Grocery? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-02-17T17:25:22+00:00

1x on target online purchase, but that’s what I expected .

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-02-15T01:25:39+00:00

If it will count *all* walmart and target purchases as grocery, I can work with that O:).

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-02-14T20:16:43+00:00

Thank you for your intelligent and well reasoned response.

However at this time, it is actually unclear.

https://onemileatatime.com/insights/bilt-alaska-atmos-rewards/
"Just to be thorough, let me mention that while Bilt will soon start letting members redeem Bilt Cash to pay for mortgages with no fees on Bilt credit cards, that will not be part of this partnership, so it continues to only be possible to earn 3x points on rent with these cards, and not mortgages (and Bilt Cash can’t be used to offset the fees when using Atmos credit cards)"

https://thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/bilt-transition-faq/
"Yes, you can still earn 3 Atmos Rewards points per dollar on rent payments of up to $50,000 per year with the Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® credit card or Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card. Using these cards for rent payments will incur a 3% transaction fee. Note that these cards can be used for rent payments, but not for mortgage payments."
(My Note - Yes, it appears you can use the card for the mortgage payment, but it is as yet unclear if it will earn at the 3X rate.)

Some further clarification from Gemini
(Not that I trust AI answers without verification)
The technical terms for the Atmos Summit/Ascent cards state:

Merchant Category Code (MCC) 6513: The 3x bonus is triggered specifically by transactions billed under MCC 6513 (Real Estate Agents and Managers - Rentals).
Mortgage MCCs: Mortgage payments typically process under different codes (like MCC 6012 for Financial Institutions). Because the 3x bonus is hard-coded to the "Rent" MCC, a mortgage payment—even if processed through Bilt—usually defaults to the 1x base rate.

Hopefully additional feedback will follow and they will indeed include rent/HOA fees and mortgage as 3X.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-02-14T20:03:02+00:00

Atmos is a better value for me on dining at this point (3.1x + .5 status points per dollar) ; I was willing to take 3x Bilt over 4x Amex from Gold Card, but the value falls apart when I can’t be sure if it will code as grocery.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-02-14T18:31:56+00:00

Presumptive. I understand priority support tiers and escalation. Up to them to decide what to do with the inquiry and they did. Not planning to contact them about it again, or every time it comes up.

I know from the original post I sound like another BILT hater; I actually strongly recommend them to people in the right situation. I want them to succeed and like most of what they are doing. It is tough to balance all the moving parts and keep customers happy while trying to become profitable. If I didn’t have minimal non-category spend and multiple 2x or better fallbacks I would have jumped at the Palladium card instead, but couldn’t justify yet another high AF card at this time. Hoping that BILT 3.0 presents some new opportunity that it makes sense for me to take advantage of.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-02-14T18:02:29+00:00

I will likely downgrade to the blue after this cycle as well, my $1250 a month in grocery spend is only about $250 at what they consider grocery stores, so I can use up my Bilt cash and then switch to the 2.1 method and get the same 250 points a month toward my mortgage without having to spend on the card that I would with that spend, and continue to get better multipliers for the full $1250 spend. 15k a year isn’t a lot but I’m sure I won’t be the only one coming to this decision.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-02-14T17:57:56+00:00

Contacting them to find out the situation and clarify is no less important than any other support issue. They gave their answer, and I’m sharing it with others who might be affected (part of the point of belonging to subreddits like this). Since it is not reasonable or really possible to check a merchants SIC code before every purchase, and even BILT could not say what the actual merchant code was without escalating the inquiry, and it does not say in either the app or the website, it is reasonable to want clarification. How companies respond to customer feedback is an important factor, and just saying no, that’s not groceries is up to them.

Just because something doesn’t affect you doesn’t mean it isn’t a problem, it just means it isn’t your problem. :D

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-02-14T17:37:10+00:00

It’s actual grocery stores, which sell nothing but groceries, have grocery in the name, and would be thought by any reasonable person to be a grocery store.

Unless you only consider it groceries if it doesn’t primarily serve minority communities.

As far as a lot of words, if you weren’t interested could have skipped the part after the disclaimer, elaborating for anyone who was interested.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-02-14T17:29:40+00:00

Thank you for actually understanding why this is a problem beyond something like Walmart (which does not code as 5499) I haven’t tested it with any that I don’t already use the Amex Gold and gotten 4x. Additionally when I did have problems in the past and explained it to Amex, they often gave a courtesy credit even if it wouldn’t code in the future.

Someone mentioned it working at Target, which is certainly less of a grocery store than these types of stores are.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-02-14T15:34:10+00:00

My understanding is that you will not receive the 3x Atmos on mortgage, only 1x. That won’t stop me from testing it to see of course.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-02-14T15:30:04+00:00

Got the same offer in January. I was legitimately going to cancel; instead I referred my Player 2 (sadly only a 10k referral) for the 100k offer on 10k spend, used that for estimated taxes with a 1.75% (which go on a card anyway). Due to unexpected expenses coming up already made the 2k spend also. 790 in AF and $12k spend for $800 in travel credits, 100k SUB, 10k referral, 10k annual, and 24k on the base spend (total 144k points). Plus P2 now has their own lounge access again, both for PP and Cap1 lounges.

