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Well, the big day has finally come. Bilt Rewards’ new slate of credit cards officially launched on Wednesday. We’ve known for a while that this was coming, even as supposed leaks about card details were shot down by Bilt. The anticipation was as intense as anything we’ve seen in the credit card world since the re-launch of the Chase Sapphire Reserve® in mid-2025.
So now that the new cards are live, how did ardent fans and the broader internet respond? Let’s dig into the reactions.
Bilt Launches New Cards: How We Got Here
Let’s start with a brief history lesson. Bilt Rewards was founded in 2019 and launched in 2021 with a simple goal: To let renters earn rewards on their rent payments, which are often their largest monthly expense.
Throughout its short history, Bilt has delivered real value beyond points for rent payments. It offers one of the most robust lists of transfer partners in the loyalty world — including Hyatt, Alaska Airlines, and more. And its monthly Rent Day promotions can be extremely rewarding, especially for members with Bilt elite status. That combination has helped Bilt build a loyal following.
The “Bilt 1.0” credit card was a large part of Bilt's growth. However, it turns out that the card was a little too generous. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2024 that Wells Fargo was “losing as much as $10 million every month on the program.” Although Wells Fargo had the Bilt contract until 2029, Bilt and Wells Fargo announced the end of their partnership in mid-2025.
Bilt could clearly see the end of its lucrative card partnership coming and has been aggressively pivoting toward rewarding members who transact through Bilt’s network of merchants — known as “Bilt Neighborhood” — inking seemingly endless partnerships for earning and redeeming Bilt points.
But Bilt didn't want to pivot completely away from the credit card space. After all, this is an environment where airlines often lose money on flying but make it back through lucrative credit card partnerships. This makes a strong card portfolio a potential kingmaker in today’s rewards landscape.
That brings us to the launch of Bilt's new credit card portfolio.
Internet and Media Reactions to the Launch of Bilt's New Cards
But despite all the good that Bilt Rewards has done over the past few years, the reaction to the launch of its new cards has been fierce.
Perhaps the biggest complaint: Earning Bilt points on rent now requires either paying a transaction fee or redeeming Bilt Cash earned through card spend.
To be clear, Bilt cardholders can still pay rent with no transaction fees. But you won't earn points and pay no transaction fees — as you could before. Instead, you'll either have to pay a transaction fee of 3% or redeem Bilt Cash to earn points on rent. And it's that new Bilt Cash program that's causing a lot of confusion and frustration.
Mainstream media
The New York Times dubbed the new program “the most complicated rewards system we've seen.” And it's hard not to agree with that.
The article raises real questions about how members will respond to Bilt’s new system of using Bilt Cash to offset rent and mortgage transaction fees. Under the new setup, in addition to earning Bilt Points, you'll earn 4% back on everyday purchases as Bilt Cash — a separate currency.
Once you’ve earned $30 in Bilt Cash, you can redeem it for 1,000 points (not Bilt Points, just points) that can be applied toward the 3% fee on your rent or mortgage payment. As Bilt explains, “If your rent is $2,000 and you have $60 of Bilt Cash, you can convert your Bilt Cash into 2,000 points on that payment, still with no transaction fee.”
It’s easy to see how this gets confusing.
The goal here is clearly to get cardholders to actually use their Bilt cards, not just swipe them 5 times a month (Bilt dubbed these cardholders the “Four Banana Club”) to earn free points on rent.
That makes sense from a business perspective. But for many longtime fans of the program, it also feels like a meaningful shift. And that’s where some of the pushback is coming from. A lot of it is already showing up on Reddit.
The “front page of the internet” has a dedicated community for Bilt fans at r/BiltRewards. It sees about 81,000 weekly visitors. There, the response has been largely negative.
Even when the reaction hasn’t been outright negative, the conversation has exploded in popularity. The most popular thread has topped 444 comments, and much of the discussion echoes the concerns raised in The New York Times. People are trying to understand the new system but are running into confusion about how it all works. To his credit, Bilt’s GM of Travel, Richard Kerr, even hosted an AMA to answer questions.
