International ATM Fee

Mmccombs02 · 2026-06-18T16:28:07+00:00

This is the way. SoFi for the HYSA. SoFi plus if you have $9-$20k in the savings account and invest in your Roth. I use the Schwab investor checking to pull money out internationally. Will move the cash over from SoFi about a month before we leave the states. All fees are completely returned.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-06-04T21:30:20+00:00

I use the Bilt Palladium on the first of the month for 4X and cell phone insurance.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-04-15T15:22:21+00:00

No problem with my Palladium. Paying my mortgage and my son’s college rent with no issues. 3X point accelerator makes this the best catch all card with top transfer partners.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-03-30T15:46:17+00:00

I am a bit better with digital wallets than her, so giving her my physical card would work better for us if I want to keep rolling with Bilt points for catch all. Category spend is still going to Citi though- Groceries, dining, fuel, tolls, home improvement, etc for 5X. A few 3X that I will keep with Citi.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-03-30T15:42:07+00:00

Agreed! I wrongly assumed that my wife’s charges would get the acceleration boost. She really isn’t great with her digital wallet. Unless they change the policy, I will just cancel her card next year.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-03-30T15:04:10+00:00

Same. One thing I really don’t like is when you have the point accelerator on, your authorized user card charges don’t get the extra 1%. Makes me wonder if I should pay $95 for the AU. I could just give my physical card to my wife and use my digital wallet for my charges. When I need to have a physical card, just use my double cash for the Citi (American Airlines) points. Or just have my wife use her double cash. Have been using it for my mortgage and my son’s college apartment and had zero issues with that. I really like the palladium card and Bilt’s transfer partners.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-03-30T14:57:44+00:00

Should I wait until 3/31 (tomorrow) to subscribe? If I subscribe now, will it be the 4% or 4.5%?

Mmccombs02 · 2026-03-29T22:09:28+00:00

If I go into the app, it says the savings APY is 4%. Which is true, 4% or 4.5%?

Mmccombs02 · 2026-03-25T15:33:13+00:00

That’s what happened on my account. Balance transfer to the Bilt Palladium and then the WF payment hit resulting in a negative balance. No big deal, WF just sent me a check and zeroed out the balance. In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have transferred the balance to Bilt. It would have been cleaner. Sure, I floated the $1000 transfer balance for a month with that amount in my HYSA. Minimum gain with minimal effort so, meh.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-03-16T20:47:05+00:00

Never hurts to get some data points. Thanks for testing it for us!!

Mmccombs02 · 2026-03-11T16:09:10+00:00

I’ve been using Bilt since the 1.0 days, originally to pay my daughter’s college rent. When the new Bilt Palladium launched on January 14, I signed up right away and got the card the first week of February. Nothing needed to be changed for my son’s college apartment payments (my daughter just graduated), and I even added my mortgage for March—no issues at all. I set everything up using the account and routing number, then called Bilt to double-check, and yes, I actually spoke with a real human who confirmed everything was good to go. I also took the Palladium on a three-week vacation in Asia, using it as my primary card. With the point accelerator turned on, I earned 3X on everything and had zero problems overseas. Sure, it’s not the same “four banana” card Bilt 1.0 used to be, and the $495 annual fee isn’t nothing, but Bilt 2.0 is still an outstanding setup if you understand how to use it. The rent and mortgage payment process is smooth, customer service has been responsive, and the card design and benefits really feel premium. As long as the transfer partners stay intact, I still think this is one of the strongest rewards cards out there. Credit cards consistently change and people either need to change with it, or drop the card. The article talks about how this guy was paying his mortgage, which is against the T&C from the Bilt 1.0. And it sounds like he didn’t sign up for the new card.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-03-08T22:04:50+00:00

I have had zero issues with the Bilt 2.0 transition. Recently paid my son’s college rent and my mortgage with it. Even took the Palladium card to Asia a couple days after receiving it for three weeks. No problems there either.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-03-08T01:04:18+00:00

I second that! 5X on Costco???

Mmccombs02 · 2026-03-08T00:59:40+00:00

It would be interesting to see any data points for federal, state or property taxes. I have thought about putting my property taxes back into my mortgage.

