Bilt Palladium Card: Rewards on Housing Are Almost Secondary

Excellent, high-value, flexible rewards

Aside from its ability to earn rewards on housing (in a complicated way), the Bilt Palladium Card’s ongoing rewards on daily spending are comparable with or better than what you get on other premium credit cards. No matter which rewards-earning option you choose, you'll earn 2 Bilt Points per $1 spent on non-rent/mortgage spending — and if you choose Option 2, you'll also earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on that spending.

And as I mentioned earlier, Option 2 also opens up the possibility of an even higher rate on your non-housing spending. That's because you can use your accumulated Bilt Cash to activate the card's "point accelerator" feature, which earns you one extra Bilt Point (for a total of 3x points) per $1 spent in everyday categories, up to $5,000 in spending. You can do this up to five times a year, and helpfully, the Bilt app includes a tracker to show you how much qualifying accelerator spending you have left. (I'm almost through my first one.):

For comparison, the $395-annual-fee Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card also earns an ongoing 2 miles per $1 spent on most purchases, and it, too, has multiple transfer partners to which you can transfer those rewards. (It's also worth noting that your miles will post more or less immediately, like with the Bilt Palladium Card.)

But the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card obviously doesn't also allow you to earn Bilt Cash on purchases — so there's no "point accelerator" option — and Capital One's transfer partners are largely less familiar international carriers. Bilt's partners are much stronger, including well-known U.S. brands like Alaska Airlines, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Southwest and United.

In fact, even compared to heavy hitters like Chase, American Express and Citi (and I have cards from all of them), Bilt has the best collection of transfer partners on the market, and it's not particularly close.

» MORE: Bilt Palladium vs. Capital One Venture X: An in-depth comparison

Outstanding welcome offer

New Bilt Palladium Card holders can earn a terrific welcome bonus: 50,000 Bilt Points + Gold Status after spending $4,000 on everyday purchases in the first 90 days + $300 of Bilt Cash.

That's a lot of upfront value that you'd be hard-pressed to match elsewhere: 50,000 Bilt Points could go a long way toward funding your next vacation; $300 in Bilt Cash could "buy" you several months of "free" rewards on housing payments; and Gold Status with Bilt includes, among other things, higher transfer bonuses to partners.

Also, not to belabor the point, but your rewards with the Bilt Palladium Card — including those earned via the welcome offer — post quickly. That was a big help when I was attempting to book the Hotel Adele & Jules in Paris. It's a Mr. and Mrs. Smith property, and as such, it's bookable with Hyatt points. But I didn't have quite enough of those to book the one additional night I needed. Fortunately, Hyatt is a Bilt transfer partner, and thanks to the quick infusion of a large pile of Bilt Points, I was able to snap up that extra night before missing the deal completely.

» MORE: NerdWallet's best credit card bonuses

Multiple credits that can justify the card's cost

Bilt Palladium Card holders can more than offset the card’s $495 annual fee with just two of its recurring perks: a $400 credit that can be used to book hotels through Bilt’s travel portal, and $200 of Bilt Cash. (And that's before factoring in the card's access to participating Priority Pass airport lounges.)

Both of those travel credits renew every year. Note that the $400 hotel credit is issued semi-annually, in two $200 increments, and that a minimum two-night stay is required.

Crucially, you can stack both of these perks, which I did for a Fourth of July weekend trip to my small coastal hometown. There aren't a lot of chain hotels there, but Bilt's travel portal featured a bed-and-breakfast-type property that could accommodate my family of four and that, even better, was within walking distance of my mom's house. The total cost for a three-night stay would have been about $635, but thanks to my $200 Bilt portal credit and $100 in Bilt Cash, I paid only around half that.

It’s (very) complicated

I'll be the first to tell you: If you value simplicity in a credit card, run — don’t walk — away from the Bilt Palladium Card. If you indeed wish to earn rewards on your housing payments, you first need to decide which of the two rewards-earning options is best for you. (You can change your preference at any time, but that in itself is a form of maintenance.)

• If you choose Option 1 (the non-Bilt Cash option), spending on your Bilt card is critical to getting the maximum amount of housing rewards. But tracking spending can be tedious, and putting all of it on one card comes with an opportunity cost; any number of other rewards cards might feature similar or better ongoing rewards on that non-housing spending.

