How Bilt's Groundbreaking New Credit Card Can Unlock Next-Level Value From Your Spending...

In an increasingly crowded ring of premium credit cards, one new contender is laying claim to the heavyweight crown.

Meet the Bilt Palladium Card. Designed to make your paying your largest monthly expense - housing - even more rewarding.

This new credit card offers cardholders the ability to earn up to 1X points when they pay their rent and even their mortgage.* Rewarding options that have been next to impossible without incurring high fees.

There’s no spending categories to keep track of. There’s no merchant-specific “coupons” to remember to go out of your way to use just to make the annual fee (see rates and fees) feel worth it.

And it earns arguably the most valuable points on the market.

Plus: not only does it earn 2X points on everyday purchases*, it can actually earn two kinds of rewards on those purchases, too.

Here’s why I think the new Bilt Palladium Card is a strong contender for your wallet whether you rent or you own — and even if you don’t even use it to pay your monthly housing bill!

Industry-leading rewards, earned two ways

The Bilt Palladium Card is brand-new. But Bilt is not.

NerdWallet has been following the company’s evolution — and recommending its valuable points — for years.

Bilt is a loyalty program that lets you earn points by paying rent, dining out, taking rideshares, shopping with select merchants, and even buying a home. There are several options to redeem Bilt Points, including transferring them 1:1 to one of the best selections of hotel and airline partners of any rewards program out there.

Each year, NerdWallet performs a comprehensive, data-driven analysis of dozens of airline, hotel and general credit card rewards programs to determine how much actual value you can expect to get from any given points or miles.

And Bilt points have consistently come out on top as having the highest value.

The new Bilt Palladium Card earns 2X Bilt points on everyday purchases.* That’s a solid, predictable rewards rate that matches the highest you’ll find on everyday purchases among premium credit cards.

But those 2X points are only half the rewards you can earn.

You can also choose to get an eye-popping 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday purchases.*

Bilt Cash is a new kind of reward that cardholders can earn alongside Bilt Points, making each transaction doubly rewarding.

You can redeem Bilt Cash at face value – dollar for dollar – for credits across Bilt’s network of offerings.

That means $50 in Bilt Cash can get you things like $50 worth of Lyft rides, $50 off your bill at select restaurants, $50 toward hotel bookings made in the Bilt travel portal, $50 to cover select fitness classes, $50 toward Walgreens purchases and more.

Yes, there are some limits and restriction with Bilt Cash. But I do love how it’s not a one-size-fits-all value. You’ll have a lot of choice and flexibility to redeem Bilt Cash in the way that makes the most sense for you.

Whether you want to spend some to cover a Walgreens purchase you were going to make anyway, grab lunch with a GrubHub credit, or splurge for a Blade helicopter ride in Manhattan.

Plus, you can use Bilt Cash to access elite-level perks like exclusive experiences, more valuable transfer bonuses, and the ability to unlock Bilt points when you pay your rent or mortgage using the card.

I won’t sugarcoat it: having multiple kinds of rewards and redemptions options can be a bit complicated. There's a little mental math involved.

But once you understand how valuable Bilt Points and Bilt Cash can be, the pieces will fall into place.

The card’s math doesn’t lie

I’ll get into more details about Bilt Points and Bilt Cash – and how you can use these rewards for great value – in a moment.

But let’s start with the basics of the Bilt Palladium Card.

Sign-up bonus: 50,000 Bilt Points + Gold Status after spending $4,000 on everyday purchases in the first 90 days + $300 of Bilt Cash. Subject to approval.*

NerdWallet values Bilt Points at 1.8 cents each when transferred to select travel partners, making the sign-up bonus of 50,000 points worth roughly $900 toward travel.

Rewards:

• 2 points per $1 spent on all non-housing purchases, uncapped.*

• Use Bilt Cash to unlock up to 1 point per $1 spent on rent and mortgage payments, uncapped.*

• Option to earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on all non-housing purchases.*

Annual cardholder benefits:

• $400 Bilt Travel portal hotel credit (split into $200 semi-annually).*

• $200 Bilt Cash.*

• Priority Pass airport lounge access ($469 value). (See Guide to Benefits.)

Foreign transaction fee: $0 (see rates and fees).

Annual fee: $495 (see rates and fees).

Other benefits:

• Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection.

• Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection.

• Trip Delay Reimbursement.

• Baggage Delay Insurance.

• Lost or Damaged Luggage Insurance.

• Extended Warranty, Purchase Assurance and Price Drop Protection.

• See Guide to Benefits.

Let’s say you spend $5,000 a month on everyday purchases on the Bilt Palladium Card.

You’ll earn 10,000 Bilt Points, plus $200 in Bilt Cash if you’ve selected Flexible Bilt Cash as your bonus rewards option.*

NerdWallet values Bilt Points at 1.8 cents each when transferred to select travel partners. So that means 10,000 Bilt Points are worth around $180 toward travel.

So on that $5,000 spent on purchases on your card, you’ll earn the equivalent of:

$180 in travel points + $200 in Bilt Cash = $380 in total rewards value.

Now let’s compare that to what you’d earn on that same amount of spending in everyday, non-bonus categories on other premium cards.

If you’re looking for the flat-out best return on your credit card spending, the Bilt Palladium Card is the clear winner.

You can earn rewards on rent and mortgage payments

Here’s where the Bilt Palladium Card gets even more interesting.

As I said earlier, the only way to earn rewards on rent and mortgage payments and earn valuable points is through Bilt.