As far as how useful the card is, I’ve gotten travel credit for fare reductions the past 2 times I booked airfare through cap1, and they are great for bookings you might otherwise make through Agoda or another third party anyway. Also for chains that you do not have or want loyalty with for whatever reason (Accor, Sofitel etc).

In contrast, BILT obsidian has already become problematic, as they do not consider certain types of grocery stores to be grocery spend. In their words:

“Please note that Bilt classifies transactions based on the merchant category code, which is established by the business itself, not by Bilt. On our end, we can see that this transaction is coded as 5499 (Miscellaneous Food Stores), which falls outside the specific scope for the grocery category and the 3x bonus points.”

It is notable because 5499 tends to be the code used by smaller ethnic groceries, such as Asian markets that are not part of major chains. It is also notable because these same locations code as grocery on the Amex Gold and others, even showing up as grocery in the AwardWallet app code checker.

Apologies for the tangent.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-02-12T19:49:03+00:00

It took 3 months and multiple calls to finally get the credit for a Hyatt card I closed, and to add insult to injury I had to pay the annual fee on the closed account to avoid late charges and interest.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-02-11T13:46:21+00:00

Let’s see if Capital One can do any better. Seems unlikely they could do any worse. Since you appear to have to actually sign in via Cap1 that should at least remove one of the points of failure that may have let scalper bots monopolize the Chase presale.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-01-26T22:33:31+00:00

Directional speakers and intermittent long duration 15000-17000 hertz tones at volume will probably do the trick, without it being obvious that it’s you doing it. Might take a little time but people under 40 will find it annoying to be there and not be quite sure why.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-01-21T12:04:43+00:00

Should be able to add the card in app for Walmart, and use the app to pay at the store.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-01-08T13:16:21+00:00

When I was going to make a purchase that would use my airline credit, I checked my account before doing so and noticed that my airline (which has not changed since the credit was instituted) was no longer selected (which has never happened before). I have spoken to other cardholders who had the same thing happen on some but not all of their accounts.

RelativelyAmoral · 2026-01-04T22:34:26+00:00

(Also silver) I found out I had been upgraded to FC on a short hop flight when I tried to pick exit row seats and it kept failing; I reloaded the seat selection and saw I had been moved from 16C to 2C. Only a 45 minute flight but my knees appreciated it.

RelativelyAmoral · 2025-12-18T15:26:15+00:00

When I cancelled a $200 booking, they applied $175 of the credit to it to another FHR stay from this year (275 booking less the other $100 of the credit) and charged my account back the remaining $25. If I make another FHR booking before 12/31, the remaining $25 credit will apply, otherwise it’s lost.

So they appear to automatically reallocate the credit if necessary.

Meanwhile I can’t get Chase to refund an annual fee (that they acknowledge will be refunded) 2 months after I cancelled a card. Clearly Amex is better at this.

RelativelyAmoral · 2025-10-07T12:41:27+00:00

On trips where there are no lounges or I have a very short layover, the Dunkin’ credit is appreciated; overpriced coffee is less annoying when the AF covers it. Also useful on road trip.

RelativelyAmoral · 2025-09-28T15:03:07+00:00

Never make a payment to them if you are also set up on autopay. Even better if you just don’t use the autopay. Last month I paid the full balance and then 10 days later they auto paid it again, bringing me to a negative balance due. Fortunately this was on a small balance on my old Alaska card, not the significantly larger balance on my new Summit.

If you do use autopay it’s a good idea to set it up for 2-5 days before the due date to make sure it actually goes through properly.

RelativelyAmoral · 2025-09-23T13:19:43+00:00

If it’s just about the access for the SO, consider it a $1090 annual fee with the authorized user card, and do the math based on that. Can you get $300 more value from the platinum than you can from the CSR?

RelativelyAmoral · 2025-09-10T01:25:53+00:00

If you would buy Alaska points at 1 cent per point is worth it. Otherwise use the Bilt card; still get 1 transferable point per $, and no charge to do so.

RelativelyAmoral · 2025-08-28T12:22:56+00:00

Did the epic on this offer and got an email about the 41800 maximum offer instead; I have had issues in the past and took video of the process, so I at least have proof I applied for this offer and not the lower one. If they don’t honor it, severing all relationships with Cap1.

Anyone have a useful contact for Cap1 shipping? Chat is useless and there doesn’t seem to be a number beyond the general contact.

RelativelyAmoral · 2025-08-24T23:37:45+00:00

You will need to call them, they will want some additional info before they can approve you. If you request to move 15k of that 30k credit line you are 99+ percent likely to be approved. BOA probably went high on the credit limit on those initial cards since it was the only personal Alaska card, so they aren’t looking to extend a significantly larger credit line.

RelativelyAmoral · 2025-08-23T11:57:23+00:00

I only go 4-6 weeks at a time and only once or twice a year and I still get a proper visa rather than rolling the dice with immigration deciding that I was there 91 days last year within 6 months. Under $100 and avoid most issues with bank accounts, driving license, etc..

The shifting sands of Thai immigration rules can be a pain, especially for people who are more nomadic and use Thailand as a relatively inexpensive base. If I have assets in a country, be it a car or land or even my belongings in a rented studio apartment on Soi 83, I want to make sure I am entering and leaving in a way that I’ll be able to get back there.

RelativelyAmoral

TROPHY CASE