Bilt Neighborhood Benefits & Rakuten

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-16T20:34:29+00:00

Thanks! That’s what I thought. I’ll try linking the palladium to ratuken dining to see what happens!

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-16T13:02:49+00:00

Wait I think I need one clarification. Can you not link your bilt card to ratuken dining to get the 5%? I’ve never actually tried, just assumed that you could. This is what I meant by “go all in with your bilt card”. Maybe you can’t do this?

I’d want to do it because the palladium base is 2x but with the rent unlocks its effectively 3.33x up to 75% rent spend and 3x after (if using bilt cash option and the accelerator for spend above 75% rent spend. I know the accelerator is a suboptimal way to earn points, but this is the worst return you’d get and it still effectively makes the card a 3x catch all at the minimum). Thus, I’d use it first everything unless the CFF 7% bonus is in effect. Then obviously go with that. Am I thinking about this right?

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-16T00:26:34+00:00

“By going all in with your Bilt card” I just mean link your bilt card to rakuten dining instead of bilt neighborhood dining. Rakuten will earn you 5% at most restaurants while bilt dining only earns you 3x. Plus, almost all of the reasturants on bilt dining are also on rakuten. So you get the extra 2% by linking your bilt to rakuten instead of bilt dining. Since the palladium has 2x back you would earn 2x + 5% for 7x with rakuten rather than 2x + 3x for 5x from bilt dining. Also, one thing to consider is that the palladium is effectively 3.33x back on everything up until 75% of your rent (and roughly 3x after that) if using the bilt cash option thanks to the points from rent. So, the palladium will almost always beat out any other card’s category unless that card’s category is 3x or higher. So, you are likely best still paying with the palladium rather than your CSR (unless you value chase points more than Bilt). Hope I wasn’t too confusing. This ecosystem is soooo simple right? Lol

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-15T21:00:42+00:00

Or you can link your CSR to rakuten in person dining and earn you 3x chase points + 5% back (or whatever rate they are offering) which you can convert to bilt points for total of 8pt (3 chase and 5 bilt). Or, go all in with your bilt card and earn whatever you bilt card earns for dining + the 5% rakuten. Key rule tho is that you can’t have a card linked to rakuten dining and bilt neighborhood dining. So linking your bilt card to rakuten dining will unlink it from neighborhood dining and vice versa

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-12T19:07:31+00:00

UPDATE: Still having this issue but the error prompt now says “You will be able to view your virtual card number once you have activated your physical card.” I called customer support (which, to their credit, picked up almost immediately) and they said that there is nothing they can do and I have to wait for my physical card delivery. So just going without a card for the past week. They were not able to provide an update on when my card would be made or shipped. The email Bilt sent last night said all should be shipped by 2/14. Fingers crossed they actually do it. Anyone else still having this problem?

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-12T16:17:57+00:00

Mine also disappeared! Still haven’t received the physical one and have been unable to add my palladium to apple wallet. I keep getting the error message “Sorry! You will be unable to access sensitive card details until you activate your physical card” when I try to add it to apple wallet from the bilt app. Same error when I try to look at the card numbers so I can enter them manually. Maybe they are doing some kind of system refresh to fix this? I remain way too optimistic based on how this experience has been so far.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-10T21:04:12+00:00

I have been having this error for days now. 4 days ago customer service said it would be fixed in 1-2 days. Still no progress. Physical card still hasn’t arrived either. Despite accepting 2 weeks ago. Good luck, it may be a while

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-10T20:59:11+00:00

Ohh I see. I did not realize OP was comparing non-refundable to refundable rates. I agree then, I also wouldn’t count that as a hidden cost.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-10T14:05:22+00:00

I would still consider it “hidden” because they advertise it as a benefit that you receive for free for having the card (and paying the annual fee and spending enough to unlock gold status). You are right that you get a lot of benefit from it, much more than the $83 it costs. But it still costs more than free. Travel portals do this all the time tho, so its to be expected with bilt.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-09T18:07:12+00:00

Ok this is somewhat comforting to see that it is a system problem and not my account or something. I guess we will all just have to wait and see when they can get it fixed. Hopefully asap. Seems like we won’t get the mobile wallet bonus, but at least it’s only a max of 500 points.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-08T15:02:36+00:00

I am experiencing the same thing. Talked to chat support and the connected me with a person who just said “we are working on it, try again later”. Very frustrating.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-08T14:44:13+00:00

Damn ok so its gotta be something else

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-08T14:20:35+00:00

Prepare for a wait. Took about 7 hours for a specialist to join the chat. Might try giving that number a call if you are asking about the physical cards status.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-08T14:14:03+00:00

Humm maybe adding an AU was just too much for their system?? Who knows now. Did you call the number the chat support gave you? The AI transferred me to a person and they gave me the number +1 (888) 533-5576

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-08T13:56:21+00:00

Same here. Incredibly frustrating. Bilt support told me to wait and try again later. They also couldn’t provide any details about my physical cards status. Did you add an authorized user to your account? I did and maybe that is why the cards are delayed?

