Bilt 2.0 Card Details

New BILT cards have been announced and we were all waiting with baited breath to learn how we could pay mortgage and rent now with these cards. It is a little confusing but bear with me. You do have until 2/7/26, when they are released, to mull it over so don’t stress now.

Here’s the new cards, what they offer, how we are going to earn points on rent/mortgage, and my honest opinion:

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Need to Know: In order to earn points on mortgage and rent, you will pay a 3% fee OR you must earn enough BILT cash to UNLOCK the ability to earn points on housing each month. More on this below.

Bilt Blue

• Earn up to 1X points on rent and mortgage payments.
• 1X points and 4% Bilt Cash on everyday purchases.
• Welcome offer: $100 in Bilt Cash upon approval.
• No annual fee.

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Bilt Obsidian

• Earn up to 1X points on rent and mortgage payments.
• 1X points and 4% Bilt Cash on everyday purchases.
• 3X points on your choice of grocery (up to $25K/year) or dining — your selection is locked in for the full calendar year.
• 2X points on travel.
• Welcome offer: $200 in Bilt Cash upon approval.
• $100 Bilt Travel Hotel credit, issued as two $50 statement credits per year on qualifying Bilt Travel Portal hotel bookings.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• $95 annual fee.

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Bilt Palladium

• Earn up to 1X points on rent and mortgage payments.
• 2X points and 4% Bilt Cash on everyday purchases.
• $400 Bilt Travel Hotel credit, issued as two $200 statement credits per year on qualifying Bilt Travel Portal hotel bookings.
• $200 Bilt Cash awarded annually (any Bilt Cash balance over $100 expires at the end of each calendar year).
• Priority Pass membership.
• Welcome bonus (with approval):
– 50,000 Bilt Points
– Gold Status after spending $4,000 on everyday purchases in the first 3 months
– $300 in Bilt Cash
• $495 annual fee.

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How Bilt Cash Works

• For every dollar you spend on non-housing purchases, you earn 4% back in Bilt Cash.
• You must use Bilt Cash to unlock points on rent and mortgage payments.
• Every $30 in Bilt Cash unlocks 1,000 points on housing payments.

👉 In practical terms, you need to spend about $0.75 for every $1 of rent or mortgage you want to earn points on. In other words, spend 75% of your housing cost each month on the Bilt card towards miscellaneous costs.

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Pro Tip

To earn 1 point per dollar on your full housing payment with no fees:

1. Multiply your rent or mortgage by 3% → this is the Bilt Cash needed
2. Divide that number by 4% → this is the monthly spend required

Shortcut:
(Rent or mortgage × 0.75) = spend required

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Monthly Spend Needed to Fully Unlock Points

• $1,000/mo → $750 spend
• $1,500/mo → $1,125 spend
• $2,000/mo → $1,500 spend
• $2,500/mo → $1,875 spend
• $3,000/mo → $2,250 spend
• $4,000/mo → $3,000 spend
• $5,000/mo → $3,750 spend
• $6,000/mo → $4,500 spend

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My Humble Opinion

I think BILT is trying to capture all your extra spending and wants to be the main card you use.

I think this will make the most sense for people who are not always trying to work on a sign up bonus for a new card and like to stick with one card.

Also it will be really great for high spenders who already know they can meet any sign up bonus and then some. Those will be the people who can put a regular 75% of their housing cost on this card.

This could also be a really great card for in between sign up bonuses. The Palladium has 2x on everything ( this is when I usually default to Capital One for 2x). The Obsidian has the 3x on groceries which is awesome if you don’t have the American Express® Gold Card for 4x.

I could see myself finding a way to justify the Palladium for the first year thanks to the sign up bonus-the points really are valuable being able to transfer to Atmos and Hyatt! The hotel credits help too. And the Gold status! But I’ll be considering it for a while before I decide for sure. I hope to have affiliate links by the release of these cards so please hit me up if you want to open one!

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Why I Care About Bilt Status

Rakuten to Bilt to Hyatt! Rakuten is a shopping portal where you can really earn tons of points from multipliers on brands you already plan to buy like Nike, Adidas, Sephora, Viator etc.

If you sign up with my Rakuten link right now, you will get $50 back after spending $50 in your first 90 days. This will be 5,000 points you can send to Bilt, once you link those accounts. Then you can transfer those to Hyatt!

This has become the latest way we are earning Hyatt points! But it has a time limit. You can transfer points from Rakuten to Bilt (then to Hyatt) without Bilt status, but the conversion rate from Rakuten drops significantly after the initial 6 months.

Rakuten to Bilt Conversion (Without Status)

1. Initial 6 Months (1:1 Rate): For the first half-year of connecting your accounts, you get 1,000 Bilt Points for every $10 in Rakuten cash back ($10 = 1,000 Bilt Points).
2. After 6 Months (Blue Status Rate): Once that introductory period ends, if you only have Blue status (no card/activity), the rate drops to 500 Bilt Points for $10 cash back ($10 = 500 Bilt Points).
3. To get better rates (Silver+): You’d need to earn higher Bilt status by using the Bilt Mastercard for at least 5 transactions per statement period, or through other activities. 

Note: Even without Bilt status, you can still transfer Bilt Points to partners like Hyatt.

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