Credit Card News
Bilt 2.0 Already Introduces Another Housing Payments Option
Just two days after announcing the details of its 2.0 credit card line-up, Bilt has added a new wrinkle to its housing payment options.
About the New Bilt Housing Rewards Option:
When Bilt’s new credit card program was introduced, one controversial change was that cardholders would have to pay a transaction fee if they wanted to earn points on rent or mortgage payments. However, the company also introduced Bilt Cash — a currency earned from “everyday” spending on the card that could also be used to cover these transaction fees. Now, Bilt is responding to the criticism by making some changes.
In a letter posted on Bilt’s site, it was announced that cardholders would now have different options for how they earn rewards from the rent/mortgage payments. While the original Bilt Cash scheme will still be available, cardholders can instead opt to earn no Bilt Cash and, instead, unlock housing payment points from their other spending. Plus, with this latter option, they can even earn up to 1.25x points on housing payments.
Under this plan, the number of points that customers unlock would be based on the percentage of their housing payment they spent on their card. Here’s a table that breaks it down:
| Point Earning Rate on Housing Payments | Everyday Spending Amount |
| 0.5x Points | At least 25% of housing payment amount |
| 0.75x Points | At least 50% of housing payment amount |
| 1x Points | At least 75% of housing payment amount |
| 1.25x Points | 100%+ of housing payment amount |
For example, if a Bilt cardholder pays $2,000 a month in housing payments, they’d reach the 0.5x points tier after spending $500 on the card in a month. Meanwhile, if they spent at least $2,000 on the card in a month, they’d earn 1.25x points on their housing payment (so 2,500 points). Those who make housing payments on their card but don’t reach any of these spending minimums will still earn 250 points if they select this earning method.
Bilt notes that cardholders will be able to switch between these two options at any time, with their selection taking effect for the following month.
What They’re Saying:
In a statement, Bilt founder and CEO Ankur Jain wrote, “We move fast at Bilt. That means we won’t always get everything right the first time, but I read all of your feedback and we will adjust quickly when we miss. I know that for some of you, no explanation of change will fully replace what you loved about the card 1.0 model–I understand that. At the same time, I’m genuinely excited about what this model sustainably enables going forward: giving you the richest rewards on rent, mortgages and everything else.”
My Thoughts:
When Bilt released their card details earlier this week, there was only one word to describe it all: confusing. Yet, somehow, they’ve managed to make it even more confusing while saying that it’s “simple.” Of course, none of this is helped by the fact that we still don’t have all of the details and restrictions of Bilt Cash in order to decide which option is best.
What really makes me scratch my head is that Bilt waited until a couple of days after their big announcement to come up with this “fix.” As I noted in my first post, rumors and leaks about what they had planned came out weeks ago, with many customers responding to those reports with their thoughts. So, why wouldn’t Bilt have learned then that they had a problem on their hands and correct it before rolling everything out (and before people like me already selected their new card)?
For what it’s worth, the Bilt Card site still seems to reflect the older information, as does the terms page. In turn, I’m unclear if the option to pay a 3% fee in order to earn rewards without spending anything else still exists or not (although I wouldn’t have recommended that anyway).
All in all, while I’m still patiently reserving judgement for Bilt 2.0 until it launches and I can try it out firsthand, I’m getting really nervous about this not-so-seamless transition.
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