I receive compensation for content and many links on this blog. Be aware that websites may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened. Citibank is an advertising partner of this site, as is American Express, Chase, and Capital One. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners. I do not write about all credit cards that are available -- instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Terms apply to the offers and benefits listed on this page.
Bilt Rewards unveiled their three new credit cards and it’s a really interesting slate.
The Bilt Palladium card (See rates and fees) is going to be my go-to for spending that doesn’t earn a bonus on other cards. It earns 2x on all spending, and Bilt’s points are more valuable than other currencies (more and better transfer partners, better portal value) and you can earn additional bonus points as a cardholder when you pay rent or mortgage.
I applied for the card, it didn’t go exactly as planned, so I thought it would be useful to lay out for y’all what happened.
First, I was given the option to pick the mirror card. It’s actually kind of beautiful. I wouldn’t choose a card for the finish, but it’s nice nonetheless.
They had information I’d previously shared for my last Bilt card, and I just had to confirm it. I submitted, and the system did its thing for a few moments.
Three things happened during the application that were different than I expected.
- I got a significantly smaller credit line than my current Wells Fargo card. I had understood credit lines were supposed to be matched, and they gave me half.
- I got a hard credit pull. I don’t actually care about this, since I knew I would get a Chase 5/24 strike for the application either way. I’m not worried about too many hard pulls right now. But apparently it was a glitch they were experiencing for part of the day when I applied.
- I didn’t get the offer to close my Wells Fargo card the way it’s promised. That’s no big deal. I don’t actually want a Wells Fargo Autograph card. But I’m not going to cancel it.
I plan to keep Autograph and at some point convert it to Active Cash which is basically a 2x card, that I may someday pair with an Autograph Journey card which earns 5x on hotels, 4x on airlines, 3x on dining and other travel. They just need more points transfer partners.
Introduction Of The Palladium Mirror Finish Card
Something I did not realize when I applied: they gave The Points Guy a better offer than is available in their app, and better than what’s available at the link they gave me. (Update: The TPG offer is no longer available.)
The standard offer for Palladium is 50,000 Bilt Points + Gold Status after spending $4,000 on everyday purchases in the first 3 months + $300 of Bilt Cash. What they gave to TPG is 5x earn in the first 5 days, up to 50,000 points, on top of this (this appears to be an extra 3 points per dollar for a total of 5, not 5 bonus points per dollar spent).
Initially Bilt’s Richard Kerr posted that this was incorrect but later said that, indeed, using that link gets you both offers.
Frankly, I’m pretty pissed off at them for giving me an inferior link for y’all. Mostly I’m mad they did it and didn’t say they were it. I didn’t share my own link before seeing this, though.
- Some of you aren’t going to immediately put big charges on the card the first five days you have it, so it might not be super material.
- But you deserve the choice whether to use the standard offer (my link) or not. I’d get some benefit when you use my link, just as TPG generates revenue from theirs with the extra offer.
I’d love it if they’d given me an exclusive offer! So I have no beef with TPG over it. I give them credit for pulling a fast one on Bilt. It’s not like TPG wasn’t going to promote an actually-good card they’re getting paid for! It may wind up costing them applications from other sources, too.
I’ll keep sharing the card, though, because I’m genuinely excited to be earning 2x Bilt points on my spending plus points for the amount of my mortgage payment. The card also comes with Bilt Gold status, which means continued 1:1 points transfers from the Rakuten shopping portal, as well as their Home Away From Home hotel booking program (similar to Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts).
Gary
How is it possible for the TPG exclusivity be that tightly held? Are you surprised Bilt didn’t solicit exclusivity offers from other large affiliates. In your opinion, what $ amount would be fair for an average affiliate to pay for exclusivity?
Also had a poor experience with Bilt transition. Instantly approved the wrong card (application glitch or my human error) and unable to reach support which is chat-only with multi hour wait or “X” — I have no idea why they are using “X” for support.
Looks like the TPG offer is gone- no longer on their website
The points guy is a BILT investor I believe.
how/where to the link/language for the additional 50k in 5 days deal? i dont see it in the tpg link
Gary so you are happy paying 3.3 cents per bilt point to get those points on your mortgage?
You are the target “great user” high monthly spend, high monthly housing cost, love Hyatt, and have little use for the “other uses of bilt cash”
For you this becomes a 3.3x Hyatt play up to 75% of your mortgage.
But most people are NOT you.
If one pays rent, you can pay rent with an Atmos card (thru Bilt) and effectively buy Atmos points at 1 cent each.
If you churn cards for signup bonuses they will generate a much better return than the 2x on everyday spend (and probably you wont spend $495 for the privilege)
The hotel portal is overpriced and the 2 nite minimum both locks in that high price and costs you when a loyalty program is cut out of the picture. So what works is independent hotels, rocket miles seems to be better at this.
