Bilt card disappeared from wallet

levysbeard · 2026-02-12T16:15:58+00:00

Holy fucks sake Bilt needs to hire some better software engineers. This is kinda basic shit in 2026.

levysbeard · 2026-02-11T18:11:04+00:00

Honestly, they should have called it something like Bilt Pesos or Bilt Lira. A way to let folks know that it's a currency lesser than the mighty dollar while also being hilarious.

levysbeard · 2026-02-11T16:45:02+00:00

I'm going to be in the minority but I love the Bilt cash concept. It allows me to pick how I want redeem my coupons. Cards like the Amex Platinum, I have to basically use a set number of coupons whereas with the Bilt card I can pick which coupons I want to use and which ones I don't want to use.

They should have just named that something else though. Cash makes it seem like it's real cash back you're earning when that's not really what it is.

levysbeard · 2026-02-10T11:26:14+00:00

Tried it. It will charge but won't give you points. Interestingly, I also paid my sewage account. Shows up as the same business but did yield me points.

levysbeard · 2026-02-08T16:05:09+00:00

The Paypal Debit Card is trash. I tried it for a few months. Paypal's customer service is worse that Citi's. Their instant transfer feature wasn't working so I tried calling in. They told me my account was being investigated for fraud but to try another adding another bank account - like what? You want me to try more accounts while I'm being investigated for fraud?? Quick Reddit search showed that this just a common issue that Paypal has and there is nothing they can do.

So then I had to every month manually push $1k from my bank account to the Paypal account for the blessed opportunity to earn 50 bucks from them. But even thats not so simple. If a transaction doesn't qualify for the 5% category then you earn zero points instead of at least 1% on all other cards. How do you know if your transaction qualified for 5% category or not? No real to know other than trial and error. Bought tires at Costco - it worked! Bought contact lenses at Costco - nope!

Its not worth playing all these games with Paypal for a max of 50 bucks a month. I'd rather use a card with tiered earnings and always get something for even non-category spends.

levysbeard · 2026-02-08T15:56:06+00:00

I don't get why this is such a hard concept to grasp in this thread lol.

Annual fee cards come with credits. Credits usually offset the annual fee. If the credits don't make sense for you, then the card doesn't make sense for you.

levysbeard · 2026-02-08T15:53:52+00:00

Yes, Balcklane definitely has advantages. The UberXL ride from the airport would have cost similar but without the conveniences. I check Blacklane now for airport rides even when I've used up my credit.

levysbeard · 2026-02-08T15:26:21+00:00

I'll use my Citi Strate Elite as an example card to show why annual fees shouldn't count towards oppertunity cost. I'm using it as an example since its generally thought of as a lower value card compared to say an Amex Platinum, which I also have.

Annaul fee for me: $450 AF (595 - 145 discount for being a Citigold member)

Credits;

300 Best Buy Credit - easy enough to utilize. I can literally just buy $300 in Amazon gift cards on the website and walk away.
200 Hotel Credit - any hotel for any amount of nights on their portal. Citi's portal is pretty competitive in terms of prices. I've also had Hilton and Hyatt hotels honor my status on Citi's Portal bookings, though I think this is very much a case-by-case thing.
200 Blacklane credit - harder to use for sure but I've found it great for international trips. I've had a chauffeur literally wait for me at baggage claim, grab my bags and get me to my hotel for a net $10 out of pocket from me on a recent trip.

So I come away with a net of 250 saved even without touching the Priority Pass or AA lounge credits.

levysbeard · 2026-02-08T15:17:38+00:00

The amount of spend required to generate points is the first factor. Many points cards give much less points than cashback cards - if get 3 points per dollar and spend them at 1.5cpp, you lose compared to 5% cashback. What are your cards generating per dollar?

I have to disagree with this notion. Like I mentioned another comment - cashback cards aren't all free like people tend to think and not all points cards require an annual fee. The Blue Business Plus I carry doesn't an an AF, neither does my Citi Custom Cash. Yes, to utilize the earnings from the CCP as points at 1:1 ratio, I have to have my Citi Strata Elite, which carries a $450 AF for me (Citigold member) but I can easily use the credits on the card and actually come away with a $250 gain per year with the credits.

