TLDR
As of April 2026, Bilt Card 2.0 is live. There are three cards instead of one, mortgage payments now earn points, and the rent-rewards mechanic is no longer a five-tap workaround. Heavy spenders win, casual users don't.
Introduction
Bilt Rewards moved off Wells Fargo and onto the Cardless platform on February 7, 2026, launching a three-tier credit card portfolio that replaces the original Bilt Mastercard. The new cards carry annual fees of $0, $95, and $495 and reorganize how cardholders earn on rent and on mortgage payments.
The headline feature is real, and so is the catch. The five-small-purchases trick that used to trigger rent points each month is gone, replaced by a choice of two housing rewards options, and both need meaningful everyday spending to earn full points on a housing payment. Ten weeks in, here's what the program looks like.
What Changed on February 7
Bilt's transition page says the Wells Fargo Bilt Mastercard worked through February 6 and was retired after that. Cardholders who chose a new Bilt card by the February 1 deadline kept their card number, so subscriptions, autopay and saved payment methods stayed the same. A Wells Fargo account that wasn't closed was converted into a Wells Fargo Autograph card.
The portfolio is straightforward.
The Bilt Blue Card, at no annual fee, earns up to 4x at Bilt partner restaurants, 3x on hotels and 2x on flights booked through Bilt Travel, 3x on Lyft after linking accounts, and 1x on everything else. It comes with $100 of Bilt Cash on approval.
The Bilt Obsidian Card, at $95, earns 3x on your choice of dining or grocery (grocery up to $25,000 a year), up to 6x at Bilt partner restaurants, 4x on hotels and 3x on flights through Bilt Travel, 3x on Lyft, 2x on other travel and 1x on everything else. It adds a $100 Bilt Travel Hotel credit, applied as two $50 credits a year, and comes with $200 of Bilt Cash on approval.
The Bilt Palladium Card, at $495, earns 2x on everyday purchases, up to 5x at Bilt partner restaurants, 4x on hotels and 3x on flights through Bilt Travel, and 4x on Lyft. It carries a $400 Bilt Travel Hotel credit (two $200 credits a year), $200 of Bilt Cash each calendar year and Priority Pass. Its welcome offer is $300 of Bilt Cash on approval, plus 50,000 points and Gold status after $4,000 in purchases (excluding rent or mortgage) in the first 90 days.
All three cards earn up to 1.25x on rent and mortgage payments made through Bilt, with no transaction fee.
Bilt Points still transfer to airline and hotel partners, most at 1:1, including United MileagePlus, Atmos Rewards (Alaska and Hawaiian), Air Canada Aeroplan, World of Hyatt and Marriott Bonvoy.
How the New Bilt Cash Mechanic Actually Works
This is the part that has driven most of the post-launch debate. Under the old Wells Fargo product, cardholders triggered rent points by making five qualifying purchases per month. Under Bilt 2.0, every cardholder picks one of two options for housing points: Housing-only rewards or Flexible Bilt Cash.
On Flexible Bilt Cash, any of the three cards earns 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday purchases, and every $3 of Bilt Cash you redeem on a housing payment unlocks 100 Bilt Points, up to 1 point per dollar of the payment. On Housing-only, you don't earn Bilt Cash on everyday purchases. Your housing multiplier is set each billing cycle by your everyday spending as a share of the payment: 0.5x at 25%, 0.75x at 50%, 1x at 75% and 1.25x at 100% or more, with a 250-point floor below that.
Bilt's own example uses a $2,000 rent payment. On Housing-only, $1,500 of everyday spending in that billing cycle is 75% of the rent, so the rent earns 1x, or 2,000 points. On Flexible Bilt Cash, redeeming $60 of Bilt Cash unlocks the full 2,000 points.
Bilt Cash also expires. Per published terms, balances reset at year-end with $100 carrying over. The cash can be used for neighborhood dining, fitness, or Bilt portal travel bookings, which gives it some optional value beyond housing points.
Rent and mortgage payments made through Bilt are debited from a linked bank account within 24 hours, so they don't reduce your available credit. Bilt says almost all personal mortgage servicers are supported; commercial mortgages are not.
Who Comes Out Ahead, and Who Doesn't
The structural winners are homeowners with mid-to-large mortgages who were already running meaningful spend through a single rewards card. Earning transferable points on a mortgage payment is the draw.
The structural losers are low-spend renters. The original Bilt card worked for cardholders who triggered rent points with five token transactions a month. Under 2.0, 1x on a housing payment takes everyday spending of at least 75% of the payment on Housing-only (1.25x takes 100%), or enough Bilt Cash on Flexible. A renter whose card spending is well below their rent will earn partial housing points, not full ones.
The Palladium card is positioned against the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Amex Platinum. The 2x rate on everyday purchases is competitive on paper. The $400 Bilt Travel Hotel credit and $200 of annual Bilt Cash go a long way toward the annual fee for a cardholder who uses both.
What Current Cardholders Should Do Now
For renters and homeowners who moved to a new card by the February 1 deadline, the practical question is whether the spending threshold is realistic given the rest of the card stack.
The check is simple. On Housing-only, compare your usual everyday card spending with your housing payment: 75% earns 1x and 100% or more earns 1.25x. On Flexible Bilt Cash, you earn Bilt Cash at 4% of everyday purchases and every $30 of it unlocks 1,000 points. Compare either with your actual non-housing spend over the past three to six months. If the gap is large, factor in earning rates being given up on cards already in rotation.
Cardholders whose old account became a Wells Fargo Autograph card still have their Bilt membership and the points they earned. Reapplying for a Bilt 2.0 card is now a standard underwriting application.
For renters whose monthly card spend can't realistically reach the threshold, a flat-rate card like the Citi Double Cash or Capital One Quicksilver paired with a category card is often cleaner. The rent points are worth less if earning them requires shifting spend off cards with stronger bonus categories.
What to Watch From Here
A few things are worth watching. Bilt has since published product-change rules: an upgrade or downgrade keeps your existing account, needs no new application and causes no new hard inquiry, and you can make one upgrade or downgrade in any rolling 12-month period. Our guide to Bilt upgrades and downgrades covers the details. The transfer-partner list is worth checking before a major redemption. And the Bilt Cash year-end reset will get its first real test in December 2026, when cardholders who underspent the system find out how much earning they left on the table.
For now, transferable points on rent and mortgage are the case for the program, and the spending threshold is the case against it. Whether it works depends on how a household already spends, not how it would like to.
Updated 2026-09-25: Bilt's card page now says the cards earn up to 1.25X points on rent and mortgage payments, and Bilt has since published rules for moving between its cards, so parts of this January story are out of date. Our guide to Bilt upgrades and downgrades covers the current rules.
Updated September 30, 2026: Corrected each card's earning rates, credits and welcome offers, the Bilt Cash rate for unlocking housing points, how the Palladium's Gold status is earned, and the card transition deadline (February 1, not January 30), from Bilt's card page, offer terms and transition page. Bilt has also since published rules for moving between its cards.
