Did you know that by adding authorized users to your Bilt credit card, you can potentially get a lot more value from your Bilt Cash? It’s something that I didn’t realize until now, and it really positively changes the math on the card, as I see it.
For a bit of background, Bilt has a portfolio of three credit cards — the no annual fee Bilt Blue Card (learn more), $95 annual fee Bilt Obsidian Card (learn more), and $495 Bilt Palladium Card (learn more) (Rates & Fees).
Spending on these cards earns Bilt points, which can be transferred to airline and hotel partners, along with other redemption options. Beyond that, though, the cards earn 4% back in the form of Bilt Cash, which can be redeemed for all kinds of other things (up to $100 of Bilt Cash earned rolls over to the next year).
If you’re like me and have more Bilt Cash than you can redeem, here’s a trick that can help you get significantly more value.
In this post:
Bilt credit card authorized users provide rewards flexibility
Personally, I have the Bilt Palladium Card, which is a card that I find to be well worth it. While I wish the card’s annual fee would be lower, earning 2x Bilt points plus 4% Bilt Cash on everyday spending is an excellent return.
That Bilt Cash can not only be used to earn rewards on housing payments, but it can be redeemed for all kinds of other things as well. That brings me to a detail that I wasn’t aware of, as flagged by View from the Wing, about how you can get even more value from your card.
When you add authorized users on your Bilt credit card, you can choose to accrue Bilt points or Bilt Cash in either the primary cardmember’s account or the authorized user’s account. You’ll see the option to select which account to have the rewards deposited in, and that’s based on the spending of the particular authorized user.
For what it’s worth, the Bilt Palladium Card has a $495 annual fee, and then you can add authorized users for $95 each. Each authorized user gets a Priority Pass membership, which in and of itself could justify that authorized user fee. But there’s a lot more upside than that…
How do authorized users help with maximizing Bilt Cash value?
If you have the Bilt Palladium Card and are a pretty big spender but don’t have a huge housing payment, odds are that you’ll be left with a lot more Bilt Cash at the end of the year than you know what to do with, and that some of it will expire.
On the most basic level, if you have the card, you can redeem $200 in Bilt Cash for a spending accelerator, so that you earn an extra 1x points per dollar spent on the next $5,000 spent, meaning you’re earning 3x points per dollar spent. You can do that up to five times per year, for up to 25,000 bonus points, over and above the industry leading return on spending that the card offers in the first place.
This applies to each account, with authorized users considered separately, assuming they’re accruing rewards in their own Bilt account. In other words, if you play your cards right and would otherwise accrue a lot of Bilt Cash, spending $95 on an authorized user could net you an extra 25,000 points per year, assuming they earn $1,000 in Bilt Cash.
That’s only the tip of the iceberg, as the authorized user could also potentially earn Bilt elite status (offering perks like Flying Blue Gold status), redeem for their own Lyft and Walgreens credits, and even take advantage of their own Rent Day promotions, since there’s usually a cap on taking advantage of transfer bonuses.
Admittedly there’s a bit of complexity to all of this, which is true of the Bilt ecosystem overall. But in my particular situation, there’s considerable upside. I earn a lot of Bilt Cash, Ford and I have a “shared” credit card strategy (so we can shift around spend as needed), etc.
So adding an authorized user for $95, shifting some spending to that card, and then being able to unlock spending accelerators to earn an extra 25,000 points beyond what I’d otherwise earn, seems like something that’s absolutely worth it.
Bottom line
Bilt of course lets you add authorized users to credit cards, as you’d expect. What’s interesting is how authorized user rewards — both in terms of points and Bilt Cash — can be earned either by the primary cardmember or the authorized user.
Given the limitations on how Bilt Cash can be redeemed, this is potentially a really useful trick. For example, if you have the Bilt Palladium Card, you can add an authorized user for $95, and then they can earn their points directly. The upside is that this resets all the limits on Bilt Cash redemptions, ranging from the spending accelerators, to improved Rent Day promotions, and more.
If you’re someone who earns more Bilt Cash than you know what to do with, then there’s a lot of upside here. Of course I’ll pay an extra $95 to earn an incremental 25,000 points per year thanks to the spending accelerator, and more.
Anyone taking advantage of this Bilt authorized user opportunity?
As I understand it, one limitation is that the authorized user can only activate his/her accelerators if the points earned go to the authorized user's account. And those points cannot be transferred to the primary user's account.