Others are disappointed that some of the strongest benefits from the no-fee card have shifted to the $95 annual fee card. One user, “quackjacks,” summed it up well:
“I use my Bilt card as a daily driver and spend quite a bit, but if I’m reading this correctly, I have to pay a $95 annual fee to keep the 3x dining and 2x travel that I used to get without an annual fee. What’s the upside?”
Fair point.
Bottom Line
I expected the initial response to be negative because the “gravy train,” of sorts, is ending for certain Bilt members. But I think we need some time to fully assess the new program. Bilt Cash can also be used for purchases within the Bilt ecosystem, but the program hasn’t yet defined the full limits on how much you can redeem each month. There could be real value there, on top of earning Bilt Points.
For me personally, as a homeowner, I’m still deciding whether the Bilt Palladium Card deserves a spot in my wallet. The idea of finally being able to participate in the lucrative Rent Day promotions — assuming they continue in their past form — is very enticing. But the card fee isn't minimal.
- Up to 1X points on rent and mortgage payments
- 2X points + 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday purchases
What's your reaction to the new Bilt cards?
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That’s too bad, I’ll have to find a new payment method for my internet monkey farm writing social media hit pieces against Superman! Four bananas was utter genius…eventually the world’s governments will have to agree to my ONE…MILLION…DOLLAR ransom! Muah hahahahaha!
Pop cultural references aside, this was the inevitable end of the train ride. I don’t fault Bilt for doing this, and everyone complaining about the changes probably is content with their Mesa Homeowners Card. For the rest of us, Bilt had to adapt, and we will live to MS another day. I got approved for the Palladium card, and the T&C is rife with anti-MS language, but one can read between those lines and note what they didn’t say. *wink*. I’m less fond of Cardless, but Ankur threw everyone a bone earlier tonight by adding a second option for earning points on rent/mortgage sans Bilt Cash, and it’s much more straightforward. Bilt and its partners have to make money, and as airlines and hotels have come to realize, the bottom end of the market is not where profitability lies, so people who are loaded and MSers who can put TONS of spend on cards easily will eke out the win with Bilt 2.0. I’ll keep the card a year or two to get some juice and then reevaluate whether it’s worth the squeeze long term.
I have the Sapphire Preferred, Altitude Reserve, Amex Biz Gold, AX BBP, and a couple of Ink Cashes, so none of the multipliers on any of the cards was noteworthy. Earning points on rent also doesn’t really move the needle, as my part of Florida doesn’t have exorbitant rent/mortgage, and a whole year’s earning is just $7k spend on an AX Biz Gold at 4x. I’m mostly in it for the transfer bonuses and some potential new sweet spots I see. I earned points on autopilot with the old Bilt 1.0 card, as a minor supporting character. Of course now that changes a bit, but I’ll take the opportunity to have access to Wells Fargo Autograph points and a little more work than before chasing Bilt points as a faster clip.
Do the new standards mean that Rent Day bonuses will go back to higher limits than the stingy 1,000 points per month?
Unlikely. This week’s changes only affect Bilt cards — at least for now.
I’m not impressed. MEAB had some great insights, including some I hadn’t considered.
If I’m forking out $500 a year in annual fees I want the 3x on restaurants kept. I can get 2x on everything easily without the price tag.
There’s a lot of questions without answers, which either means that Bilt is hiding the answers because we won’t like them or they simply didn’t think things through. Both speak ill of the rollout.
I didn’t realize that the shiny new expensive cards the bloggers are – except you – stunningly positive about (could the fat card signup bonuses be a factor? Hmmm…) but they’re not clear that if you want a signup bonus then you can’t just take the card transfer but have a new inquiry and a new 5/24 card, assuming you’re even approved.
