Bilt Rewards 2.0 launched in January 2026 and became fully operational in early February. It replaced the original Wells Fargo-issued Bilt Mastercard with three new Mastercard credit cards issued by Column N.A. and serviced by Cardless. The biggest changes are the addition of a second currency called Bilt Cash, two completely different ways to earn rewards on rent and mortgage payments, unlimited earning on housing (the old 100,000-point annual cap is gone), and the ability to put mortgage payments through the program for the first time. Housing payments are always processed as an ACH transfer from a linked checking account, so there is never a fee, never a charge to the card itself, and never any impact on your credit utilization.
The program is more flexible than before, but that flexibility comes with real complexity. You will make a monthly decision about how you want to earn on housing, you will track percentages, you will manage two different currencies with different expiration rules, and you will sometimes have to decide whether routing spend to Bilt is actually better than using a different card. Many people who loved the simplicity of the old Bilt program now find themselves spending hours in the app trying to figure out the optimal play for the month.
The Three Bilt 2.0 Cards
Bilt Blue Card • Annual fee: $0 • Welcome bonus: $100 Bilt Cash after approval • Non-housing earning: 1× Bilt points on everything • No category bonuses, no statement credits, no lounge access
The Blue card is the no-fee, no-friction entry point. It is ideal if your rent is high but your everyday spend is low, or if you just want to test the program without committing money. The downside is that 1× on everyday spend is weak compared with almost every other rewards card on the market. You will often find yourself using the Blue card only for the 25% housing threshold and routing everything else to higher-earning cards.
Bilt Obsidian Card • Annual fee: $95 • Welcome bonus: $200 Bilt Cash after approval • Non-housing earning: 3× on either dining or grocery (you choose one at approval; grocery capped at $25,000 per year, then drops to 1×; changeable once per year in January) and 2× on travel; 1× everywhere else • Annual benefit: $100 Bilt Travel hotel credit ($50 twice per year, requires a two-night stay booked through the Bilt portal)
The Obsidian is the sweet spot for most people who actually use the program. The $95 fee is easy to offset with the $100 hotel credit alone, and the 3× dining or grocery category is competitive. The catch is that you have to pick dining or grocery once per year, and the grocery cap means heavy grocery spenders may outgrow it quickly. If you already have strong 4× or 5× dining cards elsewhere, the Obsidian’s value drops significantly unless you are also using it to hit the housing threshold.
Bilt Palladium Card • Annual fee: $495 • Welcome bonus: 50,000 Bilt points + $300 Bilt Cash + Gold elite status after spending $4,000 on the card in the first three months (plus another $200 Bilt Cash credited every year) • Non-housing earning: 2× Bilt points on every purchase • Annual benefits: Up to $400 Bilt Travel hotel credit ($200 twice per year, two-night minimum) + Priority Pass lounge access (unlimited visits, including guests on some plans)
The Palladium is built for high spenders with large housing payments. The 2× everywhere plus the ability to convert 4% Bilt Cash into points can produce effective earning rates that beat almost anything else when optimized correctly. The $495 fee is steep, but it can be justified if your rent is $3,000+ per month and you use the hotel credits and lounges. For anyone with rent under about $2,000, the math rarely works in its favor.
Bilt Cash – The Second Currency
When you select the “Flexible Bilt Cash” housing option, you earn 4% Bilt Cash on all non-housing spend (no cap). You also earn $50 Bilt Cash for every 25,000 Bilt points you accumulate in a calendar year, and Palladium holders get an extra $200 Bilt Cash annually.
Bilt Cash is powerful because it can be converted into Bilt points for rent/mortgage ($30 Bilt Cash = 1,000 points, prorated), but it is also dangerous because almost all of it expires on December 31 each year—only $100 rolls over. The program gives you a long list of monthly and annual credits (Lyft, Walgreens, Grubhub, dining experiences, fitness, parking, Blade helicopter rides, Blacklane, etc.), many of which are capped and expire at the end of the month. This forces you to treat Bilt Cash like a coupon book you must actively spend rather than a true points currency you can hoard.
The good news is that strategic redemption of Bilt Cash into housing points can turn 4% cash back into roughly 1.33× Bilt points per dollar of everyday spend. The bad news is that forgetting to redeem or hitting caps can wipe out hundreds of dollars of value at year-end.
Earning Rewards on Rent and Mortgage Payments
This is the single most important—and most misunderstood—part of Bilt 2.0. You choose one of two housing-earning methods every month, and the choice is changeable in the app (effective the first day of the next billing cycle).
