The new Bilt 2.0 cards are open for application. Here's how to decide which card is right for you

If you fall in love with one of the new Bilt 2.0 credit cards, you may regret what you just committed to. And if you pass on them, you may regret the missed value with every card swipe.

Bilt points are exceptionally valuable, and now you can also earn Bilt Cash at the same time. But Bilt Cash isn't redeemable for cash; it can be used to earn rewards on housing payments (and myriad other ways). But you don't have to pay anything to earn rewards on housing expenses, depending on which option you choose for getting rewarded on your rent or mortgage payments with no transaction fee. But if you opt to skip the Bilt Cash redemption option, you won't earn Bilt Cash on card purchases.

If your eyes are already glazing over, then stop reading and just get the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card. It earns at least 2X transferrable miles on every purchase, earn a big limited-time welcome offer worth $750 in travel and the annual fee is only $95.

That's the value of the Venture Rewards Card in a single sentence.

The following is an investment of over 2,000 words in an attempt at providing a cursory overview of the new Bilt credit cards and rewards program, and I'm not convinced you'll walk away knowing what it means for you.

With that in mind, the Bilt cards can be the most rewarding travel credit cards for everyday purchases, and Bilt stands alone in offering meaningful rewards on rent or mortgage payments. And that makes Bilt 2.0 worth a closer look.

Bilt Rewards is an all-encompassing rewards program that's free to join. Previously, Bilt offered the Bilt Mastercard®, a no-annual-fee travel credit card. With the launch of Bilt 2.0, there are three Bilt credit cards at different price points.

Bilt Rewards points transfer to 23 airline and hotel loyalty programs, and this ability is available to all Bilt Rewards members; you don't need a premium credit card to unlock travel transfers. Plus, all three Bilt 2.0 cards offer a 10% intro APR on purchases for 12 billing cycles (then a variable APR of 26.74% to 34.74% applies).

Bilt Palladium Card

The Bilt Palladium Card (see rates and fees) is a premium travel credit card with a $495 annual fee and several luxury perks. It also has the largest welcome bonus of any Bilt card: You can earn $300 in Bilt Cash upon approval and 50,000 Bilt Points after spending $4,000 on non-housing purchases in the first 90 days. Plus, you'll get Bilt Gold status for the remainder of the calendar year and all of the following calendar year.

The Palladium earns 2X Bilt Points on eligible everyday spending and includes the following benefits:

• Up to $400 in Bilt Travel Hotel credits: Receive up to $400 in statement credits for Bilt Travel hotel bookings each calendar year. You can receive $200 back for eligible bookings from Jan. 1 through June 30, and $200 back for eligible bookings from July 1 through Dec. 31 (two-night minimum stay required).
• $200 Bilt Cash bonus: Receive $200 in Bilt Cash every calendar year as an annual statement credit. At the end of each calendar year, any Bilt Cash balance over $100 will expire.
• Airport lounge access: You can enroll to receive unlimited access to Priority Pass airport lounges for yourself and up to two guests.
• Travel and shopping protections*: At no additional cost, you can take advantage of MasterRental Coverage (secondary in the U.S.), Trip Delay Reimbursement, Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection, Baggage Delay Insurance, Lost or Damaged Luggage Insurance, Purchase Assurance, Extended Warranty, Price Drop Protection and Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection.

Bilt Obsidian Card

The Bilt Obsidian Card (see rates and fees) has a $95 annual fee and a welcome bonus of $200 in Bilt Cash upon account approval. At the end of each calendar year, any Bilt Cash balance over $100 will expire.

It earns 3X points on your choice of either grocery or dining purchases (you only earn 3X points on up to $25,000 in grocery spending each calendar year, then 1X), 2X points on travel and 1X points on all other eligible purchases.

• Up to $100 in annual Bilt Travel hotel credits: Receive up to $100 in statement credits each calendar year for Bilt Travel hotel bookings. Get a $50 statement credit for Bilt Travel hotel bookings made between Jan. 1 and June 30, and another $50 statement credit for eligible bookings made between July 1 and Dec. 31 (two-night minimum stay required).
• Travel and shopping protections*: You receive MasterRental Coverage (secondary in the U.S.), Trip Delay Reimbursement, Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection, Lost or Damaged Luggage Insurance, Purchase Assurance, Extended Warranty and Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection.

Bilt Blue Card

The Bilt Blue Card (see rates and fees) has no annual fee and a welcome offer of $100 in Bilt Cash upon approval. at the end of each calendar year, any Bilt Cash balance over $100 will expire.

