Bilt launched today three new credit cards: Bilt Blue Card with $0 annual fee, Bilt Obsidian Card with $95 annual fee, and Bilt Palladium Card with $495 annual fee. We discussed rumors/teases on these cards in these prior posts: here, here, here, here. Much of what was discussed has played out.
Direct application link
Existing cardholders from the old Wells Fargo Bilt card can choose which of the three cards they want to transition to (more transition details can be found here), and they even get the signup bonus when transitioning as well. Cards for new and existing members will be sent out in the coming weeks, and will become functional on February 7, 2026.
Three Bilt Cards
Details which all three cards share:
- The new Bilt cards are issued by Cardless. They run on the Mastercard network.
- The Blue fee-free card earns 1x per dollar everywhere, the $495 Palladium card earns 2x per dollar everywhere, the $95 Obsidian card earns 3x on Grocery or Dining and 1x everywhere else. We break down the full details of each card, below.
- All three cards have no foreign transaction fees.
- All three cards have Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection, Purchase Protection, Car Rental insurance (car rental insurance is secondary, not primary).
- All three cards offer a 10% intro APR rate for 12 months.
- Important note, the Bilt terms exclude a number of things from earning any Bilt points and Bilt Cash. Here is an abridged version (bolding is mine): Purchases that do not earn Bilt Points or Bilt Cash: prepaid cards, gift cards, person-to-person payments (such as Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, or Zelle), tax payments, online resale marketplaces (such as eBay or Facebook Marketplace), cryptocurrency or other digital currency purchases, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions.
- The Bilt card will count as a 5/24 spot. (Even existing cardholders who transition will likely take up an additional 5/24 spot.)
- Product changes between the Bilt products will not be available during the first year of Bilt 2.0. Afterwards, the plan is to make downgrading an option.
- A feature introduced on Bilt 1.0 which continues with Bilt 2.0 is that the timely rent payments are reported to credit bureaus which might help improve your your credit score.
Bilt Cash
- The three cards have different Bilt Rewards points earnings which will be discussed below. However, all three cards earn the same 4% back in Bilt Cash on all purchases (excluding rent and mortgage). The 4% Bilt Cash is in addition to your regular earn.
- The Bilt Cash cash be used to cover the 3% fee on your rent/mortgage payment.
- Bilt cash can be used dollar-for-dollar to pay for Lyft credits, Hotel credits, Dining credits, Fitness credits, Home Delivery credits, Bilt Collection credits, GoPuff credits, Walgreen’s credits, and more.
- However, reports are that there will be limits to these credits. For example, it’s possible they’ll limit us to getting one $10 Lyft credit each month and one $10 Walgreen’s credit each month.
- All Bilt Cash expires at the end of each calendar year, regardless of when you earned it. However, up to $100 will carry forward to the following year.
- All three cards earn 1x Bilt points per dollar when you pay Rent or Mortgage through Bilt – provided that you pay the 3% fee or that you use Bilt Cash to offset the fee. If you choose the fee-free option for paying your rent/mortgage then you won’t earn any points on the payment. You can also split your mortgage payment and pay partial with your Bilt Cash and partial fee free – you’ll get points on whichever portion is paid with Bilt Cash.
- Aside from the 4% Bilt Cash on spend, you’ll also get $50 in Bilt Cash for every 25,000 Bilt points earned during a calendar year. All points earned count towards those thresholds, including regular card earn, earn from rent/mortgage payments, category spend earn (grocery/dining/travel), and everything else. And so you’ll likely end up with like 4.5-5% back in Bilt Cash on spend, in addition to the regular Bilt points earned (1x-3x) on spend which will be discussed below.
Rent & Mortgage Payments
- You can no longer earn free points for your rent payment – all three cards now require paying the 3% fee, or using your Bilt Cash to offset the 3% fee, in order to earn Bilt points on your rent/mortgage payment.
- The Bilt Cash cash be used to cover the 3% fee on your rent/mortgage payment.
- You can now pay unlimited numbers of mortgages and rents with your Bilt card and use Bilt Cash to offset the fees. It doesn’t need to be your own mortgage. For example, you can pay your own mortgage and the mortgage of a family member, and you can cover the fees with your Bilt Cash.
- It’s still be possible to pay your rent with your Alaska card to get 3x points per dollar or with your United card and get 2x points per dollar. That will cost the same 3% fee, no change there. That might be limited to rent only, however.
