Bilt Rewards completed its switch from Wells Fargo to Cardless on February 7, 2026, retiring the original Bilt Mastercard and replacing it with a three-tier card portfolio that carries a markedly stricter merchant exclusion list. Three months in, here is what the early-adopter community has confirmed is being enforced, and where the transition still has rough edges.

The headline change for points strategists: tax payments, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, money orders, and wire transfers earn zero rewards on Bilt Card 2.0. According to the cardholder agreement Cardless published in January, the exclusions apply to all three new tiers and to both Bilt Points and Bilt Cash.

What replaced the Wells Fargo card

Cardless issues three Bilt cards as of February 7. The Bilt World Elite Mastercard has no annual fee and earns base rewards with a Bilt Cash mechanic on housing payments. The Bilt Obsidian Card runs $95 a year and offers a 3x category choice between dining and grocery, plus an annual hotel credit. The Bilt Palladium Card sits at $495 a year and earns 2x on non-bonused spend with a higher hotel credit.

Wells Fargo Bilt Mastercards stopped working at the end of February 6. Existing cardholders had until January 30, 2026 to choose one of the three Cardless products. Those who elected by the deadline kept their card numbers, had Apple Pay and Google Pay tokens auto-update, and received physical replacements by February 6. Cardholders who did not select were converted to a Wells Fargo Autograph Visa with a new account number, per Wells Fargo's notice to existing customers in early January.

Cardless confirmed in its FAQ that the new Bilt account posts as a separate tradeline on consumer credit reports, even for cardholders who opted in by the deadline. It counts toward Chase's 5/24 rule and resets account-age math for those issuers that weight it.

The exclusion list, attributed

The Cardless cardholder agreement lists the following as ineligible for Bilt Points or Bilt Cash:

  • Tax payments, federal, state, local, and property
  • Money orders, wire transfers, and traveler's checks
  • Cash advances and balance transfers
  • Prepaid gift cards
  • eBay and Facebook Marketplace transactions
  • Third-party payment accounts
  • Mobile or wireless card-reader transactions at certain merchants
  • ATM charges, fees and interest, casino gaming, and online wagers

The tax-payment exclusion is the most consequential change from the Wells Fargo terms, which excluded taxes from Rent Day double points but left base earning intact. Property-tax payments processed through county portals also fail to earn, according to user reports posted to the Bilt Rewards subreddit and Doctor of Credit through February and March.

The online-marketplace language is broader than the Wells Fargo terms used. Etsy, Amazon third-party sellers, Mercari, Poshmark, and Depop are not named explicitly, and Cardless has not clarified how it codes them. Cardholders posting transaction screenshots to FlyerTalk through April have reported inconsistent results, with some Etsy purchases earning and others coding as excluded marketplace activity.

Why it matters for the points stack

The exclusion of tax payments removes a strategy that worked on every major issuer's premium products. Most rewards cards earn at base rate on tax payments processed through Pay1040 or PayUSAtax, even after the 1.85 to 1.98 percent processor fee. Bilt 2.0 does not.

For self-employed cardholders making quarterly estimated payments, homeowners paying property taxes outside escrow, and anyone using a large tax bill to clear a welcome-bonus minimum spend, Bilt 2.0 is no longer the answer. Most other cards in the points ecosystem still earn at base rate on tax payments. The Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95), Chase Sapphire Reserve ($795 as of the 2025 refresh), and The Platinum Card from American Express ($895) all earn 1x on taxes, and the Citi Double Cash earns 2 percent.

The eBay and Facebook Marketplace exclusions hit resellers and collectors hardest. Bilt did not previously exclude these merchants under Wells Fargo, and the language in the new agreement makes clear that no Bilt Cash accrues on these transactions either, which compounds the effect on housing-payment earning.

How rent and mortgage rewards now work

Cardless restructured housing-payment earning to require Bilt Cash accumulation before rewards apply. Cardholders earn Bilt Cash on eligible everyday spending, then use it to offset the 3 percent processing fee that now applies to rent and mortgage payments. Points accrue only on the portion of the housing payment covered by Bilt Cash.

Bilt confirmed the mechanic in its February launch FAQ. On a $2,000 rent payment, $40 in Bilt Cash covers roughly 1,333 points worth of fees; earning the full 2,000 points requires $60 in Bilt Cash, or paying the difference out of pocket. Excluded categories generate no Bilt Cash, which makes the merchant list directly relevant to housing rewards rather than incidental.

What to watch from here

Two open questions remain. The first is scope creep. Cardless added clarifications to the agreement during the first week of February that narrowed the definition of eligible merchant categories, and points forums have flagged inconsistent coding on PayPal-processed retail purchases and on Plastiq rent payments. The second is program stability. The Wells Fargo exit, the rapid Cardless onboarding, and the reworked earning structure represent the largest single program change Bilt has executed, and the long-tail of merchant-coding adjustments will likely continue through Q2.

For renters whose spending falls into Bilt-eligible categories, the program still offers something no other major issuer does: rewards on rent and mortgage payments without the 2.5 to 3 percent fees Plastiq charges. For everyone else, the exclusion list is the story.

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