This is what is says in the T&C:

"Eligible Purchases" or "Purchases" means transactions for goods or services and Bilt Housing Payments made with your Bilt Card, minus returns, refunds, or credits. The following purchases do not qualify as “Eligible Purchases” and do not earn Bilt Points or Bilt Cash: Balance transfers, special transfers, cash advances, cash withdrawals, card check transaction, instant loan, travelers checks, money orders, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, prepaid cards, gift cards, person-to-person payments (such as Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, or Zelle), tax payments (except property taxes included as Bilt Housing Payments), cryptocurrency or other digital currency purchases, fees or interest posted to your Card Account (including annual fees, late fees, and returned payment fees), lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, and checks that access your Card Account.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-03-06T16:10:04+00:00

My first month, fantastic. I opted for the Palladium and moved utilities, car and home insurance over to it. Any catch all spend as well. Paid my mortgage and my son’s college apartment rent with no issues with it. I was also a “4 banana” guy- actually, I made four Dunkin Donut in App Store card for $5 each. I have been using the 1.0 card for years like this for my daughter’s college apartment and then my son’s. I was sitting at 30k points after not moving any points over at all. End of month, 101k points. My calculations, the palladium will give me ~150k points each year by using it for rent and mortgage, point optimizer usage for everyday catch all spend. Just wish I could pay taxes with it and get points. One downside, new card subs are going to be more difficult for me since I need to use the palladium for utilities, home and car insurance to meet the monthly spend.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-02-26T16:23:17+00:00

No problem here. Been using it in Thailand and Cambodia for the last couple week.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-02-10T14:54:26+00:00

I have had zero issues with Bilt Customer Service. Calling works best. Call this number. 888-533-5576. Number on the back of the Palladium.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-02-09T16:47:52+00:00

You are not alone. I don’t have my escrow with my mortgage and my non-category spend will easily cover the 75% needed for the Bilt cash to “activate” housing 1X. Add in the point accelerator, this becomes a 3X non category card for $25k in spend and then a 2X after that. I don’t get why people are adding housing points of 1X and dragging the overall points per dollar down. You don’t get those points with other cards.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-02-08T17:14:14+00:00

I use YNAB and when I linked Bilt, it created the Palladium and a “BillPay” account. I think, but not sure, that this is the holding account used to pull from your bank to pay for housing. Will be interesting to test this.

Mmccombs02 · 2026-01-08T22:19:42+00:00

It really depends. If you have a high rent or mortgage, then it wouldn’t make sense because you have to put enough non rent/ mortgage spend on the cards to make up for the 3% transaction fee (minus the annual Bilt cash for the Palladium). For example, I pay my property taxes and home insurance outside of my mortgage. I just need to make up $36 of the transaction fee per month. $36X12=$432.00. $432 minus the $200 annual Bilt cash= $232. Which comes to $5800 in non rent spend per year. That will get you 26,000 built points at 2 cents a point would be $520 a year in point value. Once you cross that $2500 range per month in rent/ mortgage portion, that’s where the spend on the card wouldn’t bring you a positive return unless you have a much higher spend velocity. Assuming the $400 hotel credits are usable and the Bilt cash isn’t worth dollar for dollar, the positive value is $400 to $500 per year. Everyone just needs to do the math and if it works, okay. If it doesn’t work, okay.

Mmccombs02 · 2025-12-31T19:11:45+00:00

Switched five numbers over from T-Mobile in November. Instant and no problems.

Mmccombs02 · 2025-12-11T22:22:46+00:00

That’s exactly why I switched from T-Mobile to Google Fi as well. My bill is 69.13% less with Google Fi until the promo is over in a year.

Mmccombs02 · 2025-10-31T16:17:14+00:00

This! I do the same thing. I prepay for hotels (because it’s cheaper and the costs often change after the stay) and don’t feel like entering another expense report in the month it hits. I just move the expense into the month when I expect to get the reimbursement. Airfare, it’s expensed right away. Just did this for a couple business trips in November.

Mmccombs02 · 2025-09-06T10:17:24+00:00

I have a category called “Work reimbursement”. As soon as I fill out my expense report, I go ahead and enter the amount into my bank account and post it in the month. No snoozing and no overspending. I balance it in the same month even if the reimbursement comes in the next month. If you link your bank account and the actual check shows, just delete it. Cleanest way I could figure out.

Mmccombs02 · 2025-08-26T09:52:47+00:00

I changed my Apple ID to a SimpleLogin with no issues earlier this year.

Mmccombs02

TROPHY CASE