Bilt Rewards stands alone as the only rewards program with a built-in option for earning points on housing, such as rent or mortgage payments. But to unlock the full power of this feature, you need a Bilt credit card.
The Bilt Palladium Card offers an excellent return on your spending, luxury perks and something else we haven’t previously seen attached to a Bilt card: a Bilt Points intro bonus offer. This card could earn a spot at the top of your wallet if you understand how to maximize its potential.
Bilt Palladium Card review
Welcome bonus
After getting approved for the Bilt Palladium Card, you’ll receive a bonus of $300 in Bilt Cash. You can also earn 50,000 bonus Bilt Points and Gold status after spending $4,000 on non-housing purchases in the first three months.
Gold status is awarded after you meet the spending requirement and is valid for the rest of the calendar year, all of the following year and expires on Jan. 15 of the year after that. So, if you earn the welcome bonus and Gold status at any point in 2026, you’ll have it until mid-January 2028.
Benefits and perks
The Bilt Palladium has a $495 annual fee but comes with perks that help justify its cost, depending on how you value the benefits. You’ll receive:
- $200 in Bilt Cash: This is awarded every calendar year.
- $400 in Bilt Travel Hotel credits: Earn up to $200 in statement credits from Jan. 1 to June 30 and up to $200 in credits from July 1 to Dec. 31. The credits apply to hotel bookings of two nights or more booked through Bilt Travel.
- Airport lounge access: You can enroll to receive unlimited complimentary Priority Pass airport lounge access for yourself and up to two guests.
This is a World Legend Mastercard and has built-in travel insurance and shopping protections, including:
- Trip delay reimbursement
- Trip cancellation and interruption protection
- Lost or damaged luggage
- Baggage delay
- Rental car coverage (secondary for rentals in the U.S.)
- Cellular phone protection
- Purchase assurance
- Extended warranty
- Price drop 90-day protection
Please review the Bilt Palladium benefits guide for details.
Find the best credit card for you by reviewing offers in our credit card marketplace or get personalized offers via CardMatch™.
How to earn and use Bilt Points and Bilt Cash
Earning Bilt Points
The Palladium has a simple rewards structure. You earn:
- 2X points on everyday spend
The Bilt Rewards program also offers a bunch of ways to earn Bilt Points, some of which simply require linking an eligible card to your Bilt Wallet.
Earn rewards on housing
This is where the Bilt program gets more complicated. You can’t simply make your housing payment with your Bilt credit card and earn rewards; you have to choose from two options.
With option 1, you pay no transaction fees and earn up to 1.25X on your housing payment. You earn rewards based on the percentage of your housing payment that you spend on your card on non-housing transactions.
Bilt 2.0 housing payment option 1
| Points earned on housing payment | Minimum everyday spend as a % of monthly rent/mortgage (Example $2,000 rent) |
|---|---|
| 0.5X points | Minimum of 25% of monthly payment ($500) |
| 0.75X points | Minimum of 50% of monthly payment ($1,000) |
| 1.0X points | Minimum of 75% of monthly payment ($1,500) |
| 1.25X points | 100% or more of monthly payment ($2,000+) |
Source: Bilt Rewards
With option 2, you’ll pay a transaction fee, earn flat-rate rewards and earn Bilt Cash (on top of Bilt Points) on your Bilt card spending.
Bilt 2.0 housing payment option 2
| Points earned on housing payments | 1X Bilt points |
| Bilt Cash earned on Bilt card spending | 4% Bilt Cash on every purchase |
| Housing payment transaction fee | 3% of payment amount |
You can cover the transaction fee with Bilt Cash, which means you only need to spend 75% of your housing payment on your Bilt Palladium each month to cover the transaction fee.