• Option 2 isn't any easier. With it, you'll have to juggle two currencies (Bilt Points AND Bilt Cash) that work in different ways — and to get the best value from each, math will likely be required. For every 3 cents in Bilt Cash you redeem, you unlock 1 Bilt Point on housing payments. So, as noted in the example above: For a $2,000 housing payment, you’d need to redeem $60 of Bilt Cash to earn the full 2,000 Bilt Points. If you don’t have enough Bilt Cash to earn that tranche of Bilt Points on the full value of your housing payment, you can just redeem what you have. Using that same $2,000 mortgage example, let's say you have only $45 of Bilt Cash. That's enough to unlock $1,500 worth of your housing payment ($45 divided by 3 cents = 1,500). You would earn only 1,500 Bilt Points, instead of the full 2,000.

Oh, and one more thing to remember: You're on the clock to use your Bilt Cash. Only $100 of it rolls over from year to year.

That's ... a lot to wrap your head around, even for the most hardened credit card optimizer. Alternatively, though, you could just do what I do: Choose Option 2 but avoid using the card for any housing payments at all. Under this scenario, you'll have to get creative to find other uses for all that Bilt Cash you'll be accumulating, since you won't be using it to "unlock" housing rewards. But I've spent my Bilt Cash on hotel credits, Walgreens credits, Lyft credits, Grubhub credits and of course the point accelerator feature — and while I'll almost certainly have more than $100 of it left by year's end, that's far less concerning than the possibility of mucking up my mortgage payments.

» MORE: Credit cards with potentially confusing rewards programs

High annual fee

The Bilt Palladium Card comes with a triple-digit annual fee. And while, yes, you can more than make up for that fee thanks to the card's generous perks, it's worth keeping in mind that the previous Bilt credit card — the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card, which is no longer available — had no annual fee at all and was a much more straightforward product.

Bilt does have two less expensive cards: the $0-annual-fee Bilt Blue Card and the $95-annual-fee Bilt Obsidian Card. They're options if you're itching to earn rewards on housing payments but aren't so keen on a three-digit annual price tag for that privilege. The problem with those cards, though, is that their other ongoing rewards (on everyday expenses) are modest, and their perks are thin. And since I'm not comfortable tying any Bilt card to my mortgage payments, there's no reason for me to get either of them, when they can't match what the Bilt Palladium Card does for me on all my other spending.

If you aren't interested in earning rewards on housing but still want a cheaper, simpler card that earns transferable rewards to fund your travel, the aforementioned Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is an ideal pick.

Similarly, while the $325-annual-fee American Express® Gold Card isn't a traditional travel card per se, the rewards you earn with it can be transferred to one of American Express' multiple travel partners. (Terms apply.)

» MORE: Is a Bilt credit card worth it?

Questions about customer service

For card with a three-digit annual fee, you’d expect white-glove service, especially if problems arise. But that’s not what many Bilt users — including myself — are reporting. The rollout of the cards was rocky from the start, with the company changing key details about how rewards can be earned just days after the cards were announced. Even now, it can be hard to suss out important card details.

Reddit forums for Bilt customers have seen many reports from people who found themselves on hold with a chatbot for hours, unable to get in touch with a human to help. (It me! When I got approved for the Bilt Palladium Card, I wasn't able to actually locate it in the Bilt app at first, which was problematic because I needed the temporary virtual card number that Bilt gives you so you can start making purchases immediately. Bilt's bot was no help and eventually asked me if wanted to be connected to a "specialist who can take a closer look." I said yes ... but the "specialist" never materialized. The problem resolved itself in a few hours, but it wasn't a great first impression.)

More serious issues include users reporting problems with having their rent or mortgage payment processed in a timely fashion, or at all, or with being double-charged. (Ask me again why I have no plans to use my Bilt Palladium Card for this purpose.) Another NerdWallet writer who's also a Bilt cardholder was on hold with Cardless for 40 minutes while trying to request a new card, and in another case waited 14 hours for Bilt customer service to reply to a text about an issue with rewards posting.

It’s possible that customer service will improve over time, but at the moment, it's a bit of a mess.