For most people, housing is by far their biggest monthly expense – so the ability to earn up to 1X points on this expense is huge.*

And with the card, you can pay your monthly rent or mortgage with no transaction fee. Plus there’s no cap on how much you can spend on housing.

The rub is that while you can pay your housing with no transaction fee, you won’t earn points on that expense unless you kick in some of your Bilt Cash in exchange for points.

Here’s how it works…

For the sake of round numbers, let’s say you have a $5,000 mortgage. You can pay that $5,000 mortgage through the Bilt platform using your Bilt Palladium Card. You won’t pay a transaction fee.

If you want to earn Bilt points on that transaction, you’ll need to spend your Bilt Cash equivalent to 3%. $30 Bilt Cash is worth 1,000 Bilt points, up to 1X on your total housing payment.

For a $5,000 mortgage, you’ll need $150 in Bilt Cash to cover the transaction and earn 5,000 Bilt points.

If you don’t have enough Bilt Cash to unlock the maximum 1X points on your housing payment, you can redeem a smaller amount of Bilt Cash to earn up to 1X points. For example, if you only have $30 in Bilt Cash, you can redeem it to earn 1,000 points on your $5,000 mortgage payment.

You can choose to only use the card to pay your rent or mortgage once you have enough Bilt Cash to unlock the maximum 1X points on your payment. There's no obligation to pay your housing expense every month using the card.

Or, you could choose to use the card only for your everyday spending and skip using it for your mortgage or rent payment altogether. Then, you can redeem your Bilt Cash for things like hotels booked through Bilt, Lyft rides, select restaurant bills and more.

Trade your Bilt Cash to earn even more points on everyday spending

Another super unique and valuable option?

If you're a Bilt Palladium Card or Bilt Obsidian Card holder, you can use your Bilt Cash as a “points accelerator” to make spending on the card even more rewarding.

If you select Flexible Bilt Cash as your bonus rewards option, you can spend $200 Bilt Cash to enable an additional 1X bonus points on all everyday spend, up to $5,000.+

That means the Bilt Palladium Card would earn 3X points on everyday purchases you make in that period. And, you can choose to redeem your Bilt Cash for points acceleration up to 5 times per year.+

A full portfolio of options

If you don’t want to commit to a premium credit card, but you still want to earn some of the most valuable points out there toward travel, Bilt has two other options.

Both of these cards give the same option to earn 4% flexible Bilt Cash uncapped on every non-housing purchase, plus the ability to earn up to 1X points on your rent or mortgage payments, uncapped.*

You'll be hard-pressed to find a flat 4%  return you can redeem towards dollar-for-dollar value on everyday lifestyle purchases like Lyft rides, restaurant bills, hotel bookings, fitness classes and more on any other mid-tier or annual-fee-free (see rates and fees) cards.

Bilt Obsidian Card

Sign-up bonus: Earn $200 Bilt Cash when you apply and get approved.*

Rewards:

• 3 points per $1 spent on your choice of either dining or grocery purchases, up to $25,000 spent per year. Your choice category may be changed once a year.*

• 2 points per $1 spent on travel purchases, uncapped.*

• 1 point per $1 spent on other everyday purchases, uncapped.*

• Use Bilt Cash to unlock up to 1 point per $1 spent on rent and mortgage payments, uncapped.*

• Option to earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on all non-housing purchases.*

Annual cardholder benefits:

• $100 Bilt Travel portal hotel credit (split into $50 semi-annually).*

Foreign transaction fee: $0 (see rates and fees).

Annual fee: $95 (see rates and fees).

Bilt Blue Card

Sign-up bonus: Earn $100 Bilt Cash when you apply and get approved.*

Rewards:

• 1 point per $1 spent on everyday purchases, uncapped.*

• Use Bilt Cash to unlock up to 1 point per $1 spent on rent and mortgage payments, uncapped.*

• Option to earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on all non-housing purchases.*

Foreign transaction fee: $0 (see rates and fees).

Annual fee: $0 (see rates and fees).

Is a Bilt card worth it?

If you’re looking to pile up travel points with the highest value, a Bilt card should absolutely be in your wallet. I'd call it a no-brainer.

Bilt offers the option to transfer points 1:1 to one of the best selections of hotel and airline partners of any rewards program out there.

But if you don’t want to use your points toward travel, Bilt offers a wide variety of other ways you can redeem them, too.

These brand-new credit cards offer the groundbreaking ability to earn points when you pay your mortgage or your rent using the card.

Even if you don’t want to use your card to pay for housing, a Bilt credit card is arguably still incredibly valuable.

Like I showed you above, the value you’ll get from the Bilt Palladium Card makes it my top pick.

I applied as soon as I could, and already received my limited-edition mirrored Bilt Palladium Card. It feels like unique artwork for my wallet!

There are no spending categories to keep track of in order to earn the most rewards on your credit card spending. There are no merchant-specific “coupons” to remember to go out of your way to use if you don’t want to. The annual $400 hotel credit goes a long way toward covering the fee’s $495 annual fee – modest compared with other premium credit cards (see rates and fees).

Remember, you’ll earn a rich sign-up bonus when you are approved: 50,000 Bilt Points + Gold Status after spending $4,000 on everyday purchases in the first 90 days + $300 of Bilt Cash.*

That means a total value around $1,200 in the first year you hold the card, since NerdWallet values 50,000 Bilt points at $900 toward travel, combined with the $300 Bilt Cash.

But spending on any of the Bilt cards will earn the most valuable points on the market and should be a strong contender for your wallet.

Bilt Cards are issued by Column N.A., Member FDIC, pursuant to license from Mastercard International Incorporated. *Offer terms. +Points Accelerator terms.