My mortgage is now a points machine, thanks to the new Bilt cards

Reading Time: 11 min

From our partners at Bilt

Bilt has been one of my favorite rewards programs for quite some time. It offers a unique way to earn valuable rewards — whether through paying rent or spending in your neighborhood at one of its 45,000+ partners.

You've probably heard that Bilt recently overhauled its flagship credit card. Called "Bilt 2.0," this updated card program reshapes how members can earn points for their rent or mortgage, with new credit cards and an expansion of rewards and redemptions.

There's been a lot of new info to digest. But now that all the pieces of the puzzle have been revealed, we can see the full picture and take you through it step-by-step.

If you're wondering whether there's value in the new credit cards, I can tell you that I've personally already applied for one of them and have a full strategy in place for maximizing my Bilt points in 2026.

So let me walk you through it all so you can see how I'm going to make the Bilt program work for me, and to help you understand the Bilt card program as a whole, and decide if it makes sense for you.

In case you missed it...

​When airline transfer bonuses actually work

With Bilt 2.0, there are three credit cards, and for the first time, each one has a sign-up bonus.

I personally applied (and was approved for) Bilt's premium card, the Bilt Palladium Card. I'm a huge fan of this card because it earns 2 points for every dollar I spend on everything I buy (except housing)¹ — and potentially even more with the introduction of Bilt Cash, which I'll get to in a minute.

Here's a breakdown of all three new Bilt cards, each targeting a different type of spender, from no transaction fee ease on rent and mortgage payments through Bilt to premium, high-earning flexibility.

Bilt Blue

No annual fee (see rates and fees)

The no-annual-fee Bilt Blue card is ideal for those looking for simplicity when it comes to earning rewards without an upfront cost.

• Sign-up bonus: $100 of Bilt Cash when you apply and are approved¹
• Earn 1x point per dollar on everyday purchases, plus choose to earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday spend or up to 1.25x points per dollar on rent and mortgage payments¹
• No foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees)

Bilt Obsidian

$95 annual fee (see rates and fees)

The Bilt Obsidian card is ideal for members looking to accelerate their rewards at a relatively low cost. And with its annual $100 hotel credit, the card can easily pay for itself.

• Sign-up bonus: $200 of Bilt Cash when you apply and get approved¹
• Earn 3x points on your choice of dining or groceries (on up to $25,000 spent per year on groceries)
• Earn 2x points on travel¹
• Earn 1x point per dollar on everyday purchases, plus choose to earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday spend or up to 1.25x points per dollar on rent and mortgage payments¹
• $100 Bilt travel portal hotel credit (split semi-annually per calendar year)
• No foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees)

$495 annual fee (see rates and fees)

The premium Bilt Palladium card — my personal favorite — offers the opportunity to earn the most points on everyday purchases without having to track bonus categories. And as with the Bilt Obsidian card, the annual hotel credit and Bilt Cash can help offset the annual fee.

• Sign-up bonus: 50,000 Bilt points and Gold Elite status after $4,000 of non-housing spend in the first 3 months. You'll also get $300 in Bilt Cash when you apply and get approved.¹
• Earn 2x points per dollar on everyday purchases, plus choose to earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday spend or earn up to 1.25x points per dollar on rent and mortgage payments¹
• $400 Bilt Travel portal hotel credit (split semi-annually per calendar year)¹
• $200 Bilt Cash (annually)¹
• No foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees)
• Priority Pass airport lounge access (worth $469 per year). See Guide to Benefits.

As Bilt’s premium card, the Bilt Palladium has an annual fee of $495 (see rates and fees) — which I don't take lightly. But the card includes annual benefits that help offset the fee. I plan to use this as my top-of-wallet card, and with my average monthly spend of $4,000, along with a sign-up bonus of 50,000 Bilt points, Bilt Gold status for a year, and $300 in Bilt Cash¹, I’ll be well ahead in year one.