It earns 1X points on all purchases and features a handful of protections*, such as Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection, Purchase Assurance and MasterRental Coverage (secondary in the U.S.).

*A maximum benefit amount and certain restrictions and limitations apply. Please review the Mastercard Guide to Benefits for details:

• https://www.biltrewards.com/terms/blue-card-guide-to-benefits
• https://www.biltrewards.com/terms/palladium-card-guide-to-benefits
• https://www.biltrewards.com/terms/obsidian-card-guide-to-benefits

A unique feature of the Bilt credit card collection is the ability to earn points on rent or mortgage payments with no transaction fee (up to 1.25X). All three Bilt 2.0 cards earn housing rewards in the same ways and have the same Bilt Cash redemption options.

This is where things start to get confusing, but if you're willing to wade through the options (and do a little math), you can unlock the potential of these cards.

Housing rewards

You have two options for earning points on rent or mortgage payments with no transaction fee.

If you have trouble wrapping your head around which option is better for you, you may find the Bilt Rewards calculators created by nextcard or Max Miles Points helpful.

Option 1

You can earn up to 1.25X points on housing payments you make through Bilt without a fee, but you won't earn Bilt Cash from your card spending. This option has a tiered earning rate based on the percentage of your housing payment that you spend on other purchases with your card each month.

If you spend:

• Less than 25% of your housing payment in card purchases, you'll earn a minimum of 250 points on your housing payment
• At least 25% but less than 50% of your housing payment in card purchases, you'll earn 0.5X points on your housing payment
• At least 50%, but less than 75% of your housing payment in card purchases, you'll earn 0.75X points on your housing payment
• At least 75% but less than 100% of your housing payment in card purchases, you'll earn 1X points on your housing payment
• 100% or more of your housing payment in card purchases, you'll earn 1.25X points on your housing payment

Let's say your monthly rent or mortgage is $1,500. If you spend $1,500+ in non-housing payments on your Bilt card, you'll earn 1,875 Bilt Points on your housing payment that month. If you only spend $450 in non-housing on your Bilt card (30%), you'll earn 750 Bilt Points that month on your housing payment.

Oddly, this option can be more rewarding per dollar spent when you spend less than your full housing payment. With a $1,500 payment, you'll earn an additional 1.25X points when you spend the full $1,500 on your card. If you only spend $500 on your card, you'll earn fewer points overall but at a higher rate of 1.5X additional points on non-housing purchases.

Option 2

You can pay your rent or mortgage through Bilt and receive up to 1.25X points on the payment. With this option, you'll pay $30 Bilt Cash for 1,000 Bilt Points (3% in Bilt Cash). You also earn 4% in Bilt Cash on every purchase, in addition to your Bilt Points.

If your monthly housing payment is $1,500, you'd pay $45 in Bilt Cash to earn the full 1.25X points on your payment. To earn enough Bilt Cash to earn the full 1.25X points on your housing payment, you'd have to earn 4% in Bilt Cash on at least $1,125 in non-housing payments.

A simple way to think of this option: By spending an amount equal to 75% of your monthly housing payment on non-housing purchases, you'll effectively earn an additional 1.33X points, since that's how much you need to spend each month to offset the Bilt Cash needed to earn the full 1.25X points on your housing payment. In this scenario, you'd earn 1,125 points (on 1.25X) purchases and 1,500 points on the housing payment, which is roughly 2.33X points on the original $1,125 in spending.

Bilt Cash

Every Bilt Rewards member can earn Bilt Cash alongside Bilt Points. You'll receive $50 Bilt Cash for every 25,000 Bilt Points you earn toward Bilt elite status. Bilt cardholders can earn additional Bilt Cash if they choose option 2 (from above) for housing payments, and the Palladium Card offers an annual Bilt Cash bonus.

If you're a rewards hoarder, don't sit on your Bilt Cash; it expires at the end of the calendar year, and you can only roll over $100 to the next year. There are 17 Bilt Cash redemption options, plus two cardholder-exclusive redemption options (when you choose to earn 4% Bilt Cash), and each has limitations and restrictions. If you love reading instruction manuals, you can peruse the details here.