- All personal rent and mortgage providers are supported under the new Bilt 2.0. Payments are sent either via their bill payment system, ACH, or via check. Commercial rents/mortgages are not supported.
- You can pay a portion of your mortgage with Bilt Cash and earn Bilt points on that portion. The rest of the mortgage you can choose to pay the 3% fee and earn points or pay no fee and not earn points on that portion.
- Most rent/mortgage payments will get directly debited from your bank account immediately and will not hit your line of credit. You won’t get to float the payment for a month and it also won’t use up your credit line.
Blue Card
Details of the Bilt Blue card:
- $0 annual fee
- Welcome Bonus: $100 Bilt Cash when you apply and get approved.
- Rewards:
- 1x points everywhere + 4% Bilt Cash.
- 3x points at partner restaurants (when you choose the Dining category) + 4% Bilt Cash
- 3x at partner fitness studios + 4% Bilt Cash
- 3x points on Lyft rides (after linking) + 4% Bilt Cash
- 2x+ points at Walgreens + 4% Bilt Cash
Obsidian Card
Details of the Bilt Obsidian card:
- $95 annual fee ($50 for authorized user)
- Welcome Bonus: $200 Bilt Cash when you apply and get approved.
- Rewards:
- 3x points on your choice of dining or grocery + 4% Bilt Cash. The Grocery option is limited to $25K/year. You’ll get once per year in January to select Dining or Grocery as your annual category. (Dining is the default if you don’t select anything.)
- 2x points on Travel + 4% Bilt Cash.
- 1x points everywhere else + 4% Bilt Cash.
- 5x points at partner restaurants (when you choose the Dining category) + 4% Bilt Cash
- 3x at partner fitness studios + 4% Bilt Cash
- 3x points on Lyft rides (after linking) + 4% Bilt Cash
- 2x+ points at Walgreens + 4% Bilt Cash
- $100 Bilt Travel Hotel credit (two $50 credits for the two halves of the year; minimum two night stay).
- Premium Mastercard World Elite everyday benefits: Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection, Trip Delay Reimbursement, Extended Warranty, Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection, Purchase Assurance, MasterRental Coverage.
Palladium Card
Details of the Bilt Palladium card:
- $495 annual fee ($95 for authorized user)
- Welcome Bonus:
- $300 Bilt Cash when you apply and get approved.
- 50,000 points bonus after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months (Rent/mortgage payments do not count toward this spend requirement.)
- Gold status after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months. The Gold status will be valid for the year earned and the following year.
- Rewards:
- 2x points earned on all spend + 4% Bilt Cash on all regular spend (non rent/mortgage).
- 4x points at partner restaurants + 4% Bilt Cash
- 4x at partner fitness studios + 4% Bilt Cash
- 4x points on Lyft rides (after linking) + 4% Bilt Cash
- 3x+ points at Walgreens + 4% Bilt Cash
- $400 Bilt Travel Hotel credit (two $200 credits for the two halves of the year; minimum two night stay). You’ll be able to pay for a single booking with a combination of the Hotel credit, Bilt points, and Bilt Cash.
- $200 Bilt Cash credit each year as an annual benefit. (This includes the first year and can stack on top of the $300 earned during signup.)
- Priority Pass lounge access (for both primary cardholder and authorized users)
- Premium Mastercard World Legend benefits: Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection, Trip Delay Reimbursement, Extended Warranty, Baggage Delay Insurance, Lost or Damaged Luggage Insurance, Price Drop Protection, Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection, Purchase Assurance, MasterRental Coverage.
- Palladium applicants can choose between the brushed finish or mirror finish.
Redeeming Bilt Points
- Points are worth 1.5 cents each when applying them toward a down payment on a home (you might need to have Gold status in order to use this option (?)
- Points can be redeemed at a rate of 1.25 cents per points on the Bilt Rewards Travel Portal powered by Expedia. Points can be redeemed at 500+ airlines, 700K+ properties, 120+ car rental companies.
- Points can be redeemed at the rate of 1 cent per point to pay off student loans with Sallie Mae, MOHELA, Neinet, Navient, or Aidvantage. (link to our original post about this)
- Bilt is a partner in the Amazon Shop With Points program and also with Walgreen’s and Lyft – these offer a redemption rate of .7¢ per point ($.007). There’s a similar .7¢ redemption rate to buy gift cards in the Bilt portal.
- Points can be cashed out by applying them toward a future rent payment or offsetting any charge on the card at a rate of 0.55¢.
