I’ve been thinking about Bilt 2.0 a lot lately … honestly, too much.
But it finally clicked when I realized the Bilt Palladium card’s welcome bonus alone gives me enough “Bilt Cash” to earn 1x points on my mortgage for an entire year – without spending another dime.
That single understanding instantly turned the card from an easy pass into a year-one no-brainer for me. And after running the numbers, it's clear the Palladium card could even be a long-term keeper.
That wasn’t my reaction at first. When Bilt – the scrappy loyalty program built for renters – first hinted it might award points on mortgage payments, I was giddy. Finally, there’d be a way for non-renters like me to stop watching from the sidelines and earn a meaningful stash of ultra-valuable Bilt points.
So when Bilt officially unveiled its trio of new cards, I was … underwhelmed.
It's clear I wasn’t alone. The backlash to Bilt’s convoluted new system for earning rewards on housing payments was swift enough that the company rushed out a secondary option just days later. No matter which path you choose, making sense of it all practically requires a degree in advanced mathematics – or at least a very capable graphing calculator.
At that point, I was ready to write the cards off entirely for being too complex, having too many hoops to jump through, and generally just not being worth my mental energy. Which is exactly why my epiphany about the Palladium card mattered so much.
Here’s why I was thinking about the Bilt Palladium card all wrong – and why it might be worth a second look for you, too.
Related reading: Everything You Need to Know About Earning & Redeeming Points
Bilt Palladium Card Overview
- Welcome Bonus: 50,000 Bilt Points + Gold Status after spending $4,000 on everyday purchases in the first 3 months + $300 of Bilt Cash
- Earn 2x points on everyday purchases, plus the option to earn 4% Bilt Cash in lieu of tiered point-earning on housing payments (more on that below)
- Earn points on housing with no transaction fee
- Choose to earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday spend. Use Bilt Cash to unlock point earnings on rent and mortgage payments with no transaction fee (up to 1x)
- Choose housing-only rewards to earn up to 1.25x points on housing payments, instead of earning Bilt Cash on everyday spend
- $400 Bilt Travel Hotel Credit: Applied twice a year, as $200 statement credits, for qualifying Bilt Travel Portal hotel bookings (two-night minimum stay required)
- $200 Bilt Cash: Awarded annually at the end of each calendar year (any Bilt Cash balance over $100 will expire)
- Priority Pass airport lounge access (see guide to benefits)
- No foreign transaction fees (see rates & fees)
- Annual fee: $495 (see rates & fees)
Apply for the Bilt Palladium.
Low Housing Payment = Free Points
I’ll be the first to admit my situation probably isn’t typical. I’m lucky enough to have a modest monthly mortgage payment, thanks to a variety of circumstances. That’s part of what made me question whether any of this was even worth the hassle to begin with.
We bought our house in 2020, before prices skyrocketed, and locked in a rock-bottom interest rate. Combined with a respectable down payment and living in a relatively low-cost area, my monthly payment is about $1,500.
I realize that’s far less than most people spend on housing. But the math works the same for anyone whose monthly payment is roughly $1,900 or less. And even if your monthly payment is double or triple what I’m paying, you’ll still earn the same number of points … if only for a few months.
Here’s how it works:
- The Bilt Palladium comes with a $200 annual Bilt Cash benefit.
- You also get a $300 Bilt Cash bonus after meeting the card’s minimum spending requirement.
- You’ll earn an additional $160 in Bilt Cash on the $4,000 in everyday spending required to earn the 50,000-point bonus after spending $4,000 in the first three months with the card.
Add it all up, and that’s $660 in Bilt Cash right out of the gate. Since you can redeem $30 in Bilt Cash to unlock 1x point earning on $1,000 in housing payments, that’s enough to earn 22,000 points from the get-go.
I likely won’t stop swiping my new Bilt card there. But even if I did, I’d have enough Bilt Cash to cover a full year of 1x point earning on my mortgage payments – and still have $120 left over.
The Welcome Bonus is Bigger Than I Thought
The Bilt Palladium card currently comes with a 50,000-point welcome bonus, plus Bilt Gold status and $300 in Bilt Cash, after spending $4,000 in the first three months. Considering this is the first time we’ve seen Bilt offer a sign-up bonus at all, that’s welcome news.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look nearly as good when placed next to other premium travel cards offering six-figure bonuses with similar spending requirements.
But here’s why I think it’s actually better than it looks. Because you’ll earn $660 in Bilt Cash after completing the minimum spending requirement, you can turn that into an additional 22,000 points from your housing payments. Since there’s no other way to earn points on rent or mortgages without paying added fees, I think it’s fair to consider that part of the bonus.
A 72,000-point offer moves the needle far more for me than a 50,000-point offer. And it could end up being even bigger than that.
Bilt Gold Status
In addition to the stash of points and Bilt Cash, the Palladium card comes with complimentary Bilt Gold status for the rest of the year and all of the following year. Gold status includes a handful of somewhat questionable perks, but there’s one I really care about: Rent Housing Day (?) transfer bonuses.