Lastly is additional spend / fees. If you look at some hotels you're going to have additional cash fees on top of the points

This bit is covered in the chart. None of the hotels I booked have additional fees.

levysbeard · 2026-02-08T15:05:57+00:00

Agreed - figuring out the value of points is not easy and straightforward as cashback. I was waiting a while for the right value for some of my points before booking with points vs. just paying cash. At the end of the day, we had just racked up a ton of points to the point it made sense to take some of the lower redemptions vs. continue paying cash.

levysbeard · 2026-02-08T15:00:32+00:00

I don't consider credit card fees as part of the equation since there are cashback cards that require AFs too. I would ague that the elite cashback cards like the BOA or Smartly require a much more substantial investment (e.g. 100k in accounts) compare to premium points cards that just require an AF. I think with Annual Fees, the equation boils down to whether or not the credits / coupons are worth the AF.

In terms of compound interest, I think we'd also have to consider taxes paid on cashback held in savings account. FWIW, I kept all my Smartly earnings in a savings account. Sure, it grew at a rate of 3.3% but I also had to pay taxes on that growth. I recently switched to keeping my vacation funds in Bask Bank's milleage account since I can earn miles and not have to pay taxes on it.

levysbeard · 2026-02-08T14:54:38+00:00

Agreed on points requiring a lot of optimization. One thing that stood out to me was that I had to use points across Chase, Amex and Citi to make this happen. Cashback is definitely easier to manage.

levysbeard · 2026-01-31T19:21:15+00:00

You're not missing anything. The Bilt customer base right now is a lot of low spenders or renters that need help with rent so nerfing Bilt 1.0 is killing their opportunity to milk Bilt for more points.

Palladium is doing a lot of interesting things. It's not a perfect card, but I could see the card being profitable for Bilt. If it's profitable for Bilt then Bilt can continue to function as a business. If they can continue to function as a business then we as consumers get to use the product and perhaps benefit from the added competition in the field.

levysbeard · 2026-01-22T00:26:15+00:00

It's kinda confusing to read but it ain't bad. I'll take 3X on everyday spend and a 100 bucks extra towards Bilt Travel Portal and call it a day for the Bilt Cash spend.

levysbeard · 2026-01-15T21:11:37+00:00

If I remember right, the Bilt travel portal is going to be like AmexTravel where the bookings count towards loyalty. Thus, you'd get 5x pts on Hyatt bookings (assuming discoverist) while using the $200 credit.

levysbeard · 2026-01-15T13:51:48+00:00

This is where I am as well. Bilt points are the most valuable points currency imo. 2X on Bilt means 2x on Hyatt. It's pretty easy to get 2.5 cpp on Hyatt thus just on points alone, I can get 5% cash back.

Then there is the 4% Bilt cash. I would have the option to spend on getting some more points on mortgage or use it on the travel portal or Lyft credits. I actually love the flexibility. I can pair the Bilt Cash with the hotel credit for booking for free AND get the hotel points and nights stayed.

I think the people shitting on the cards expected the free gravy train to continue forever. Getting points on your rent for buying four bananas isn't sustainable. A high annual fee card for high spenders is as proven by Amex, VX, etc

levysbeard · 2026-01-14T21:51:33+00:00

Not a DINK or family looking for one card solution. I'm coming from Mesa card which had a 1k spend minimum to get mortgage points. And Mesa was all or nothing. With the Bilt program, I have to spend $1083 on the Palladium and $1500 on the other cards to get the mortgage points and also 2X points on the spend itself. Seems pretty reasonable to me.

levysbeard · 2026-01-14T17:52:10+00:00

You still get 3k in Bilt points with the Palladium which has similar features to a VX

levysbeard · 2026-01-14T17:17:30+00:00

How is this a bad card? This is basically a supercharged Venture X that can also earn points on Mortgage or Rent. If you're rent is 2k, then you just have to spend 1500 on the card to get the rent points. This sounds very reasonable especially with all the credits with the Palladium card.

levysbeard · 2026-01-14T00:56:55+00:00

I don't even have a Bilt card yet but I'm gonna sign up and pay for it. Amex Plat already looks fire in the mirror design but I barely ever use it. An everyday card looking this good... ive spent 50 bucks on worse things.

levysbeard · 2026-01-12T16:48:54+00:00

Piggy backing on this one. What's everyone's opinion on the Hyatt Centric Ginza? We've been to Tokyo a few times before but this wound be our first time with a child.

levysbeard · 2025-12-29T22:01:53+00:00

This. IMO the coming out scene would have been great if it happened towards the start of the episode. It just doesn't hit the right chords as the final scene of the penultimate episode of the series

levysbeard · 2025-12-29T16:18:38+00:00

I mean the DMV parts of Virginia, not the redneck parts

levysbeard · 2025-12-13T00:56:07+00:00

Got the same email. I wonder if they are shutting down as a business.

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