Points can also be transferred to travel partners at 1:1 ratio to the following travel partners:
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- World of Hyatt
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Emirates Skywards
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue
- Turkish Miles & Smiles
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Hawaiian Miles
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- IHG Hotels and Resorts
- United Miles
- Southwest
- Japan
Points never expire. Points can be transferred in 2,000 point increments (or in lower 1,000 point increments for ‘Silver’ members who accrue at least 25,000 points in a calendar year).
Status & Rent Day
- On the 1st of each calendar month, Bilt runs their ‘Rent Day’ promotion where cardholders get double points on all non-rent/mortgage purchases. Even bonus categories get doubled. But there is a limit of only 1,000 bonus points which can be earned each Rent Day. Bilt often runs transfer bonuses on Rent Day as well.
- Bilt elite status remains the same as before:
- Get Silver status with $10,000 in regular card spend (non-rent) or with 50,000 points earned.
- Gold status with $25,000 in eligible spend or 125,000 points earned.
- Platinum status with $50,000 in eligible spend or 200,000 points earned.
- These statuses help give better transfer bonuses that Bilt often runs on the first of the calendar month as part of their Rent Day.
- These statuses also help you get your Rakuten points converted to Bilt points at a better rate – see this post.
Our Verdict
Bummer on the loss of the easy/free 1x points when paying rent each month.
Moving on from that, the value here will depend much on how you can use the Bilt Cash. An earning rate of 4% + 1x is an excellent return for the no-fee Blue card, and it would be even better on the other cards which can get 2x everywhere or 3x on Grocery/Dining.
As an example, someone with a lot of Lyft expense might be able to get the no-fee card and basically earn on all their spend: 4% back per dollar which they’ll use to cover their Lyft bills + 1x Bilt points on all spend. They might not even want to use the valuable Bilt Cash to pay their rent/mortgage. We’ll have to see how this plays out.
Math is Hard
If the other uses of Bilt Cash (Lyft, hotel bookings, etc) don’t pan out well, then it’s a matter of spending $750 on the card per $1,000 of your rent/mortgage payment. E.g. someone with a $4,000 mortgage payment would spend $3,000 on the card to earn $120 in Bilt Cash which would cover the 3% fee on the mortgage.
Basically, you’ll end up earning an extra 1.33x per dollar spent, if you align your spend and mortgage payment exactly.
For example, if you have the fee-free Blue 1x everywhere card, you’re essentially getting 2.33x per dollar everywhere if you spend the perfect amount to get in your mortgage payment. That’s because when you spend $3,000 you’ll end up getting an additional 4,000 Bilt points back when you make the mortgage payment. You’ll end up with 3,000 points from the 1x and an additional 4,000 points when you pay your mortgage. That’s 2.33x per dollar on your first $3,000 of spend each month.
Similarly on the Palladium $495-fee card you’ll be getting 3.33x per dollar everywhere if you spend exactly $3,000 each month. And on the Obsidian card you’ll be getting 4.33x per dollar if you do all the spend in the bonus 3x category (subject to the $25k limit per year if you choose Grocery).
Final Thoughts
We still need to learn more how Bilt Cash works for redemption at merchants like Lyft, Walgreen’s, and travel portal bookings. Even if those fail to be worthwhile, there is strong value here for someone with a lot of mortgages/rents to pay since it can be to a no-free card with 2.33x everywhere or a $495 card with 3.33x everywhere. (Remember the gift card and tax payment exclusions as well.)
The addition of being able to pay mortgages with Bilt is a new highlight of Bilt 2.0. The fact that people will be spending more on Bilt cards will automatically make many people eligible for the Silver, Gold, and Platinum statuses which are spend-dependent ($10k/$25k/$50k).
My biggest critique of the new program is that it’s just way too complicated for the average consumer to wrap their head around.
Hobbyists will analyze and figure out how to deal with the myriad details. But I’m not sure how much an average user is ready to think about the multiple points currencies, plus the $50 bonus Bilt Cash per 25k points, plus the math behind paying rent with Bilt Cash, plus the hotel credits (don’t forget the two-night minimum), the Gold status and other statuses, the Rent Day promos, Bilt points don’t expire and Bilt Cash does expire, etc, etc.
Regardless, those who are anyway transitioning to the new card would want to take the Palladium card for the first year to get the 50k bonus. New applicants might consider signing up for the Palladium to get the 50k bonus and other benefits. After a year you can decide whether to remain Palladium or downgrade.
