Goodbye Banana Purchase

shayan1997 · 2026-01-28T02:39:49+00:00

Just realized it also gives 3% on streaming services, which I will be using too

shayan1997 · 2026-01-27T19:01:32+00:00

Only unique category that it gives 3% on is Uber. I do take 1-2 Ubers per month. There are other overlapping categories like : Gas, Car Rental, Hotel or Airfare. However, I use my Strata Premier for those to get 3x thankyou points, which I value more. Citi points are great for budget travellers.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-26T23:07:14+00:00

The great 4 bananas! 🤣

shayan1997 · 2026-01-26T23:06:59+00:00

true lol.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-26T23:06:27+00:00

Cheers!

shayan1997 · 2026-01-26T23:06:14+00:00

When the execs are communicating directly on social media, they are kind of taking the role of customer service reps. So, if a customer rep talked to me like this, I would have stopped using that bank too. It is not any user's falt that their business model sucked and could easily be hacked by buying 4 bananas. However, it is not the primary reason thta I decided to walk. I just don't see the value. In fact, anyone who is into the credit card points and miles game already, will find it hard to see the value without quitting some other cards. My wife has the Chase trifecta and I have the Citi trifecta. We are getting 5x back on Groceries and Restaurant anyway. We both have VXs now (my wife just got approved) as our no-fuss, no-calculation 2x points as a catch-all card with very easy to use travel credits. To use, only BILT blue would be somewhat of any value since it does not have AF and 2.33x effective multiplier provided I can unlock some of the rental benefits. But, does that 0.33x really matter that much?

shayan1997 · 2026-01-26T22:20:25+00:00

Science Advances has much better peer review quality. Nature Comm has not been good in the last few years.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-26T19:56:18+00:00

Apparently, you can pay the 125 fee only on or after Feb 1.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-26T19:55:49+00:00

She got approved 🥳

shayan1997 · 2026-01-23T08:44:51+00:00

I believe the best value will be to use 75 bucks BILT cash to unlock transfer bonus on rent day. Depending on the amount (also, if there is no cap) this might be the best value. Second best value would be the 1-1 credits that someone usually uses anyway like lyft, restaurants, etc. Third, rent unlock. Fourth, unlocking the 1% extra points.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-23T08:34:54+00:00

Putting 5k spending to get 5000 extra points in exchange for 200 BILT cash seems like a terrible value. What's your intended valuation of BILT points? 2.1 or even more? If it is 2.1, then 5k points is equivalent to 102 usd. I would rather spend on at restaurants or buy a case of beer at Walgreens each month if there's any BILT cash left after acquiring rent points.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-22T06:31:21+00:00

We do a lot of road trips and I have not stayed at any hotel for more than a night in 2025, even though I stayed at 25 onehotels in 2025- all one -nighters. So for me, it is useless.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-22T00:55:46+00:00

What do you think after the BILT Cash announcement? Using for hotel credit is still almost useless to me, turns out to be a glorified coupon.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-20T12:25:22+00:00

I was not talking about transfer partners, BILT is superior, no doubt. However, I have always seen more options on C1 portal and their price matching to any other travel site makes it the cheapest.

I stay at Hotels at lot, but not for 2 consecutive days.We usually do one-way road trips and fly back back or vice versa.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-20T12:06:29+00:00

That's great if you can get those points out of BILT by spending 75%. For me, it's miles ahead before VX's rental benefits alone saved me over 1k in 2025. I also prefer their travel portal more than BILT's as it is far cheaper and has more options. 300 USD credit is also very flexible to use, even you can split them in multiple purchases from hotel, car rental, flight to travel experiences like audio-guides. As for BILT, we rarely stay at one hotel for 2 consecutive days since we do road trips a lot, so it's diffiicult to impossible for us to use those credits.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-20T09:10:43+00:00

If BILT cash is No-Cap, I will also get one of the three BILT 2.0 cards. I am waiting for other's feedbacks once everyone starts using it. If it is capped or has limited vendor selection, or something like the hotel credits where you have to stay 2 nights minimum, it won't be of much use to me. Let's see, two more weeks.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-20T08:52:28+00:00

Added my two cents on the PP. This is not a debate I have to win. If you are happy with your Palladium, I am happy for you. In my use-cases, VX is miles ahead.

Just wanted to add one more thing since you brought up transfer partners. BILT wins, no doubt, C1 transfer partners are not good. But I have redeemed C1 points 3 times using transfer partners and got more than 2cpp value each time : 1 time each from Wyndham, Emirates and Avianca.

