.33x and stop spending on other cards? Then you only have to worry about the hotel credit and that's it. I'm really thinking about doing that as it would simplify my life.

Question: does TAX pmt count toward the $4000 in 3 month spend for 50K points on Palladium? I've asked BILT and haven't received a reply. I know that TAX doesn't count for credit toward rent. Their T&Cs state TAX does "not qualify as “Eligible Purchases” and do not earn Bilt Points or Bilt Cash." Appreciate clarification.

There is a reason why USA Today is written at the sixth grade level. The same applies here and other blogs. From comments, it's clear that people lack reading comprehension skills. They don't read terms and conditions. They lack the reasoning skills to figure stuff out. They want to be spoon fed and their butts wiped. And, when they are confronted with the natural results of their limitations, they lambaste whatever it is.

Then, WF sent out a letter to all cardholders stating that you had to confirm cancellation directly with it.

A short version of my comment: You and UnitedEF are 100 percent right. But, they won't get it.

Ben’s question: And seriously, how many $400-900 annual fee cards can we all reasonably have before we say “enough already?”

Ben, isn’t this a question you should ask yourself? Based on your previous posts before your Bilt Palladium, Emirates card and the increased in AF with AMEX and Chase you are packing with HIGH annual fee cards along with other middle priced AFs. When do you think it’s enough?

The best use of Bilt Cash is at restaurants. $25 is worth...$25 whereas using BC to offset rent you're giving up $30 for $10 in value ($30 buys 1,000 in rent payment yielding 1,000 points worth a penny each).

For anyone heavily into the Alaska ecosystem and in need of points to make status then using the Atmos card to pay rent at a penny a mile for RDMs in order to get EQMs is a decent deal since one can get at least that much value out of an Alaska mile.

Hence my conclusion that the the main value of Bilt isn't the ability to use Bilt Cash to earn miles for paying rent fee free or to goose daily spend to 3x from 2x (at a cost of 4 cents/point). Those are represent terrible value and should only be last resorts for excess Bilt Cash that can't otherwise be used dollar for dollar.

I meant to add that since daily spend earns 2x plus Bilt Cash at 4x then a cardholder who is able to use all their Bilt Cash dollar for dollar at hotels, restaurants, etc will be getting a 7% return.

5X/4X/3X travel and dining - Wells Fargo Autograph Journey - $95.
2X all other spending - Bilt Palladium - $495
Rakuten feeds into Bilt. Throw in Rove Miles.
Maybe not for everyone but it works for me.

Woah, The Other Jack and UnitedEF, that's a lot of sucking-up to BILT right there.

I respect Peter's analysis, because, he's an optimizer in this space/hobby; however, no one can or should call the loss of 1.0 and this disastrous BILT 2.0 transition 'good' for most.

Yes, we're each gonna try to maximize what we can, but, the simplicity of the old model is dead, and the new model only really works for high-spenders, like most things.

The SUB is in the form of points and Bilt Cash. So, if you had three guesses -- between "yes" and "no" -- what would they be?

Before spending a dime, Palladium cardholders start with $500 in Bilt Cash. Immediately activate the bonus 1X with $200 of Bilt Cash. You're earning 3X on the next $5k. As spending progresses, you activate the next bonus 1X. You're still earning 3X. At the beginning of the next calendar year, you start with $200 in Bilt Cash. Immediately activate the bonus 1X with that $200 of Bilt Cash. If one does nothing else, what's so complex about just earning 3X?

I don't have an option to turn on the points multiplier. Is this only available after meeting spend or something? I have the $500 in Bilt cash, but I've been through all the options to spend it and no multiplier. Under the 'Bonus Points' tab where I would expect it to be there are no options available. Anyone able to activate it?

Ah, ok, it's only missing in their horrible app. It's available on the website, although doesn't seem to work yet. Hopefully the kinks will get ironed out over the next day or two

Wouldn't you rather spend $35 BC on "Priority Pass 3rd & 4th guest passes"?? /s

DP: I redeemed it and I've already received accelerated point.

Steve gets it. Alaska Summit for rent (until $50K). Palladium for 3x (with accelerator, 5x, up to 25,000), re-evaluate after 1 year.

What if you experience ‘loss of consortium’? (Bad tort law joke).

yup. activated my card yesterday, waited a whole day to actually use it for something, and got a declined transaction for a pizza.

I'm glad that I moved BILT out of my critical path.

Is anyone else questioning the value of the $200 Bilt cash point accelerator? I believe it’s one extra point for every $5000 spent, which means a maximum of 5000 Bilt points for the cost of $200 Bilt cash. However, I’m not sure if I value Bilt points quite that highly.

Regarding your statement "Under the new system, rent and mortgage amounts are no longer charged to your card, but instead, are immediately deducted from your account via ACH, and then you’re awarded points." - can you cite where this is mentioned? I don't see any reference to this on Bilt's website and its kind of a big deal.