If you're deciding whether a Bilt 2.0 card is right for you, the Bilt Cash redemptions I recommend paying attention to are:

• Point accelerator (exclusively for Bilt cardholders): Pay $200 Bilt Cash to earn an additional 1X points on the next $5,000 in purchases. You can use this benefit up to five times per year. (Expires after $5,000 everyday spend or calendar year-end.)
• Pay with Bilt Cash for up to 1.25X points on housing payments (exclusively for Bilt cardholders): This redemption is explained above in Option 2.
• Higher transfer bonuses: Bilt's monthly Rent Day promotion is famous for offering previously unheard of transfer bonuses of 100% or more. The catch is that you need Bilt elite status to access the best transfer rates. Now, you can pay to upgrade your transfer bonus. It costs $75 in Bilt Cash to upgrade your transfer bonus by 25%. But that is subject to change, and those rates may not apply to every Rent Day.

You could argue that the Bilt 2.0 cards are the best travel credit cards at each price point because of how valuable Bilt Rewards are. While this version of Bilt Rewards is complicated, it doesn't have to be for you. Even if you won't bother maximizing housing payments, the Bilt Cash point accelerator can transform the Bilt cards into simple, top-tier rewards credit cards.

Since you can earn $200 Bilt Cash for every $5,000 you spend, you could string together the max of five point accelerator boosts per year and effectively earn 1X additional points on up to $25,000 in spending. This converts the Bilt Blue into a flat-rate 2X no-annual-fee card that earns transferable points; the Bilt Obsidian would earn 4X points on dining or groceries, and the Palladium would earn 3X points everywhere.

The main caveat is that each of these exceptional rewards rates is capped at $25,000 a year. But the point accelerator path is a simple and valuable solution that could make sense for a lot of people — especially when you consider the potential of an insanely good Rent Day transfer bonus.

If you're on the fence about applying for a Bilt 2.0 card, these two questions can help you make a decision:

What perks matter to you?

The Bilt cards offer a lot, but the question is: Do they offer what you want?

If you value transfer options and understand how to make the most of different airline and hotel loyalty programs, Bilt Points can take you just about anywhere. Bilt offers transfers to many of the standard programs available through other rewards programs, as well as less common partners, such as Atmos Rewards, World of Hyatt and Japan JAL Mileage Bank.

While Bilt Points can take you far, the Bilt cards lag in travel protections. For me, it's essential to have a credit card with primary rental car collision coverage for rentals in the U.S. This benefit can save me $15+ a day when I decline the rental company's collision damage waiver. The Bilt cards offer secondary rental car insurance in the U.S. (it's only primary when renting outside the U.S.).

Certain other travel insurance benefits are also weaker than what competitors offer. For example, many travel cards have built-in trip delay insurance. The fine print varies by card, but you're typically covered for delays that require an overnight stay or exceed 12 hours (six hours for premium trip delay coverage).

The Obsidian and Palladium cards have trip delay coverage that kicks in after a six-hour delay, but it only covers up to $300 per trip, with one claim allowed per 12 months. As a comparison, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) covers 12+ hour delays, and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card covers delays of six hours or more. Both offer trip delay reimbursement of up to $500 per ticket with no annual cap on the number of claims. Both cards also come with primary rental car coverage for domestic rentals.

These may seem like minor details, but I've personally made several trip delay claims that exceed $300. So if I get a Bilt card, I'll still need a card that offers the travel insurance I want.

What card(s) would you be using instead?

For me, the Bilt cards could be more valuable than the cards they'd replace in my wallet. The question is, how much more valuable?

Most of my family's everyday spending ends up on the Citi Double Cash® Card or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.

The Double Cash has no annual fee and earns 2% cash back (1% back when you buy and 1% back when you pay) on all purchases. It also has access to all of the Citi ThankYou® transfer partners (albeit at reduced transfer ratios). The Bilt Blue could earn slightly more once I factor in my mortgage payment, but it would only end up earning around 5,000 more points over the year. The Bilt Blue could push the Double Cash out of my wallet, but it's close.

I use the Venture X for all my travel purchases because it has excellent travel insurance and earns at least 2X points everywhere. The Bilt Palladium could earn 15,000 to 25,000 more points per year based on my spending and how I use those points for housing payments and/or the point accelerator. But the Palladium costs $100 more per year, and its annual fee would be much harder to justify given the card's benefits.

The Palladium does have better airport lounge access than the Venture X, but I would find it difficult to use the $400 Bilt Travel hotel credit since it requires a two-night stay to maximize. Meanwhile, the Venture X has an annual $300 Capital One Travel credit and a 10,000-mile anniversary bonus. Every year, I easily use both benefits to book car rentals through Capital One Travel.

At some point, I can see myself getting a Bilt card because there is so much value in the program. One good Rent Day transfer bonus could double the value of my points. But for now, I'm going to stay the course with my current credit card lineup; I'm not ready to commit to maximizing a Bilt card.

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