Bilt Card 2.0 and the Points Math: What’s a “Good” Return in 2026?
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What new features do the Bilt credit cards offer?
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Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds. I'm Sean Piles.
And I'm Elizabeth Ayala.
Today, we're presenting an episode of Smart Travel, where our friends Megan Coyle and Sally French explain new credit cards from Built. That's the loyalty program that became famous for letting people earn points on rent payments and now mortgage payments as well. It's pretty complicated, though, so we'll let them explain it.
Just keep in mind that since this episode was recorded, Bilt announced more details about the way Bilt Cash works, including monthly limits on how much you can redeem and a new redemption option called Points Accelerator. We can link to the NerdWallet article on Bilt Cash in the episode description if you want to learn more about that. And also don't forget to follow Smart Travel for more travel and credit card tips. Here's the episode.
Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Megan Coyle. And I'm Sally French. And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip. And today, we are talking all about the new credit cards that have been top of mind in the world of points and miles, and that is the new Bilt cards that launched last week.
How can you earn points on rent and mortgage payments?
But first, our disclaimer, and that is that we'll talk about a few credit card companies besides just Bilt, and some of those companies are nerd wallet partners. That does not influence how we discuss them. The benefits, terms, and fees mentioned were accurate at the time of posting, but things can change. Some offers may have expired by the time you're listening. So for the latest details, follow the links in the episode description.
Ready to dive into Bill?
Oh, Megan, I am so ready.
Let's go. I want to actually start with a question that one of our producers asked us before we started recording, which is, why are we talking about Bill on Smart Travel?
I guess that's a They also have the quote unquote ability to earn points on mortgage payments for the first time. We will get to that bit in a second.
And I think the reason that Bill Rewards is so popular with travelers is because it's a transferable currency. So it's like those Chase Ultimate Rewards. It's like Amex Membership Rewards. And of course, you can redeem those points for a bunch of different things. But by far, the best value redemptions are for travel. So we'll also talk about that more later on.
And I have said I yearn for those Alaska miles that you can earn or at most rewards points because that is really something I couldn't ever earn before because I was not a renter. So I am very intrigued.
What are the differences between Bilt Points and Bilt Cash?
I will also say you have probably heard the paid sponsorships for built products on this show. Nobody paid us to do this episode. Megan and I have full editorial independence. We are covering this news because it is such a big story. They are not paying us. They did not send us to any fancy launch parties just to get that out of the way. Let's start with the real news here, which is all the changes Built Rewards made to its loyalty program and its cards last week.
To understand all of that, I think you have to know what the Built Rewards program was like before. So Built Rewards is famous for letting members earn points on their rent payments. And until now, the main way to earn points was to apply for their one credit card. It's called the Bill World Elite MasterCard credit card. And it had a $0 annual fee. And if you made at least five purchases per month on the card, you could earn one point per dollar on your rent payments.
Can we talk about the bananas?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What new features do the Bilt credit cards offer?
0:01–1:47
2
How can you earn points on rent and mortgage payments?
1:47–3:18
3
What are the differences between Bilt Points and Bilt Cash?
3:18–4:24
4
What are the benefits and fees of the new Bilt credit cards?
4:24–5:16
5
How do Bilt's rewards compare to other popular credit cards?
5:16–6:26
6
What challenges does Bilt face with its new rewards system?
6:26–8:18
7
What strategies can maximize your rewards with Bilt?
8:18–9:55
8
Should you switch to a Bilt credit card or stick with your current one?
9:55–44:23
Speakers
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