From the start, Bilt cardholders could earn points on rent payments with no transaction fees — a first-of-its-kind benefit for renters. But that left out homeowners. Fortunately, that's changed with Bilt 2.0.

Now, members can also pay their mortgage through Bilt and earn points on it. With the new program, there's no cap on the number of points you can earn by paying your mortgage and rent. There's also no limit to the number of housing payments you can make each month.

This is a huge win for me. As a homeowner with a $4,000 monthly mortgage, I'm now able to earn points on one of my biggest recurring expenses.

Of course, you can still earn points on your rent without paying a transaction fee as well. However, the process has changed compared to the original Bilt Card.

There are two mutually exclusive ways to earn points on housing: spending tiers or using Bilt Cash.

Previously, customers had to make five transactions each month in order to earn 1 point for every dollar on rent. But now, if you select Housing-only as your rewards option, the number of points you'll earn on rent or a mortgage depends on how much you spend on a Bilt card for your everyday purchases.

There are two things to keep in mind about the Housing-only rewards option. First, if you want to earn points on your housing payment via one of the spending tiers, you have to choose to do so ahead of time.

You don't have to pick a specific tier in advance — just select the Housing-only rewards option to earn points on your rent or mortgage based on the spending tiers. But if you pick this option and don't even hit the first tier, you'll still earn 250 points on your rent or mortgage payment that month.¹

Here are the tiers:

• If you spend at least 25% of your monthly housing payment on everyday purchases with your Bilt card during a given billing cycle, you'll earn 0.5 points on each dollar of rent or mortgage payments made in that billing cycle.¹
• If you spend at least 50% of your monthly housing payment on everyday purchases with your Bilt card during a given billing cycle, you'll earn 0.75 points on each dollar of rent or mortgage payments made in that billing cycle.¹
• If you spend at least 75% of your monthly housing payment on everyday purchases with your Bilt card during a given billing cycle, you'll earn 1 point for each dollar of rent or mortgage payments made in that billing cycle.¹

The second thing to keep in mind: If you choose Housing-only as your rewards option, you won't earn the 4% in Bilt Cash for everyday spending on your credit card (though you'll still earn Bilt points, and Bilt Cash every time you earn 25,000 points).

And in an industry first, even for Bilt, if you spend 100% or more of your monthly housing payment on everyday purchases with your Bilt card during a given billing cycle, you'll earn 1.25 points for each dollar of rent or mortgage payments made in that billing cycle.¹

What if you don't want to lose out on earning Bilt Cash, but you still want to earn points on your housing payment? There's another way to do it.

Instead of choosing the Housing-only rewards option, you can choose the Flexible Bilt Cash option to redeem Bilt Cash in order to earn points on your housing payment instead.

What's Bilt Cash? It's a new rewards currency within the Bilt ecosystem. There are two primary ways to earn Bilt Cash.

For starters, Bilt members earn $50 in Bilt Cash every time they earn 25,000 Bilt points, which can be redeemed anywhere in the Bilt ecosystem.

Additionally, all three new cards give cardholders the option to earn 4% in Bilt Cash in addition to each card’s Bilt points on all purchases (except rent and mortgage payments).¹ The only exception is if you choose the Housing-only rewards option to aim for one of the above spending tiers instead.

Once you’ve earned Bilt Cash, how can you use it? There are more than a dozen ways to redeem your Bilt Cash, ranging from dining and groceries to health and wellness. But personally, I have my eye set on a handful of them.

My favorite option is the point accelerator on everyday spend. The accelerator lets Bilt Obsidian and Bilt Palladium cardholders who select Flexible Bilt Cash as their bonus rewards option redeem $200 in Bilt Cash to earn an extra 1X points on the next $5,000 in eligible purchases with their card within the calendar year.²

That effectively boosts the earning rates on the Bilt Palladium to 3x on everything except your rent and mortgage payment. And on the Bilt Obsidian, you'd get up to 4x on dining or groceries, 3x on travel, and 2x on your everyday spending with the accelerator.

