Bilt’s rollout of its 2.0 credit cards has gone about as smoothly as a five mile drive over continuous rumble strips which Tim succinctly summed up here, I covered here, and Nick covered here.
I’m afraid it turns out that there’s a teensy bit more to add.
When they launched the new cards, we asked Bilt for details about the World Elite benefits on the Blue and Obsidian cards and the World Legend benefits on the Palladium card. We were subsequently provided with the following screenshot listing their respective benefits:
Bilt Blue card errors
As you can see, cardholders of their no annual fee Blue card were due to have:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Cellular wireless telephone protection
- Purchase Assurance
- MasterRental Coverage
- Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection
- Trip Delay Reimbursement
However, if you check the Blue card’s guide to benefits you’ll find that there’s no mention of Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection, nor Trip Delay Reimbursement. I’m not aware of Bilt advertising those benefits on their own website, but we wanted to provide a heads up in case you’d seen them listed in our Bilt 2.0 FAQs post and thus had an incorrect understanding of your card’s benefits.
Bilt Obsidian card error
There’s the opposite problem on the Obsidian card. The screenshot above states that this $95 annual fee card doesn’t have Lost or Damaged Luggage Insurance, but the Obsidian’s guide to benefits states that it does.
We reached out to Bilt to confirm that the guides to benefits are correct and that the screenshot they’d previously provided was incorrect and that is indeed the case.
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Is it possible to pay rent rent with Atmos card #1 for 50K and use Atmos card #2 for another $50k ?
i do not think so. How are you gonna offset the 3% transaction fee for this? Stephen Pepper says you cannot use Bilt Cash for this.
You can’t use Bilt Cash, but some people are more than willing to pay a 3% fee to earn 3x Alaska Atmos points.
Disregard this comment
Technically, with your question as is and nothing more, yes. Technically, you can put rent on a different card every month. What are you trying to accomplish? (Take note of KO Stan’s comment regarding Bilt Cash.)
Pay rent with Alaska signature card and get 3 Atmos points for $50,k annually, then spend on Bilt card to earn 4% Bilt cash, use it to offset the 3% transaction fee for paying that rent/mortgage. So it’s $50,k spent a year for 150,k Atmos points. Do i understand it right?
Unfortunately you can’t redeem Bilt Cash for rent/mortgage payments if paying with an Alaska card.
Am I misunderstanding it?
Yes, you can redeem Bilt Cash to cover the 3% transaction fee when paying rent or mortgage with a Bilt credit card, including the Bilt Blue card. By using Bilt Cash, you can “unlock” 1x points on housing payments, effectively covering that cost, with every $30 of Bilt Cash covering a 3% fee on $1,000 in rent.
Key Details on Using Bilt Cash for Fees:
If you pay for your rent with a Bilt card (well, by having Bilt pull the money from your checking account via ACH), there’s no 3% fee. It’s fee-free regardless, but your ability to earn points on that transaction will depend on whether you have enough Bilt Cash or have spent enough (depending on if your card earns Bilt Cash or you’ve selected the Housing-Only Rewards option).
There’s only a 3% fee if you pay your rent with an Alaska or United card.
you are right. AI is confusing, or maybe i haven’t asked the question right:
Yes, you can use the Bilt Rewards platform to pay rent with your Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card, earning 3x points (now branded as Atmos Rewards) while paying a 3% fee. However, Bilt Cash cannot be used to directly offset this 3% fee. Bilt Cash is a separate, promotional credit, while the 3% fee is a mandatory charge for using a non-Bilt card.
How it Works: Link your Alaska card in the Bilt app to pay rent via ACH or credit card, triggering the 3% fee.
Rewards: You will earn 3x points on the rent amount and 3x on the 3% fee itself.
Limitations: The 3x earning rate is capped at $50,000 in annual rent spend.
Recommendation: While earning 3x points is valuable, the 3% fee often makes this less profitable than using the Bilt Mastercard (no fee) or paying via ACH, unless you specifically value Alaska points over Bilt points.
Thank you, friend!
> when paying rent or mortgage with a Bilt credit card
yes, thank you!
My wife has never used her BILT card for rent. This is the 7th email we have received about rent. We had question about her 2.0 card. After this, we have decided to drop the idea of having BILT cards.
Hey ***
Bilt Rewards here, we’re following up with you regarding points for your recent rent transaction. Please share with us a screenshot of your payment and our team will review and add the points to your account within the next 5-7 business
Thank you!
Bilt Rewards Support
My goal is to transfer out all of my points.
I just have to decide where to send them.
I don’t want them sitting in this program.
I just can’t sign up for any of these new BILT 2.0 cards yet. They’re too flaky right now and I don’t trust them.
They are playing fast and loose Rita banking rules. This is not cool and very problematic.
Get your class action lawsuits in quick before the VC money runs out, so you get a good position in line at the bankruptcy proceedings.
These guys are a joke. The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight.
The play here, unless you’re in the super niche group in the middle of the complexity-value venn diagram, is to get the Obsidian or Palladium for the first year then downgrade to the Blue and throw it into sock drawer.
Except you can’t downgrade Cardless cards.
“I am altering the deal, pray I don’t alter it any further.”
At least Lord Vader was altering the deal deliberately, and not through sheer incompetence…
Egads. I think I will get my 50k Bilt SUB, transfer all my points to Alaska, and cancel everything I have related to Bilt. What a sh/7show.
Aren’t you worried they will go belly up before you transfer out and you’ll out $495?
Yes. Yes I am.
Same, except Hyatt
So the “Guides To Benefits” are correct. Your private screen capture that is of no significance is wrong.
There is no story here.
Bilt provided the screenshot before which was incorrect. We’d provided readers with the details of the cards on that basis until we had a chance to check the benefit guides where we learned that what Bilt had stated was wrong.
Read the Guides… This is just pepper spray.
When a company provides incorrect information and then tells me to read the fine print I always feel so much better.
It’s a two-line correction. Not an article.
Here’s the article you meant to write: Capital One miles has a 60% bonus on Accor ALL miles. That’s higher than the bonus for Silver Bilt members on Feb. 1st.
Surely Bilt must have LIED!
Surely Bilt is INCOMPETANT!
Surely Bilt managment bites the heads off WHIPPETS!
If you can’t understand why people think Bilt is sending messages of a company in meltdown mode, I see no reason to explain it.
Yay, I always look forward to your comments telling me what post I meant to write – thank you
The invoice is in the mail. Bilt accepted for payment.
“We were subsequently provided with the following screenshot listing their respective benefits”
So yeah, there is a story here and it is that someone at Bilt provided the incorrect benefits summary.
That is true. We already know Bilt is incompetent, so no new story.
Oh, well of course everything looks bad if you remember it.
—Homer Simpson
or there is someone with an iPhone recording what happened.
As someone in Marketing/PR, watching a company that clearly decided that department was expendable proceed to roll out this disaster is strangely affirming.
Churn and burn, baby. Churn and burn.
The more time goes on the less convinced I am that management at Bilt has any competence at all.
Do they even have a communications department?
Fintech egos often assume they can manage all professional roles in their company.
And this is the result.
I would only be worried if they had a lot of complex rules to implement. Otherwise I’m sure everything will be fine.