What is left is three maybe good things:
Guests on Priority Pass access
Direct uses of Bilt Cash
Potential large transfer bonuses for Gold and Platinum
The uses (and limitations) of Bilt Cash are so far not disclosed. Since Bilt Cash is the “heart” of Bilt 2.0 the lack of upfront disclosure is a red flag and quite the potential risk.
There has been NO confirmation that the Gold/Platinum transfer bonuses will continue.
Now the downsides:
Cardless has HORRIBLE customer service. The bank being used has NO customer service. So Bilt Card users need to pray/hope/believe that they will never need customer service.
Bilt 2.0 counts against 5/24
The credit limits from Cardless seem to make little sense.
Many Gold and Platinum high spend on Bilt 1.0 are being declined for specious reasons (yes me included). Ankur and crew are mystified (to use their word in emails to me) as why this is happening.
Richard Kerr as a spokesperson has been caught telling flat out untruths and spitting out word salad. That is no way to have “bilt” trust and given the risks above trust is essential.
I dont use Hyatt and I live in Boston so United is fairly useless. I use Atmos points.
I am switching to Venture X and paying rent with Atmos.
I am effectively only losing access to Aeroplan transfers. In return no risks no horrible customer service and not having to deal with Bilt Cash.
You as a Hyatt person should do what you are doing. The non Hyatt amongst us should think twice.
Wake me up in a few months when Bilt has more of a handle on what is going on. Whole thing just seems like a mess.
Is there value in a 50k SUB for $495 plus Gold status for 1:1 Rakuten transfers? Sure . After this roll out am I prepared to trust them with paying my mortgage plus shifting non-bonused spend over to get some points? No way.
Further compounding my concerns – not that I would expect to use Bilt Cash for anything other than the $3:100 points unlock for the mortgage, but if you can’t even tell folks what the Bilt Cash program looks like at launch, I think that speaks to the possibility that something is perhaps rotten in the state of Denmark (and I’m not talking about Greenland).
For now, I’ll enjoy the 2/15 and 5/15 1:1 Rakuten transfers, and I’ll think about whether or not I want to engage further with Bilt in June.
They did the same thing to me on credit limit. $50k to $24k. Annoying,
I had no issues using the Bilt app application
Gary you are aware Brian Kelly is an early Bilt investor. Of course he will get an advantage.
I come back to making this simple: For heavy spenders who use Hyatt its a great card. For heavy spenders who use United or Aeroplan its an ok card. For everyone else: eh at best.
Oddly the enhanced TPG welcome offer was pulled at 12 pm yesterday- so it was only around for 1 day
First of all the TPG offer I heard was pulled (or expired???) at noon yesterday. True or false, intentional or not I have no idea. Secondly some have said existing users of 1.0 are not eligible for the extra 5X offer, others have said they are. I believe both were stated at different times on the Reddit AMA (which I admittedly didn’t review- who has time for this sh*t?) And third of all I don’t think you actually applied as an upgrade (or the system didn’t realize you are an existing user) because when I did mine (Sorry, I used the TPG link even though the no longer appears, in the hopes that this whole rollout is so screwed up they will honor the bonus for all that apply through him — but since he doesn’t allow comments on his site who the hell knows?), even though I went through his link it immediately recognized me as an existing user so no hard pull and I did get the closure option on the WF. I can’t imagine anyone doing a worse job on the rollout when even the bloggers plugging the card are pissed off and confused.
Anyway you may be losing commission for no reason by sending people to TPG because his offer is (maybe/possibly/probably/WTH knows) dead now anyway.
“I’m pretty pissed off at them for giving me an inferior link for y’all…”
And F—k TPG.
And I’m with you, Gary. I picked Palladium mostly for that limited-edition mirror-finish… /s
Also, ironically, I got a higher CL than you, which is nuts, because I’m a peon, and you’re the G.O.A.T. Like, WTF!
for those that choose to close the Wells Fargo card, does your current legacy BILT 1.0 card remain active until 2/7?
Out of principle I would apply via your or OMAAT’s link over TPG even with the 5x offer.
@Kosher Kimchee — Heck yeah!
Anyone get Ankur’s email this afternoon… “Bilt cardholders will never be charged a fee to earn rewards on housing payments.” Then, he goes on, calling out us “four bananas” folk. Teehee.
Quoting here: Option 1: New tiers… Points on Housing:
Minimum everyday spend as a % of monthly rent / mortgage (example $2,000 rent)
0.5x points — Spend at least 25% of monthly rent ($500)
0.75x points — Spend at least 50% of monthly rent ($1,000)
1x points — Spend at least 75% of monthly rent ($1,500)
1.25x points — Spend the same or more as your monthly rent ($2,000)
If you don’t hit the minimum spend requirement, you still earn 250 points per month. Bilt Card 2.0 also removes the 100,000 rent point cap that existed with Card 1.0, so you can now earn unlimited points on housing payments.
Option 2: BILT Cash…We choose when we activate the card.