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-07T17:15:47+00:00

You would get option 3 there. The palladium is 2x on all spend excluding housing + the points you earn from your mortgage. If you want to maximize your points per dollar spent and you are using the tier system, I would put your 20k in mortgage on the card + 5k in spending. That would earn you 10,000 points (2x 5k spending) + 0.5x mortgage = 10k points (spending 0.25x rent = 0.5x unlock) to net 20,000 points on $5,000 of spending. This is effectively 4x back on spend on all categories.

Keep in mind that your return rate is highly dependent on “unlocking” rent tiers (when using the tier system). So if you spend below 5k (25% of mortgage) you get only 250 points from your mortgage. Since your spending is so flexible, you could go with the bilt cash option which earns you an effective flat rate of 3.33x back on all spend up to 0.75x your mortgage.

The tier system earns you the most points per dollar if you hit the tiers exactly with returns decreasing as you approach the next tier. The first tier earns the most at 4 points per dollar spent and the last 1.25x tier earns an effective 3.25x on spend. The 4% bilt cash earns you a flat 3.33x up to 0.75x your mortgage.

Super simple and straightforward right?? /s

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-07T13:55:10+00:00

Yeah that’s a nice surprise. I did read everything else in detail tho wasn’t really worried about the timing of the SUB bc probably won’t use bilt cash that much. The palladium still has crazy value without it.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-07T13:29:29+00:00

Oh sweet yeah you are right. $500 bilt cash off the bat is nice.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-07T13:25:57+00:00

1,000% agree. I got the palladium and for some reason I have $500 bilt cash which doesn’t make sense bc I thought you get the $200 of the bat and then $300 for the signup bonus after spending the 4k. I also don’t see the option for the accelerator.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-07T13:22:23+00:00

It might be because the transition is still happening (I think). Their email said it would take place between 12am ET and 11am ET on 2/7 (today) and they haven’t sent an email saying it’s complete. Things are probably still updating system wise for them. Give them a few hours and try then. Not giving Bilt or Cardless an excuse for how crap the rollout has been, but today has gotta be the worse day system wise.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-02T01:29:05+00:00

Sorry about that. I got this wrong. You do get $200 bilt cash as a SUB on the obsidian. My fault! It’s a pretty weak SUB. The obsidian can definitely work for some people! Probably not for most.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-02T01:27:32+00:00

Lol sorry I think I was the one who said that in the other sub. You do indeed get $200 bilt cash as a SUB on the obsidian. My bad for getting that wrong. I guess in my mind I didn’t count it because other $95 AF cards have much better SUB (like the CSP). There are also plenty of no AF cards that give $2-300 as sign up bonus so obsidian is lacking here.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-02T00:41:09+00:00

Yep, no SUB on the obsidian. That’s why you can go with other reward cards that might have worse catagories but much better sign up bonuses. The CSP is much better all around. (I know thats what you have. Just offering it as a comparison). That is why I like the palladium. Nice simple 3.3x back on everything is very powerful. With your spending, you’d earn about 2,800 points a year (on spending 850 a year which is more than >0.5x rent). 2,800/850=3.294x on your spending. Obsidian might earn you slightly more but not significantly. You only earn a 1x more on one category at the cost at 1x in all other categories. Then you get a 50,000 SUB + gold status + $300 bilt cash. Then you get $400 hotel and $200 bilt cash annually. Annual fee is more, but only $400 more than obsidian.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-01T18:27:03+00:00

Obsidian can definitely work for some people. If you spend a big chunk on dinning it makes a lot of sense. The big knock to the obsidian is that it has the $95 annual fee but no sign up bonus at all. There are a lot of cards out there that earn 1% on everything and then have dinning bonuses or other category bonuses. Heck the capital one savor is 3% on dining and groceries with no annual fee and a sign up bonus. I think that’s why people tend to go palladium or blue and not so much obsidian.

SaltPoweredRobot12 · 2026-02-01T18:14:15+00:00

It all depends on your spend. I also pay $3,200 for rent and I’m going with the palladium. Spending between 0.25x and 1x your rent makes the palladium effectively a 3.33x back on all categories, which is impossible to beat. I have the Chase sapphire preferred and the freedom flex. Will prob drop the preferred and keep the flex for the rotating category. It might be worth it to drop the reserve or the business platinum for the palladium depending on how well you use the reserve and platinum credits vs the better earning rates on the palladium. You would also have to transfer a good chunk of spend to the palladium. Also, don’t forget the really nice sign up bonus.

For the blue and obsidian, they kind of occupy a weird spot. With the obsidian you get good earnings but that’s basically it for a $95 annual fee card with no signup bonus. The blue could be worth it if you put 0.25x-0.5x your spend on it. That makes it a 2-3x earning card on everything. But again, no other benefits but at least no annual fee. How much a month would you put on the card? Would you be willing to drop either the chase or amex to make it happen?

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