On the first of every month, Bilt celebrates the otherwise unheralded day when many people make their rent or mortgage payments. Not every Rent Day has a travel angle, but if history is any indicator, about half of them feature a transfer bonus to one of Bilt’s stable of airline and hotel partners.
In the past year alone, we’ve seen bonuses of up to 200% from partners including Accor, Avianca LifeMiles, British Airways Avios, Virgin Red, Hilton, and more.
The catch? The biggest bonuses are reserved for Bilt’s elite status members.
While there’s no guarantee, Gold status is usually good for a 75% bonus during these promotions. If I can catch one that aligns with my travel plans, I could potentially turn a 72,000-point bonus into 126,000 airline miles or hotel points. Now we're talking!
To be fair, other banks regularly offer transfer bonuses – and they’re typically available for more than a single day – but they’re never as large as what we’ve seen from Bilt. For example, Amex and Chase have both offered 40% bonuses on transfers to Virgin Atlantic in recent years, but that’s about as good as it gets.
Even if I treat a 75% Bilt bonus as only 35% better than what other banks offer, a stash of 72,000 Bilt points could be worth the equivalent of 100,000 points from another issuer. That puts this offer on par with other top travel cards. I’d also argue Bilt’s partner list is the best in the business, creating even more opportunities to extract value.
Beyond transfer bonuses, there’s one other Gold status perk that intrigues me: Earning points with Rakuten. Late last year, Bilt and Rakuten announced a partnership allowing shoppers to earn Bilt points instead of cash back on many online purchases.
I’ve already racked up nearly $400 in cash back – some of it still pending – which translates to about 40,000 Bilt points through Rakuten this quarter alone.
New to Rakuten? Get a $50 bonus (5,000 points) after signing up and spending $50!
So where does Bilt status come in? Starting in May, basic Bilt Blue members will see their Rakuten rewards cut in half. Each $1 in Bilt Cash will yield just 50 Bilt points, making the value proposition far less appealing.
To continue earning Bilt points through Rakuten at a 1:1 ratio – $1 in cash back for 100 points – I’ll need elite status. The Bilt Palladium card provides a simple shortcut … even if it only lasts for a couple of years.
What About Year Two … & Beyond?
It’s probably too early to say whether the Palladium card will be a long-term keeper for me, but I’m optimistic.
If I earmark Bilt Cash exclusively for earning points on my monthly mortgage payment, the annual $200 allotment is enough to earn 6,666 points per year without swiping the card once. Realistically, I’ll try to carry $100 in Bilt Cash into 2027 – the maximum allowed to rollover into the following year – which means I’ll likely start the year with $300. That’s enough to earn 10,000 Bilt points on my mortgage payments.
I’m not currently earning any points on my mortgage, so this is real value that only a Bilt card can provide.
To keep earning 1x points on my full payment year after year, I’ll need to spend about $8,500 annually – roughly $700 per month – on the card. That seems doable, but to be sure, I looked back at my spending on the *capital one venture x* last year.
Since the Venture X earns unlimited 2x miles on all purchases, it’s my default “everything else” card. In 2025, I spent more than $12,000 on it, mostly in unbonused categories.
If I shift a significant portion of that spending to the Bilt Palladium — which I likely will, since I generally value Bilt points more — I shouldn’t have any trouble earning points on my mortgage payments for the foreseeable future. If I end up earning more Bilt Cash than I need for housing payments, there are plenty of other solid ways to use it.
Bilt recently rolled out a long list of Bilt Cash redemption options, including dollar-for-dollar redemptions for Lyft rides, Bilt Dining purchases, larger transfer bonuses, and more.
Perhaps the most compelling option is the ability to unlock accelerated point earning on everyday spending. By redeeming $200 in Bilt Cash, you can earn an extra 1x point on all everyday purchases, up to $5,000 in spending. You can do this up to five times per year, effectively turning the Bilt Palladium into a 3x-everywhere card on up to $25,000 in annual spending.
If you value Bilt points – and I do – that’s tough to beat.
More than any other card or points program on the market, whether Bilt 2.0 makes sense is extremely personal, and it requires running the numbers to see if it works for you. We're big fans of the Bilt 2.0 Calculator from Max Miles Points, as it easily allows you to plug in your housing payment, projected monthly spending, and model out which of the two scenarios (and three different Bilt card options) makes the most sense.
Bottom Line
Bilt 2.0 may be messy, but the Palladium card’s welcome bonus fundamentally changes the math and makes it worth a second look.
By covering a full year of point earning on housing payments using the initial Bilt Cash alone, the card goes from an easy pass to a compelling year-one play – at least for me. Add in its ongoing earning power and transfer bonuses, and it could be worth keeping well beyond that first year.
Apply for the Bilt Palladium.
Featured image courtesy of Bilt
