Bilt 2.0: Explains Two Options for Scoring Rents and Loans
After the release of Bilt 2.0, the scoring system for rent and mortgage payments became more complicated, drawing a lot of negative feedback. As a result, the CEO rushed to the “episode” and introduced a second method of obtaining points for rent and housing payments (see Method 1 below).
One of the biggest selling points of Bilt credit cards (Bilt Blue, Bilt Obsidian, and Bilt Palladium) is the ability to pay rent and mortgage with a credit card while earning points. To prevent this product from becoming a money loser, Bilt 2.0 introduced a set of rules that govern how fees are charged on rent/mortgage payments and how points are earned, with the express purpose of encouraging cardholders to spend more money outside of rent and mortgages. This article is dedicated to explaining what this process actually means (and the fact that it needs its own article already tells you how complicated it is).
Bilt offers two options. You can only choose one at a time, but you can switch between them at any time, with changes taking effect the following month.
Option 1: No money; rent/loan rate depends on non-rental use
Under Option 1, housing or mortgage payments are exempt. The earning rate of Bilt Points on rent/loan depends on how much you spend in other categories, as shown in the table below:
| Points About Housing | Minimum daily expenses 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 your rent is less than 25% of your rent/asset value, then your home/mortgage will earn a flat 250 Bilt points.
With Option 1, there is absolutely no Bilt Cash concept involved: you don’t get Bilt Cash and you can’t use rent/equity money to convert it into Bilt Cash.
Under this mechanism, more daily spending is not always better. Full restoration takes place right at the threshold; beyond that point, effective returns actually decrease. For example, with Bilt Palladium, daily use typically earns 2x Bilt Points. If your daily spending amount is exactly equal to your rent/asset amount, then your rent/loan earns 1.25x Bilt Points, and together these purchases earn 3.25x Bilt points in total. However, if your spending approaches infinity, additional rent/mortgage points are deducted at a total of 1,25mort which is a sum of 1 × relative to unlimited spending. At that limit, the net income goes back to 2x.
With Option 1, users with low daily income can choose Bilt Blue and spend 25% of their rental/equity value on other categories to earn 0.5x on rent/loan. On the other hand, those who spend a lot of money, can choose Bilt Obsidian or Bilt Palladium and spend at least 100% of their rental/equity value on other categories to earn 1.25x on rent/loan.
Option 2: Earn Bilt Money for daily use; use Bilt Cash on rentals/tenancies to earn points
Option 2 is the version that was originally introduced when Bilt 2.0 was first introduced. Under this option, daily spending earns Bilt Money, and rent/mortgage payments use Bilt Money to earn points.
All three cards earn 4% Bilt Cash on everyday spending (ie spending on rent and mortgages). Rent and housing payments themselves do not earn Bilt Cash.
When you pay off a mortgage or mortgage, there’s no fee, but you also don’t get Bilt Points automatically. Instead, you can choose to spend $3 in Bilt Cash to earn 100 Bilt Points, up to a cap equal to the rent/loan amount. For example, a $2,000 rental bill allows you to spend up to $60 in Bilt Cash to earn 2,000 Bilt Points. Effectively, this is the equivalent of using Bilt Cash to pay a 3% rent/mortgage fee to earn the right to earn 1x Bilt Points.
Simple math: turning over a $2,000 rent payment requires $60 in Bilt Cash. Since daily spending earns 4% Bilt Cash, accumulating $60 in Bilt Cash requires $1,500 in daily spending.
Comparing two options
If we only consider Bilt Cash earned from daily use, Option 2 is exactly the same as the “1x gain” line in the Option 1 table—it takes a deviant approach to the complex concept of Bilt Cash. Viewed this way, Option 1 seems to be the best because it offers more opportunities and vice versa.
However, if you receive additional Bilt Cash from sign-up bonuses or other promotions, then Option 2 makes sense: it allows you to burn Bilt Cash that would otherwise have expired each year and convert it into more valuable Bilt Points.
Summary
Regardless of which option you choose, the core design philosophy of Bilt 2.0 is the same: you have to spend as much as you can without rent and amenities if you want to earn points on rent and amenities.
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