The on-fire sharknado just collided with a hurricane during an earthquake and tsunami.
I’d forgotten that Kelly is part of Bilt. I do not consider that to be a positive feature.
@Gary – I’m impressed that a $25K credit limit is a lowball. Props to you!
“Frankly, I’m pretty pissed off at them for giving me an inferior link for y’all. Mostly I’m mad they did it and didn’t say they were it. I didn’t share my own link before seeing this, though.”
Ditto. Strsaight from the Citi Strata Elite school of business practice.
@Michael R. Lissack: “Gary so you are happy paying 3.3 cents per bilt point to get those points on your mortgage?”
Please explain that value of the opportunity cost. Thks.
@L3
That is assuming Bilt Cash is worth 1c each although they promise that.
If you give up 3c Bilt Cash – you get 1 Bilt point – transferable
The real question is if Bilt can pay 4% cash back + 2 Bilt points per $ spend on card and rent
Think about it for 3k spend and 4 k rent / mortgage = the interchange cost to merchant is 2.9%
The rent is by ACH now so only income to cardless and Bilt is 2.9% of 3k = 87$
For this if they give me Bilt cash 4% = 120$ ??
Then give me 6k Bilt Points = worth 60$ at least?
I think Cardless will go bellyup or if Bilt is paying this ,they are going to do a flop unless Fed bails them out
Option A
give me 4k Rent-Bilt points if I give up the Bilt Cash = 10k Bilt per month
What happens if I do not give up the Bilt Cash and use it 1:1 for hotels?
120$ a month x 12 months = 1440 – I can pay for some good hotels there
And still have 66kx12 = 72k from my spend each year
I am waiting for ver 3 of Bilt 2.0 soon – earn and burn with Bilt quickly
i have the bilt card and charge over $500,000 a year on it. i applied for the paladium new card and got DENIED. it says i had to many hard pulls on my credit report. though my credit score is over 700. this is ridiculous. any guidance on what i can do? i really liked the old bilt card. where should i apply for now to give me better points. I use american express platinum for airfare.
thank you for any advice. and shame on bilt!
stephen gross
Hmm…. I initially thought I might pick up one of these for the mortgage points, but after plowing through the comments, I think I’ll pass. My mortgage is relatively small and will be paid off in 3 years (unless TBills drop below 3%, in which case I’ll pay it off immediately), I don’t use Hyatt, and the headaches turn me off.
Why have you deleted the comments regarding those of us who were Bilt 1.0 customers and were DENIED for Bilt 2.0. This was not a seamless transition to Cardless. I was denied for having too many inquiries despite having been with Bilt 1.0 for 2 years with no account issues.
Yes, BS that they didn’t share the better offer with others. I’ve been a long time supporter of BILT. My son who is a current card holder only got approved for the Blue Card despite selecting Palladium. This was a very poor roll out.
@Larry – I did not delete any comments
Apparently they managed to kill off 10% of the first day “applicants” 75% of whom were their best customers. That in turn got those same now alienated people to look hard at the math and to then realize that except for heavy spending Hyatt Globalists the Bilt 2.0 card is a bad deal. I will be happy using Bilt to process my rent which i will pay on my Atmos card. I need to remind people Richard Kerr was at TPG before Bilt. The rollout has been pathetic. I give Ankur and crew 12-18 months. Then either Bilt 3.0 or out of business. Having great ideas with poor execution and no prior customer feedback is NOT a recipe for success.
The 3.3 cents is simple. Supposedly you earn “Bilt Cash” for expenditures other than housing. That “cash” can be spent on housing points at 3 bilt cents per bilt point or used “dollar for dollar” within the system. Assuming one values these fake dollars usable as “dollar for dollar” at a 10% premium over having to expend real money you get 3.3 cents per point. With no premium its 3 cents. Either way its a really bad use of spending. But Gary is rich so all this is just a game.
@Danny, Bilt’s CEO wrote yesterday that folks approved for one of the cards would be able seamlessly switch to other cards.
@Gary, I’m with you on being irked about the TPG offer. It’s fine if they want to give an early investor a leg up, but they should not have kept that quiet. As it stands we have no assurance that boost was even applied to our new accounts. And may early applicants had been approved before they even knew about it.
Data Point – approved for Palladium with increased credit limit, no credit pull as I have those frozen. I’m wondering if it’s because I checked to close the Wells Fargo card.
I got over twice the limit with the new Bilt card (over $30k) than Wells Fargo gave me (a mere $15k). However, I have not accepted the offer since I am not sure if I will proceed with the new Bilt 2.0 given how crappy the returns are. My emphasis is on Hyatt and AA so I am questioning the value-proposition given how convoluted the math is with this new Bilt 2.0. IMHO they have ruined Bilt. I think I get more from my Hyatt card.
My thing is, why is it that every other luxury card is offering to waive the annual fee for military but not bilt??? It’s greedy.
Which bureau did the app pull? Equifax