In short, this is notably worse for us, even those like me who liked and used the card a fair bit. I just don’t know about trusting a company that is either secretive like this or kind of incompetent at doing the rollout. Would it really have hurt to have solid uses for Bilt cash, for instance? People are gonna want to know.
There is some perspective – in the following 10 points – a lot of complainers about Bilt 1.0 to 2.0 changes should consider.
1) As the article mentions, Bilt Rewards was losing millions on Bilt 1.0 Mastercard. That means ALL our Bilt Rewards are in jeopardy until Ankur Jain gets his financial house in order. Same financial jeopardy you face if you don’t stick to your budget! The myriad new Bilt points earning partners are absolutely welcome, but clearly not sustaining Bilt’s business model by themselves. The chronically lackluster responsiveness of Bilt’s customer service chat (even for Platinum Elite members) that drops chat after just a few minutes lag while other companies better (maybe more expensive) chat systems queue all responses over time till issues actually resolved. Apparently, Cardless/Column Bank lower cost than Wells Fargo Bank. Also, FDIC will not bail out Bilt Rewards in the event of financial crisis like FDIC does for Chase, Capital One, Citibank, Wells Fargo and their transferrable points. We should all be celebrating the arrival of Bilt 2.0 Mastercards as a positive step towards making our hard-earned Bilt Rewards long term financially sustainable for everyone.
2) About Milestone Rewards. I (and how many others) have had difficulty using Milestone Rewards. Giving points for rent payments has been an (admittedly marquee) loss leader, but Bilt Cash ties the cost of rental points to credit card purchase activity, hopefully turning “free” Bilt Rewards for rent payments into a profit center. According to a certain popular AI chatbot, if you can spend on your Bilt 2.0 credit card each month roughly 75 percent of the amount you otherwise spend monthly on rent, the resulting Bilt Cash earn will cover the rent payment transaction fees, and any spend over that threshold will generate Bilt Cash for other uses, such as the announced (in Bilt’s member email) dollar for dollar coverage of Bilt Travel hotel stays, Neighborhood Restaurant spend, Lyft credits! Even if you don’t spend enough, Bilt Cash (and Milestone Rewards) was always an elite status program in addition to Bilt Rewards Points. Since I can not use Bilt Cash for rent (and don’t have a mortgage), Bilt Cash would cover a LOT of hotel stays for me, more than my Plastiq transaction fees! (Just remember Bilt Cash expires at the end of every year!). Better than AX and others “coupon book” approach to premium cards! You don’t get an elite status program of ANY sort from the big banks transferrable rewards credit cards! 2X with Bilt Palladium now re-opens possibility of high Bilt elite status by credit card spend alone – which, remember, can often be matched with no to minimal hurdles to airline elite status (eg Air France/KLM)! Where else are you going to get that? Besides a 10k American Express Centurion Card, lol.
3) About “4 Banana Club”. Its actually good that Bilt decided this was a bad incentive – because incentivizing quantity of transactions is the most toxic incentive a credit card can have – part of good personal financial management is minimizing your recurring transaction count. AX used to have a card like this with like a 30 transaction monthly minimum to earn cash back and thankfully saw the light and replaced.
4) For me, Bilt Rent Day 2X points on spend was the big key to maximizing value since I co-own my home with no mortgage, and the rent I pay my partners can not be paid with any of Bilt’s options – until Bilt capped the rent day 2X to 1,000 points. So I have been using Plastiq with my Capital One Venture X instead. The new Bilt Palladium Card MIGHT work for my rent (depends on whether Plastiq allows it, remains to be seen, took several years to get Plastiq’s permission to use the Capital One Venture X). But if not, will just continue with Capital One Venture X. Or maybe Wells Fargo Active Cash 2X.
5) Speaking of Wells Fargo Active Cash 2X spend, it seems that according to a local WF branch banker, Bilt 1.0 cards that get converted to Wells Fargo Autograph will then be eligible for product change to Wells Fargo Active Cash 2X. So I am planning to attempt that route to pair with my Autograph Journey and Attune cards to (finally) complete a Wells Fargo transferrable points earn trifecta.