There’s a cap of five accelerator activations per year², but you'll still earn 4% in Bilt Cash on all your everyday purchases¹ with the Flexible Bilt Cash bonus rewards option. So you'll end up with another $200 in Bilt Cash after you spend $5,000 with the accelerator.

With the point accelerator activated, I value Bilt points at around 2 cents apiece, so earning 3 points per dollar with my Bilt Palladium card equates to roughly 6 cents in value per dollar spent, based on my personal valuation. That's way more than I can get with any other card in my wallet, and I'm still earning Bilt Cash on top of it.

I'm also planning to use my Bilt Cash on restaurants at Bilt Dining Partners (capped at one visit per month, up to $25) and at Walgreens (capped at $10 per month). These are places I already shop in my everyday life, so the credits fit perfectly into my lifestyle.

Other members, however, might be interested in using their Bilt Cash toward Lyft rides, Grubhub delivery, or fitness classes, among the many other options.

Finally, rather than choosing the Housing-only rewards option, I'm going to use my Bilt Cash to earn points on my mortgage. You have to redeem $3 in Bilt Cash to unlock 100 points on your housing payment.¹

Let's break it down with my example. Say you have a $4,000 monthly rent or mortgage. If you spend $3,000 in everyday, non-housing Bilt credit card spending that month and earn $120 in Bilt Cash (which is 4% of $3,000), you can apply it to earn the full 4,000 points on your rent or mortgage payment.

If you don't have enough Bilt Cash to redeem for the full points on your rent or mortgage payment, you can just earn points only on the portion of your rent covered by your Bilt Cash.

In our example, that means if you only had $60 in Bilt Cash and applied it to earn points on your housing payment, you'd earn 2,000 points on your rent or mortgage instead of 4,000.

There are a lot of components to the new Bilt card program. But I've found it becomes far less complicated when I focus only on the parts I'll personally use.

To begin with, the sign-up offer on the Bilt Palladium gives me a jump start, with 50,000 Bilt points (as well as Gold status) awarded after $4,000 in non-housing spend in the first 3 months, and $300 in Bilt Cash upon card account opening.¹

Then I expect to spend about $4,000 each month on everyday purchases with my card, which is about the same as my mortgage payment. That means I'll earn plenty of Bilt Cash to use, since I’ll be choosing Flexible Bilt Cash as my rewards option.

To break down the math, I'll earn 2x points on my $4,000 in non-housing credit card purchases that month, and when I use Bilt Cash to earn points on my mortgage payment, I’ll earn up to 1 point per dollar on my $4,000 mortgage payment. That's up to 12,000 points per month, or up to 144,000 points total for the year.

I'll then prioritize earning enough extra Bilt Cash to select the point accelerator redemption. I'll aim to do it five times a year, earning me an extra 25,000 points on top of my usual points.

Add it all together along with the 50,000 bonus points after meeting a spend requirement for Bilt Palladium¹, and I can earn a total of 219,000 Bilt points in the first year. I value Bilt points at 2 cents apiece (since they can be transferred to two dozen transfer partners), which makes those points worth over $4,300 toward travel.

The bottom line? If you're already spending thousands each month on your current credit card, Bilt 2.0 could turn your rent or mortgage into an additional powerful points-earning opportunity.

Learn more: Apply now for the new Bilt credit cards

¹Offer Terms
²Bilt Cash Terms

Terms apply. Subject to approval and eligibility. Cardless Inc. is the servicer of the Bilt Cards. Cardless is a financial technology company, not a bank. Bilt Cards are issued by Column N.A., Member FDIC, pursuant to license from Mastercard International Incorporated.

This article may contain links through which we are compensated when you click on or are approved for offers, and we may receive compensation for sending traffic to partner sites. Points Path and Rakuten Marketing may receive a commission from card issuers. This compensation may impact how and where links appear in this article. This article does not necessarily include all financial companies or all available financial offers. The editorial content in this article is not provided by any of the companies mentioned, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone.