Bilt arguably has the best set of transfer partners and the best periodic transfer bonuses among transferable points programs. Despite that, Bilt hasn’t been my favorite transferable points program. The primary reason for this is that Bilt points have been hard to earn in large quantities unless you have very high rent payments. Until now, Bilt had only one credit card, no dependable signup bonus, and no way to earn points through a shopping portal. Further, they used to offer a way to get at least 2x on all spend on Rent Day (the first of each month), but a couple of years ago, they capped that at a measly 1,000 points per month. All of this changes with Bilt’s new Rakuten Shopping partnership and with Bilt 2.0, which includes earning 1x on rent or mortgages, 2x on all other spend, and a 50,000-point signup bonus. But all of this goodness comes at a cost…
The downsides of Bilt 2.0
There are several downsides to Bilt 2.0 that involve the transition from old to new… One obvious downside to Bilt 2.0 concerns those who used to earn lots of points from paying rent but didn’t otherwise spend much on their Bilt cards. That group will have to drastically ramp up card spending if they want to continue earning points on rent payments fee-free. Another downside is that the old fee-free card had a couple of valuable category bonuses, whereas with Bilt 2.0, you need the $95 card to match that earning power.
Let’s ignore how things used to be, though, and look at Bilt 2.0 as a set of brand-new credit card products. Even from that light, there are things I dislike:
- Complexity: The Bilt 2.0 cards earn two types of rewards currency: Bilt points and Bilt Cash. Bilt Cash cents can be indirectly converted to Bilt points at a 3-to-1 rate by using Bilt Cash to cover the fees when paying rent or mortgage. That’s complicated enough, but there’s also the fact that Bilt Cash seems to be less than half-baked at launch. Other than using Bilt Cash to cover payment processing fees, we don’t yet have any clear information about how Bilt Cash can be used elsewhere. We know there will be limits and restrictions. What will they be? We’ve been told that the answers may vary by merchant and circumstance. This has made it impossible to get any clear idea of how much we should value Bilt Cash. Oh, and all but $100 of your Bilt Cash expires at the end of every year, even if it was earned in December.
- Coupons: Coupons have infected almost all new credit cards, and Bilt’s cards are no exception. The $95 Bilt Obsidian card includes twice-annual $50 hotel credits to offset the annual fee. The $495 Palladium Card includes twice-annual $200 hotel credits plus annual $200 Bilt Cash to offset its annual fee. I’d be happy with the hotel credits if they could be used for any bookings, but we’ve been told that they require a minimum of 2 nights and may have caps on how much can be spent per booking. Bilt Cash itself is like an uber-coupon (but not “Uber” coupon) that can be used for many things, each with its own limits and restrictions.
The good stuff
There’s a lot to like in Bilt 2.0:
- Earn points paying your mortgage: People have been asking Bilt for the ability to earn points when paying mortgages since the beginning of Bilt time. Now, cardholders can do exactly that.
- Pay multiple rents and mortgages: With Bilt 2.0, you are no longer limited to paying a single landlord, and there’s no need for the lease or mortgage to be in your name. This opens up opportunities for those with multiple payments to make and those who don’t have rent or a mortgage to pay on their own. For example, my mom has large rent payments, so I plan to use Bilt to pay her rent (and she can pay me back separately).
- Earn 4% Bilt Cash on all non-rent/mortgage spend: All three cards offer points for spend, plus 4% in Bilt Cash. Bilt claims that Bilt Cash will be redeemable for more and better things over time. If/when that pans out, this could be incredible. Earning anywhere near 4% in value on top of 1x to 3x in points would be unbelievable.
- Earn 2x to 3.33x everywhere with the $495 Palladium Card: The Palladium Card is incredibly rewarding for spend. It offers 2 points per dollar on all non-rent/mortgage spend, plus 4% in Bilt Cash (which can be indirectly exchanged for 1.33x points through rent or mortgage payments). The net result is that it is possible to earn up to 3.33x on all spend as long as one has enough rent and/or mortgage payments to make good use of their Bilt Cash. Earning between 2x and 3.33x transferable points on all spend is incredible enough on its own, but when you consider that Bilt has the most valuable transfer partners (Hyatt, JAL, Alaska, etc.) and periodically offers huge transfer bonuses, it’s really crazy how valuable this opportunity can be.
My Approach
It’s awesome that Bilt is letting current 1.0 cardholders get the signup bonus when they switch to a Bilt 2.0 card. Even if I didn’t want the $495 Palladium card long-term, I’d go for that one now for the 50K bonus and cancel or downgrade in year two. In my case, though, I do want the Palladium card:
- Annual fee – $495
- Welcome offer – 50,000 Bilt points + $300 Bilt Cash + Bilt Gold status after $4,000 spend in first three months
- Bilt points earning rate:
- 2x on everyday spend
- 1x on mortgage and rent
- Bilt Cash earning rate – 4% on everyday spend (excludes mortgage & rent)
- Card features/benefits:
- $400 Bilt Travel Hotel credit (twice annual i.e. $200 Jan-Jun & $200 Jul-Dec). Two night minimum stay required.
- $200 Bilt Cash annually
- Priority Pass
- Redeem Bilt Cash to waive mortgage and rent transaction fees
I don’t like the card’s $495 annual fee, I have no use for yet another Priority Pass, and I don’t like coupons. That said, the card’s earning power is really impressive. I’ll hold my nose with the hotel coupons and find ways to get good value from them. And I’ll use the Palladium card for all of my non-category-bonus spend (spend that doesn’t otherwise get better multipliers from other cards).
Consider this plan:
- Monthly:
- Spend $6,000, earning 2x. Earn 12,000 points plus $240 Bilt Cash
- Pay $8,000 in family members’ rent, earning 1x. Use $240 in Bilt Cash to cover the fees. Earn 8,000 points.
- Annual Total:
- Earn 240,000 points per year
- Earn Platinum status each year (You get Platinum status with $50K spend or 200K points earned. I would qualify on both counts)
- Platinum status would qualify me for the top transfer bonuses when available. Historically, these usually top out at 100% (although we’ve seen even higher), so 200K points could become 400,000 airline miles.
- Having any elite status at all will mean I can continue, long term, to earn Bilt points through the Rakuten shopping portal at the full 1-to-1 ratio.
Conclusion
A number of people are understandably upset about some aspects of the transition to Bilt 2.0. And Bilt 2.0 is absurdly complicated. But under the right conditions, Bilt 2.0 can be extremely rewarding.
I’m in.
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I applied for – and was approved – for the Palladium card via your affiliate link! I look forward to learning more on how to max from your team
Exactly this. The used car (I mean, credit card) salesmen like TPG, FM, and the like were all pimps in this whole process and honestly, still are trying to “sell” the cards while playing both sides. It’s amazing how quickly they sold out to Blit and continually have done for the last couple years. Makes me wonder why anyone would click thru from any affiliate links for anything ever again, unless you were just a mindless idiot who couldn’t see what was really going on.
With FM, this is not the case. All affiliate links represent the best offers available and often don’t generate any revenue for FM.
Did anyone else just get Ankur’s FOUR BANANAS email with Option 1 & 2? Wild.
Totally nuts, at this point it really feels like they’re just making all this up as they go along. Also hilarious that the CEO actually wrote the bananas thing in an email to all cardmembers.
My take is this: Option 1 seems to be an implicit admission that Bilt Cash isn’t that valuable. The incremental points earnings you would get by going with Option 1 vs Option 2 is tiny. The way I read it, the new option might be a suggestion that this incremental difference is the “value” of Bilt Cash to most people (being free to choose either option to me reads like they cost Bilt the same) but presents an escape hatch to let you opt out of Bilt Cash’s complex & opaque structure. Because otherwise, if there was truly outsized value to Bilt Cash + generous limits, Option 1 wouldn’t make any sense to anyone at all.
Does anyone know if the hotel statement credits stay after I end up cancelling the reservation? I wonder if they claw back.
People complaining about the “complexity” sure aren’t complaining about other programs double or triple currencies.
The list goes on and on and Bilt has done nothing new other than catch up to parity. Multi currency is expected whether you like it or not, this is just how the points industry works today.