Option 1 – Flexible Bilt Cash (spend-to-unlock path) You earn 4% Bilt Cash on everyday spend. To earn Bilt points on your housing payment, you redeem Bilt Cash at $30 = 1,000 points. This gives you an effective 1.33× return on everyday spend when you use the Bilt Cash for housing. This option is best when your everyday spend is much larger than your rent, because excess Bilt Cash can still be used for accelerators, hotel credits, or experiences.
Option 2 – Housing-Only Tiers (percentage-based path) You earn no Bilt Cash on everyday spend. Instead, the multiplier on your entire housing payment depends on how much you spend on the card (non-housing) relative to your monthly housing payment:
• 25% or more → 0.5× points on housing • 50% or more → 0.75× • 75% or more → 1× • 100% or more → 1.25×
Minimum 250 points if you fall below 25%.
The highest per-dollar return almost always comes at exactly the 25% threshold. Example: $3,000 rent • Spend $750 (25%) → earn 1,500 points on housing = 2× effective on the $750 spent • Spend $3,000 (100%) → earn 3,750 points on housing = 1.25× effective on the $3,000 spent
Spending more than 25% of your housing amount on the card actually lowers the return on every additional dollar. This is why many heavy users deliberately cap their Bilt card spend at exactly 25% of housing, then use other cards for the rest of their purchases. You can also dramatically increase total rewards by putting multiple rent or mortgage payments through the same account (your own + friends, family, or even rental properties you manage). The program explicitly allows this, and there is no limit on the number of properties.
Elite Status and Fast-Track
Status is earned purely on non-housing spend: • Silver: $10,000 • Gold: $25,000 • Platinum: $50,000
The Palladium welcome bonus gives you Gold status for the rest of the current year plus the entire next year. Status mainly unlocks higher monthly hotel credits, more Blacklane rides, extra Priority Pass guests, and occasional transfer bonuses.
Additional Benefits
Neighborhood merchant bonuses, point transfers to Hyatt, Alaska, and other partners, and Rent Day double points (up to 1,000 bonus points on non-housing spend) are all still present. Rent Day double points runs through January 2027. Mastercard World Elite/Legend benefits apply but vary by card tier—always download the specific guide-to-benefits PDF because some protections listed on the marketing page do not actually exist on the Blue or Obsidian cards.
Transition from the Original Bilt Mastercard
Existing cardholders had until February 1, 2026 to choose one of the three new cards. The transition kept the same card number, moved the balance if desired, and required no hard pull. The old Wells Fargo card stopped working on February 6, 2026. Anyone who did not transition was automatically converted to a Wells Fargo Autograph Visa with no Bilt rewards. New credit lines were set by Column N.A., so most people saw their limits reset.
Exclusions and Important Gotchas
No rewards on tax payments. Some online marketplaces were briefly excluded but later allowed in most cases. Housing payments are ACH only—if your checking account is low, you risk overdraft. No product changes (upgrade/downgrade) are allowed in the first year. The program is still being tweaked; rules have changed multiple times since launch.
Plusses of Bilt 2.0
The biggest advantage is unlimited earning on rent and mortgage, including payments for other people’s properties. This alone makes the program unique. When combined with the Palladium’s 2× everywhere and the 4% Bilt Cash conversion, you can realistically hit 3.3×–5× effective points per dollar in optimized months. Mortgage support opens the program to homeowners for the first time. The monthly choice between earning paths gives genuine flexibility, and the strong transfer partners (especially Hyatt and Alaska) remain excellent.
Minuses of Bilt 2.0
The complexity is overwhelming. Dual currencies, two housing tracks, tiered multipliers, monthly expirations, and manual redemptions have caused even experienced churners to make costly mistakes. Bilt Cash expiration is brutal—hundreds of dollars can vanish on January 1 if you are not organized. The housing math rewards spending the least possible proportionally on the card, which feels completely backward to most rewards users. Everyday spend is often forced onto Bilt cards to unlock housing value, creating opportunity cost versus stronger category cards elsewhere. For households with rent under $1,500–$2,000, the program rarely beats simpler alternatives like paying a 3% fee to a premium card that also gives status and better everyday earning. The ongoing rule changes and rollout friction have left many users frustrated.
Bilt 2.0 is one of the most powerful rent/mortgage rewards programs ever created for the right person—someone with high housing costs, high everyday spend, and the time to optimize every month. For everyone else, the complexity, expiration risk, and counterintuitive math often make it more trouble than it is worth. Check the app and your personal numbers every month, because the best strategy can change with your rent, your spend volume, and whatever tweaks Bilt makes next.
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