So, in one sense, they are orphaned there and couldn't be combined with the primary user's point for, say, a large transfer bonus transaction to Virgin Atlantic. That's not a problem I guess if the primary and authorized...
As I understand it, one limitation is that the authorized user can only activate his/her accelerators if the points earned go to the authorized user's account. And those points cannot be transferred to the primary user's account.
So, in one sense, they are orphaned there and couldn't be combined with the primary user's point for, say, a large transfer bonus transaction to Virgin Atlantic. That's not a problem I guess if the primary and authorized user transfer their points to an airline that has family pooling or otherwise sharing points across accounts. But it might mean not having enough points in either account for a desired award.
Also, as I understand it, the authorized user must have their own bilt cash to activate the accelerator--they cannot draw on the primary user's bilt cash. That could create a minor timing problem in that, if the primary cardholder exercises all the accelerator options in, say five months, the authorized user must first earn enough bilt cash ($200( to activate the first accelerator, so $5,000 in initial spend. If you're not big spenders, this might keep the AU from activating all accelerators before the end of the calendar year.
Not saying that's enough to keep from doing it. $95 for 25,000 points seems pretty attractive. Just an effort to set correct expectations.
Did anyone figure out what will happen with the mortgage payments of January? Only $100 bilt cash will roll over, so if the mortgage payment is more than 3,333.33, the excess will not generate points. Any idea, other than paying the mortgage in December, before they forfeit the extra bilt cash?
Those extra 25,000 points deposit directly into the authorized user's individual Bilt account. They are tied to the authorized user's own status tier and won't qualify for the primary cardholder's Rent Day Platinum transfer bonuses unless the authorized user independently earns Platinum status.
Does anyone know if P1 and P2 each have their own Paladium where each has maxed the 25k of accelerators if we could each be authorized users on the others account and each have another 25k accelerators as an option? We have a mortgage being paid out of P1 and daughters rent for college housing out of P2 with the spend to each max out a second batch of accelerators and excess Bilt cash. Open to other strategies if I have a blind spot
Ok. Hear me out. If you're hoping to dump your own excess primary Bilt Cash onto an authorized user to fund their accelerators, no, it doesn't work—Bilt Cash balances are siloed, and the AU has to generate their own. But honestly, why bother with the AU trick at all? It’s far better to just have P2 open their own primary card via your referral link. First, you pocket the referral bonus (2,500-10,000 points, depending on...
Ok. Hear me out. If you're hoping to dump your own excess primary Bilt Cash onto an authorized user to fund their accelerators, no, it doesn't work—Bilt Cash balances are siloed, and the AU has to generate their own. But honestly, why bother with the AU trick at all? It’s far better to just have P2 open their own primary card via your referral link. First, you pocket the referral bonus (2,500-10,000 points, depending on what promos they're offering), then, shift all family spend to P2, so they gets their sign-up bonus (50K), and they establish an fresh pool of Bilt Cash to run their own 5x accelerators from scratch. The AU route is really only a backup plan if a separate primary app isn't an option. Listen, I wish they just simply uncapped the Accelerators, even if they charged more Bilt Cash to use them, because that'd fix the B$ glut altogether, no games, long-term.
You have a valid point. For many, your suggestion is the way to go. But, some might not want to burn a 5/24 slot or have another priority. For such a P1/P2 pair, the AU route makes sense. Recently, I've really lost trust/faith as the result of sloppy work by certain authors/reviewers.
Even on 5/24, AU accounts often trip that up anyway (you'd sort it out on reconsideration, but still). Just depends what cycle you/P2 are on with Chase churning. Nowadays some of their better cards have attempted to go the way of Amex lifetime rules. (Oh, popup jail...)
Another advantage of P2 getting own Palladium that I plan to use...the Blacklane credit. Once we spend and she gets gold, we will get $100 off our next ride. (I am using my Platinum $150 From airport to hotel in France and then we will use her $100 to get back to airport). I need to check, but if it is calendar year, we get this again starting 1/1/27.
Thank you Ben for writing about this. In comments to various articles, I was telling people about this a while back and it didn't employ rocket science. One well known blogger on another site roundly criticized me saying I didn't know what I was talking about. As another reader noted about the strategy's ease, if someone can't figure it out, they need to repeat second grade. Thank you again Ben.
Yeah, not 'rocket science.' Just some light 'rocket surgery.'