Earning Bilt Cash
Currently, there are only a handful of ways to earn Bilt Cash with the Palladium, including:
- Annual $200 Bilt Cash bonus
- New cardmember $300 Bilt Cash sign-up bonus
- Earn 4% Bilt Cash with any of the Bilt cards, depending on which option you choose for earning rewards on housing (see option 2 above)
- $50 Bilt Cash for every 25,000 Bilt Points you earn toward elite status
Redeeming Bilt Points
You can use Bilt Points for a growing list of redemptions. You’ll typically receive over 1 cent per point for:
And you’ll generally receive 1 cent per point or less for:
- Rent payments
- Student loan payments
- Statement credits
- Gift cards
- Merchandise, including Amazon, Bilt Home Delivery and Bilt Design Collection
- Lyft rides
Bilt Points are typically most valuable when you use them for travel. However, you’ll receive 1.5 cents per point when you use your Bilt Points for a down payment on a home, and redeeming points for fitness classes generally provides a value of over 1 cent per point.
The other redemptions outside of those options typically offer a subpar value of less than 1 cent per point, except for Bilt Travel redemptions and travel partner transfers. When you use points to pay for travel booked through Bilt Travel, you’ll receive 1.25 cents per point.
Bilt Points transfer to the following loyalty programs at a 1:1 ratio (unless noted):
Bilt Rewards transfer partners
| Bilt Rewards transfer partners |
|---|
| Avianca Lifemiles |
| Atmos Rewards (Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines) |
| Air Canada Aeroplan |
| Aer Lingus Aer Club |
| Accor Live Limitless (3:2) |
| British Airways Club |
| Cathay Pacific Cathy |
| Iberia Club |
| Etihad Guest |
| Emirates Skywards |
| Flying Blue (Air France and KLM) |
| Hilton Honors |
| IHG One Rewards |
| Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank |
| Mariott Bonvoy |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club |
| Spirit Airlines Free Spirit |
| Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards |
| Air Portugal TAP Miles&Go |
| Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles |
| United Airlines MileagePlus |
| World of Hyatt |
| Virgin Red |
Bilt doesn’t publish official point redemption values, but what you’ll receive in value from the best Bilt partner redemptions can dwarf other options. For example, Category 7 Hyatt hotels cost 25,000 points per night (for standard nights). With the Palladium Card’s bonus, you could book two nights at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa by transferring 50,000 Bilt Points to World of Hyatt. Rooms can cost over $500 a night at this resort, which means you’re getting a value of over 2 cents per point.
Redeeming Bilt Cash
You have 19 ways to redeem Bilt Cash as a Palladium cardholder.
In addition to redeeming Bilt Cash to pay for housing payment transaction fees, each has its own dollar limits and other restrictions (which you can review here). You use Bilt Cash for:
- Point accelerator: For $200 Bilt Cash, you’ll earn an additional 1X points on the next $5,000 in purchases (up to five times per year; expires after $5,000 everyday spend or calendar year-end)
- Unlock higher transfer bonuses during Rent Day promotions
- Bilt Travel hotel credit
- Lyft rides
- Blacklane rides beginning March 1, 2026
- BLADE airport helicopter flights beginning March 1, 2026
- Bilt Home Away from Home benefits beginning March 1, 2026 (if you don’t qualify with elite status)
- Priority Pass additional guest credits
- Parking beginning March 1, 2026
- Fitness classes
- Walgreens credit
- Grubhub beginning March 1, 2026
- Bilt 15-minute home delivery by Gopuff Fam beginning March 1, 2026
- Gopuff Fam membership beginning March 1, 2026
- Bilt partner restaurants
- Bilt dining experiences beginning March 1, 2026
- Bilt comedy experiences beginning March 1, 2026
- Bilt Design Collection credit
Rates and fees
The Bilt Palladium card has a 10% intro APR offer on purchases for the first 12 billing cycles from the date you open the account (then a standard variable APR of 26.74% to 34.74% applies). It has a $495 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. Late payments and returned payments have penalties of up to $41 each.
Card comparison
Bilt Palladium Card vs. Citi Double Cash® Card
Still, the Double Cash earns a flat 2% back on all purchases (1% when you buy and 1% when you pay), which is a generous return. While the Palladium Card clearly offers more value, the question is — is it worth $495 more? It might be, but for many people, the Citi Double Cash’s cheaper and simpler rewards approach could be more appealing.