I think the real analysis should be on the currency exchange rates inside of each system, for example, how does X Qcredits translate to Y Avios in terms of value, if at all? (hint:virtually zero)
That’s exactly why we are waiting to see how BILT cash will be valued, would like to see it live in action
Do we know if this priority pass includes restaurants?
doubt it
It does not
It does not, Kerr confirmed.
It doesn’t. They’ve stated as much in the AMA.
It does not per Miles to Go.
Nope. The credit card pimps will keep on “selling the card” though!
2 points:
1) “I’d go for that one now for the 50K bonus and cancel or downgrade in year two” – I don’t believe that downgrading is permitted.
2) How are we supposed to cover the 3% fee in the first month? Do we just spend $4000 in 1 week and hope the welcome bonus and Bilt Cash posts? Maybe the annual $200 Bilt cash posts immediately?
Can’t downgrade for the first year. We’re told that the plan is to offer downgrades after that, though YMMV.
Key to keep in mind. Cardless doesn’t offer downgrades on their cards, as far as I am aware. If Cardless doesn’t offer it and just says no, I don’t really know what Bilt can do. I understand they are stating that they plan to offer this in the future, but I’d really take this with a mountain of salt considering the way the 2.0 rollout has unfolded.
I’m not sure I trust anything Bilt (especially Kerr) says at this point. Even if they say they intend to do something, I would expect them to pull the rug out in the future. They have zero credibility left with me.
How strict is Bilt on manufactured spending?
Bilt is relatively strict. So is Cardless, the company issuing the card.
MSers will have to tread carefully.
cardless is usually permaban if you cross them
Thanks, @Dave Hanson and @frank.
Do we know if Bilt Cash can been redeemed 1:1 towards Lyft and Hotel? Forget paying rent for a minute. If Bilt Cash can be redeemed 1:1 towards Lyft and Hotel bookings, then I think The Palladium is a solid 2x everywhere Bilt Points + 4x everywhere for Lyft/Hotel card.
I think if there was value to be had with Bilt cash, it would have been a strong selling point during this rollout. No reason to keep it secret unless it is going to be terrible. And they’ve been lacking in details for this exact reason.
The answer to the quesiton the way you asked it is probably yes, but the answer to what you actually mean is no.
Here’s what I mean: I think $10 worth of Bilt Cash will get you $10 worth of Lyft credit, so it’s 1:1. However, *and this is the important part*, we expect there to be limitations. I don’t expect that you’re going to be able to cover an $80 Lyft, and we don’t yet know whether you’ll be able to cover an entire hotel stay or only part of the hotel bill, etc. I’ve said in numerous replies to comments (I know there are too many here for any one person to read) that at this point, I am *only* thinking of Bilt Cash in terms of covering the fee to earn rewards on rent/mortgage. There may end up being other good ways to use it, but I don’t think they have the details worked out on it yet, so I would not recommend collecting it for any other purpose yet.
Isn’t the math fairly simple? If the Lyft and restaurant Bilt Cash conversions rates are better than the 1.333 mortgage ratio (and certainly will), then you should be utilizing that channel to its maximum capability, whatever that might be.
Would I want my $50 Lyft ride to be covered with $50 Bilt Cash at a 1:1 ratio? Heck yeah. But if for example a $50 could only be covered by $40 Bilt Cash at a 1:2 ration, you’re still squeezing more value out
I’d say no way you are going to get full value as that would be a 6x catch all card. They would go under faster than Wells at which point all the Bilt members would be Cardless.
Yes! Well said. I’m in too.
Whether or not the card makes sense is all going to come down to the restrictions on Bilt Cash redemptions. In the unlikely event that these are no restrictions, this card is an unbelievably good deal at 2x points + 4% back with plenty of redemption options in dining & hotels. In fact, you wouldn’t want to pay rent/mortgage with your card in that situation because the Bilt Cash would be too valuable to waste on buying Bilt Points!
But that would be too good to be true and Richard’s AMA hinted that there are going to be caps per redemption channel: “if…you’ve already tapped out that redemption channel for the month.”
