Bilt 2.1 Confused Yet?

Major changes are coming to Bilt which is being referred to as Bilt 2.0. Previously you could only earn points for your rent payments and only needed to make at least 5 transactions with the card each month to earn said rent points. That is all changing on February 7th, 2026 and it could be one of the most complicated programs out there.

Bilt 2.1

We’ve known for a while know that Bilt is completely revamping their credit card and transitioning from Wells Fargo to Cardless, and adding the ability to earn points on your mortgage. These details were finally released on January 15th with one option to be able to earn points on your rent or mortgage. Just two days later, after hearing a ton of complaints about the new program, they added a second option which is why I’m referring to this as Bilt 2.1. To make things even more complicated, the new second option is now referred to as Option 1…

They are also going from just one card to three. If you are an existing cardmember and want to keep a Bilt card, you’ll need to choose one by January 30th. There won’t be a hard credit pull and any balance that you have on the card will be moved to your new card.

If you no longer want to keep a Bilt card, you can decline the transition in the app and it you will get a new Wells Fargo Autograph card without a hard credit pull. I’ll have a separate post about the new Bilt cards.

In order to earn points on your rent and mortgage in the new program, you will need to earn Bilt Cash which is a new addition to the program. There are two ways to earn Bilt Cash.

• Earn $50 Bilt Cash for every 25,000 Bilt Points earned towards Bilt status

• Earn 4% Bilt Cash every time you use your new Bilt card.

Confused yet? This is just the beginning.

So with your newly acquired Bilt Cash, you can use this to offset the new 3% fee to earn points on your rent or mortgage. Essentially, you’ll need to spend 75% of your rent or mortgage expenses on non housing related things throughout the month to earn enough Bilt Cash to cover the transaction costs. Only $100 of Bilt Cash rolls over to the following year. There are other things you’ll be able to use your Bilt Cash for which I’ll address in a separate post.

With the new option, now referred to as Option 1, they did away with the Bilt Cash component and now you can earn a set multiplier based on the percentage of spend each month on everyday purchases, up to 1.25x.

• 0.5x if you spend at least 25% of monthly rent

• 0.75x if you spend at least 50% of monthly rent

• 1x if you spend at least 75% of monthly rent

• 1.25x if you spend 100% or more of your monthly rent.

I think this is great and probably what they should have led with!

Which Option to Choose?

So which option should you go with? This is a tough one and is really dependent on a few things. First, how much everyday spend are you going to put on your Bilt card? Second, how much is your rent or mortgage, and third, will the new Bilt Cash redemptions be valuable to you. I’m working on building a decision support tool to help figure that out.

With Option 1 (new multiplier option), if you can spend exactly what your monthly rent or mortgage payment is you’ll likely come out ahead.

With Option 2 (Bilt Cash), you’ll come out ahead if your monthly housing payment is lower than what you normally spend on everyday purchases.

Wrapping Up

Bilt is out with one of the most complicated programs known to man. Not only are they launching three new cards but are also launching two options on how to earn points on your monthly housing payments.