The Citi Double Cash® Card is one of the best no-annual-fee cash-back cards thanks to its straightforward rewards structure.
- Long intro-APR for balance transfers
- High flat-rate cash-back rewards structure
- No annual fee
- Has a foreign transaction fee
- Intro APR doesn’t apply to purchases
Highlights
Highlights shown here are provided by the issuer and have not been reviewed by CNBC Select’s editorial staff.
- Earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
- Earn 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time. Plus, earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked with Citi Travel.
- Balance Transfer Only Offer: 0% intro APR on Balance Transfers for 18 months. After that, the variable APR will be 17.49% – 27.49%, based on your creditworthiness.
- Balance Transfers do not earn cash back. Intro APR does not apply to purchases.
- If you transfer a balance, interest will be charged on your purchases unless you pay your entire balance (including balance transfers) by the due date each month.
- There is an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of each transfer (minimum $5) completed within the first 4 months of account opening. After that, your fee will be 5% of each transfer (minimum $5).
Balance transfer fee
There is an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of each transfer (minimum $5) completed within the first 4 months of account opening. A balance transfer fee of 5% of each transfer ($5 minimum) applies if completed after 4 months of account opening.
Foreign transaction fee
Bilt Palladium Card vs. Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
The Palladium provides more generous guest access for airport lounges (up to two complimentary guests without having to meet a high spending threshold). It can be more rewarding when you factor in the return from housing payments or features like the Points Accelerator, but the Venture X is much more straightforward.
Every year, Venture X cardholders receive a $300 Capital One Travel credit and 10,000 bonus anniversary miles (worth at least $100 in travel), starting on your first card anniversary. On top of that, it has better travel protections than what the Palladium card offers, including primary rental car insurance for domestic and international rentals, and includes a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® application fee credit of up to $120 every four years.
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is a premium credit card with a myriad of benefits and a lower annual fee than other high-end cards with similar features.
- Annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Travel
- 10,000 bonus miles after every card anniversary
- Unlimited complimentary access to 1,300+ airport lounges, including Capital One Lounge locations
- Long list of valuable travel and shopping protections, including return protection, rental car coverage and trip delay reimbursement (Benefit(s) only available to accounts approved for the Visa Infinite card. Terms apply.)
- Limited bonus spending categories compared to other premium credit cards
- High annual fee
- High credit score requirement (excellent credit)
Highlights
- Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel
- Receive a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel, where you’ll get Capital One’s best prices on thousands of trip options
- Get 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 towards travel) every year, starting on your first anniversary
- Earn unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases
- Enjoy access to 1,300+ lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Use your Venture X miles to easily cover travel expenses, including flights, hotels, rental cars and more—you can even transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
- Top rated mobile app
Balance transfer fee
$0 at the Transfer APR, 4% of the amount of each transferred balance that posts to your account at a promotional APR that Capital One may offer to you
Foreign transaction fees
Is the Bilt Palladium Card right for you?
Bilt Points are exceptionally valuable, and the Bilt Palladium Card is one of the best options for earning Bilt Points. It’s a 2X-everywhere card, but with features like Points Accelerator and points on housing payments, you can earn 3X points or more on a big chunk of your everyday spending.
There’s no questioning this card’s value, but you may be wondering if it’s worth the hassle. Its benefits can offset the annual fee, but the hotel credit is broken up semiannually and only applies to stays of two nights or longer booked through Bilt Travel. Further, you can get $200 in Bilt Cash every year, but you need to decide if you actually value that at $200 or less.
For a lot of people, the Bilt Palladium make sense. But if you’re struggling to understand how to unlock its full power, a simpler card like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card can provide similar value with a much lower mental load.
Subscribe to the CNBC Select Newsletter!
Money matters — so make the most of it. Get expert tips, strategies, news and everything else you need to maximize your money, right to your inbox. Sign up here.
Why trust CNBC Select?
At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every credit card review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of credit card products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.
Catch up on CNBC Select’s in-depth coverage of credit cards, banking and money, and follow us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date.
For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.
Information about the Bilt Palladium Card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.
Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Select editorial staff’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any third party.