I’m holding off on applying for now pending Bilt clarifying this and also fixing their denials problem. If they don’t clarify Bilt Cash by 1/30 though I’ll probably apply anyway since the 50K SUB would make the card worthwhile in year 1 even if Bilt Cash ends up being worthless.
Same boat. And I agree: the Palladium card becomes insanely powerful if Bilt Cash use is unrestricted. I imagine there are some technical limitations to using it fully like currency. There may be minimum redemption thresholds and maximums. Lyft is selling “Lyft Cash” on their app right now in blocks at a small discount. I could see something like that happening (“redeem $50 Bilt Cash for $50 Lyft Cash. Limit of $200 in redemption). They may do something similar for Bilt Travel Portal or Walgreens credits. Given that your 25k spend will net $1000 in Bilt Cash and that Bilt is pretty aggressive in the T&C about business/creative spend, I imagine the redemption thresholds will not be a challenge for most people. I’m just not entirely sure: 1) redemption options are going to be always available, and 2) they will be sufficiently diverse to feel like you are getting even 50% value. We just don’t know enough.
Honestly it was awful to offer a SUB for 24 hours when nobody knows if Bilt Cash is worth it. NO WAY I would consider signing up for this junk unless they bring back a SUB.
But, but… the $495 AF has an option for a limited-edition mirror-finish… act now! /s
You can’t use Bilt Cash to pay the 3% transaction fee UNLESS you link your bank account and pay your rent by ACH.
Also, it’s not “awesome” that current cardholders get the SUB… it’s only right, since they’re actually applying for it and it reports as a new account. It’s not just a product change or transition. It’s a brand new account, so it should rightfully earn a SUB (which is essentially worthless unless you pay $450 for the Palladium that offers points instead of the mystery Bilt Cash… which expires and can only be used within the “Bilt ecosystem”).
I think there is a difference in Bilt charging a 3% transaction fee and Bilt not offering points on rent/mortgage unless a transaction fee is paid.
You CANNOT pay rent/mortgage unless you link a bank account. That is where they get the money to pay your rent/mortgage. They are just acting as a middleman. If you want that payment to earn points, you pay them 3% via Bilt cash. That is the only way to earn Bilt points for the rent/mortgage portion.
You are essentially paying 3c for each Bilt point earned on this payment type.
The rent/mortgage is not being charge to any credit card. That is new to Bilt 2.0.
I look at it as paying $495 for 50,000 Hyatt points after $4,000 in non-rent spend within 3 months… which is to say, I’m a doofus.
Well, if you were to buy those Hyatt points it would be (much) more expensive so not a totally bad play. The thought briefly crossed my mind, then I visualized Misters Kerr and Jain, remembered the annoying Bilt commercials interrupting the FM podcast (31 sec I have to fast forward every time) and quickly came to my senses.
Bilt now seems too complicated for beginners and too punitive for advanced users ( MS unfriendly ).
I suppose someone who wants to put all of their spend on this one card can do ok but for most of us that’s not how we play this game.
Taking away the no fee points earning capability turns the BILT card into an ordinary credit card. You can pay rent or mortgage through Plastiq with ANY MasterCard (credit or debit) – they publish a table that shows what types of payments are acceptable by brand. So it is a little disingenuous to imply that BILT is the only way to earn points on mortgage payments. Similarly, rent payments paid via an AMEX card like the Blue for Business Plus card or (for rent payments > $5,000) the AMEX Business Platinum card will earn 2x points per dollar. Yes, you will be paying a 2.9% fee but if you get at least 1.5c per point in value, you break even. If you get more than 1.5c per point in value, you are ahead of the game. There are Citi cards that earn 2x points per dollar as well. For some people, it might be better to pay or mortgage on a card that earns 2x points per dollar and pay the fee rather than earn 1x Bilt points and have to spend a great deal to offset the fee through BILT Dollars.
I’ll be moving to Plastiq and using Blue Business Cash (2% cashback) to offset the fees. I just want the float.
Ice, maybe just save on fees and just use ACH? Otherwise, even with Blue Business Cash, you’re still losing 1%