6) Bilt was my transferrable points for American Airlines until that partnership was discontinued (and Rent Day 2x capped anyway). With Citi Strata Elite recently covering American Airlines transfers for me, Bilt Palladium may be how I cover Alaska Hawaiian Atmos. If they or other partners don’t discontinue, scale back, or devalue as a result of Bilt 2.0
7) I agree that people who maximize bonus category earn at no annual fee “free” credit cards face a loss, will have to consider other non-Bilt cards, perhaps also that new trend rewards debit cards. Should note, though, that fees seem to be the trend, and not just baggage fees, seat assignment fees, resort fees – and annual fees. My home state (Texas) recently passed law requiring that credit cards allow merchants to charge separate transaction fees for credit card charges – or offer cash discounts, or separate product/service pricing based on cash, credit, debit, etc. And the merchant can set whatever fee they want, just so long as they post it prominently at checkout and/or on the bill – or tell you verbally – before you pay, along with options to avoid the fee (usually pay cash or sometimes debit). So I have seen between 1% and 5% now, and also fixed surcharges between $1 and $20, all over Houston this year. At auto dealers, car wash, restaurants, spas, government fees, taxes. Target has a cash discount for their Red program members. There is a reason why AwardWallet publishes point values-watch how those values compare to transaction fees! And these fees may be key to permanently defeating the dreadful misnamed Credit Card Competition Act. Points and Miles have never been “free”, only a rebate. In fact 48 states have passed these laws, a few others (including Texas) have some limited restrictions, and only 2 (Massachusetts and Connecticut) prohibit surcharges.
8) A concern – Bilt Palladium’s terms and conditions call out not accepting “manufactured spend” transactions, so to me that means an open question remains whether my Plastiq rent payment and my IRS tax payments will in fact be accepted as Bilt Rewards earning spend. It’s also possible that Bilt 2.0 Mastercards could get classified by the IRS payment processors as requiring a higher fee similar to American Express. I avoid buying gift cards (except as actual gifts to others around the holidays) precisely to avoid getting denied rewards on these purchases – but many other travel rewards enthusiasts rely heavily on gift cards to maximize bonus spend, and I am sure some will be trying that approach at grocery stores with Bilt Obsidian up to the 25k annual limit. Hopefully the next few months will bring clarity on those issues.
9) Minor quibble – I liked that Bilt 1.0 was my solid black metal credit card for free instead of having to pay 10k for American Express Centurion (which is out of my price range anyway). Top Bilt card should be black (obsidian), not palladium. Maybe the limited edition mirror stainless steel will look shiny black, like my black stainless steel kitchen utensils. At least my new Citi Strata Elite is the sharpest looking black metal credit card I have ever seen. Oh well, to me, Bilt 2.0 is bringing back the points and miles excitement Bilt Rewards used to have a few years ago.
10) A detail the bloggers seem to have missed – and Bilt has been quiet about – on the official Bilt Card application page – the picture of the Bilt Palladium Card – appears to be a rare true “black” card – a Mastercard World Legend Card. The only other (so far) is Citi Strata Elite. All the other Bilt cards including the original are World Elite.
I am super disappointed. I have been wanting to get into BILT, but as a homeowner who didn’t pay rent, it made no sense. So when the rumors dropped that they would be offering points for mortgage payments now, I was very excited. But they have basically destroyed their ecosystem, that which set them apart; much like Southwest did. There are way too many hoops to jump through just to use one of these cards to pay my monthly mortgage. So much for Bilt…
As a retired Boomer with no mortgage or rent, but high income, Bilt has always been a nothing burger for me. The “Neighborhood” in far NE Dallas is non-existent. Having a Venture X, Sapphire Preferred and the whole AMEX ecosystem, the Bilt card does absolutely nothing for me.