Yes, I think this is a crucial question. However, given the coupon book uses for Bilt Cash ($100 off Bilt hotel booking, $50 off Bilt dining, etc.), it's important to recognize that a dollar of Bilt Cash is really not worth 1 dollar -- so you're not really paying 4 cents a point for the accelerator. That said, there are some easy uses of Bilt cash where you can get close to a dollar of real value -- having just gotten into the app now, the functionality to get the $10 in Lyft coupon per month seems quite easy. You swipe on the reward and it appears that it will just automatically apply to your next $10 Lyft transaction. So there, yeah, $10 in Bilt cash is worth like $9.25 (forgoing points earning on Lyft) if you use Lyft at least once a month.

The terms and conditions expressly state that the credit will automatically credit.

Ugh, what a mess. Also, separate from the $200 Palladium semi-annual statement credit, the BILT Cash maximum is like just $50/month, and also requires 2-night minimum prepaid. Yikes.

I am confused how you pay your mortgage. I have my lender now connected in the Bilt account but do I have to each month go pay manually and then turn off auto pay from my actual lender?

You could just run the Palladium, turn on the 1x accelerator as well as housing spend for another 1.33x and stop spending on other cards? Then you only have to worry about the hotel credit and that's it. I'm really thinking about doing that as it would simplify my life.

They want your transaction data… without that that they would literally be handing out points for a small fee. There is always a bigger picture

i got email this morning confirming my offer: 50k after $4k spend in 97 days, plus also, 5x points on up to $10k spend in first 5 days (technically the t's and c's say feb 12th at 11:59pm which is 6 days but whatever lol)

I setup a manual check and it AutoPay. When I did AutoPay it gave the option to earn rewards via Bilt cash. Seems like doing it one time check did not give the option to redeem Bilt cash for the payment to earn rewards

Meh it earns 2x less than Amex Gold but it's also $230 cheaper which at $.02 translates to about $11.5k of spending before you will be losing out. Plus you will get a 2x catchall which you don't have with the gold and 3x on all travel when you activate points accelerator

Perhaps it is you that is stupid rather than the card considering how long you had to decline keeping the WF account around.

Yep all cardtubers didn't think it thru before rage uploading hate videos. A 3x catch all was the holy grail. I remember when the Robinhood Gold launched with 3% and everybody was going nuts over it. Now you can easily get 3x Bilt points and people are upset...

A short version of my comment: You and UnitedEF are 100 percent right. But, they won't get it.

That is annoying. You are probably better off using 180$ bilt cash to unlock 6k rent/mortgage points than the gimmicky points boost which gives 5k points after 200$. Ask for a refund? (:

You have to use the virtual card number available in the BILT Wallet in the BILT app for all online purchase. The physical card number will not work. It would have been nice if BILT had informed its customers of this !

Just used it for uber eats and worked just fine.

yup. activated my card yesterday, waited a whole day to actually use it for something, and got a declined transaction for a pizza.

I'm glad that I moved BILT out of my critical path.

What if you experience ‘loss of consortium’? (Bad tort law joke).

The best use of Bilt Cash is at restaurants. $25 is worth...$25 whereas using BC to offset rent you're giving up $30 for $10 in value ($30 buys 1,000 in rent payment yielding 1,000 points worth a penny each).

For anyone heavily into the Alaska ecosystem and in need of points to make status then using the Atmos card to pay rent at a penny a mile for RDMs in order to get EQMs is a decent deal since one can get at least that much value out of an Alaska mile.

Hence my conclusion that the the main value of Bilt isn't the ability to use Bilt Cash to earn miles for paying rent fee free or to goose daily spend to 3x from 2x (at a cost of 4 cents/point). Those are represent terrible value and should only be last resorts for excess Bilt Cash that can't otherwise be used dollar for dollar.

The SUB is in the form of points and Bilt Cash. So, if you had three guesses -- between "yes" and "no" -- what would they be?

5X/4X/3X travel and dining - Wells Fargo Autograph Journey - $95.
2X all other spending - Bilt Palladium - $495
Rakuten feeds into Bilt. Throw in Rove Miles.
Maybe not for everyone but it works for me.

Ah, ok, it's only missing in their horrible app. It's available on the website, although doesn't seem to work yet. Hopefully the kinks will get ironed out over the next day or two

Yes, I think this is a crucial question. However, given the coupon book uses for Bilt Cash ($100 off Bilt hotel booking, $50 off Bilt dining, etc.), it's important to recognize that a dollar of Bilt Cash is really not worth 1 dollar -- so you're not really paying 4 cents a point for the accelerator. That said, there are some easy uses of Bilt cash where you can get close to a dollar of real value -- having just gotten into the app now, the functionality to get the $10 in Lyft coupon per month seems quite easy. You swipe on the reward and it appears that it will just automatically apply to your next $10 Lyft transaction. So there, yeah, $10 in Bilt cash is worth like $9.25 (forgoing points earning on Lyft) if you use Lyft at least once a month.