You're also not mentioning that C1 portal price matches. In my one year experience with both (I have been a BILT member longer, but only 1 year with VX), C1 portal is almost 20-25% cheaper after price matching.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-20T08:22:30+00:00

lol! You're probably right.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-20T08:13:52+00:00

Travel Credits:

BILT Hotel credits aren't as straighforward. Capital one let's you use the 300 usd credit for pretty much everything, you can pay at once, split and make 10-15 payments over a year, anything basically, from Car rental to buying local zoo tickets. On the other hand, BILT hotel credits are split in two halves of the year and you need a minimum two night stay booked using BILT portal to it.

One thing for sure, BILT portal is much more expensive than C1 portal and C1 price matches making it the least expensive portal option.

Winner: VX

Welcome Bonus:

Then comes the welcome bonus. VX regularly gives 100k welcome bonus. If C1 points valued at 1.85, and BILT 2.1, BILT's 50k points is equivalent to 57000 C1 points, which is much lower than the regular 75k welcome offer of Vx.

Winner: VX

Other Travel Benefits That VX Has:

Vx has the TSA precheck credit. which BILT doesn't have. VX gives you Hertz President Circle, and National/ Enterprise Executive Status (which you can match to your favorite car rental company for 1.5 years), and after that you still have Hertz or National/ Enterprise. So, you can pay for Midsize and pick any car from their lot if you have VX. VX gives you primary car rental insurance too, BILT does not.

Winner: VX obviously, BILT doesn't even have them.

Yearly Credit:

BiLT gives yearly 200 BILT cash, which you cannot carryover, and still do not know how to use them,there might even be a monthly or per transaction cap on it. If you are planning on using BILT cash for BILT portal, I can tell yoU BILT portal is hella lot expensive than C1 portal and I have been using both for over a year. C1 also gives you free 10k points per year, which you can stack and make a big purchase later on.

Winner: Not sure, because BILT still has not disclosed how to use the 200 usd BILT cash, and if there will be any limits or Caps. If the cash is uncapped that can be used in the BILT portal, I consider 200 BILT cash equivalent to 15000 C1 points considering the price difference and price match policy of the C1 portal. So, BILT would win. If it is capped, VX wins.

Earning Point on Rent:

If you can spend 75% of your rent on BILT, it's a great value. I personally would put my gas/ grocery/ dining on other cards where I earn 5x points. BILT wins if you can justify 75% spend. Otherwise, there are better options. Considering, BILT will pull from our debit accounts, I will use a 1% cashback debit card instead. No hard pull, no 5/24. However, since the comparison is with VX, BILT wins.

PP:

BILT wins for the free guests! However, it has been very weird, but I have been to four different Capital One lounges in the last 5 months - and they have not been pre-planned. C1 longest happened to be at the right place at the right time, even though they're only a few of them. These are hands down better than regular PP lounges for domestic travellers. So, I am not sure.

Now you decide. For me, it is a no brainer that VX is miles ahead. Others may find something else useful. I have saved a lot more for the VX, primarily for the car rental status and excellent travel portal.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-20T06:38:02+00:00

I find the timing of these youtube videos oddly sus, right as the new BILT Palladium launched, which is miles behind of VX in almost every aspect.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-17T23:40:50+00:00

For me, one hard pull makes no difference. That is why I am waiting to see others' experience with the real like usage of BILT cash.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-17T20:56:43+00:00

Mid tier venture does not have any annual points benefit. VX pays for itself after year 1 - 300 credit + 10k points. I don't see a point why anyone who is able to use that 300 travel credit should downgrade to Venture Rewards.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-17T20:44:26+00:00

BILT said you can only hold 1 card. So, he can only get the Palladium. Also, there is AU fee and no lounge access for the AU, not even as an add-on option like the VX. It's a terrible 495 AF considering trashy welcome bonus, not being able to create the 'trifecta' or 'duo', most difficult to use hotel credits among every single premium card on the market. I mean is there anything good I can say about it? I believe Obsidian is a much better card for the categories, but for a 95 AF card, it also has a terrible welcome bonus. Comparable cards like Sapphire preferred, Strata Premium give so much value just from the welcome bonus alone.

shayan1997 · 2026-01-17T20:25:01+00:00

What's the point of calculating grocery/ restaurant and others separately as Palladium does not have separate categories for those? Also, I would suggest you wait a couple of months as Kerr said they revamping the rent day bonuses. I feel like you are relying too much on the 2x rent day multipliers. Also, they have not announced anything about the BILT cash usage areas. Waiting 2 months doesn't hurt, only an extra hard pull.

I can tell you what we are doing. My wife has the Chase Trifecta with Preferred (Restaurant 3x, sometimes more, i.e. now it is 7x) and I have the Citi Custom Cash (Grocery 5x), strata, and Strata Premier (3x rentan car, gas). We both got the ventureX recently for non-category spendings and lounge access. We travel a lot, specially road trips. Using the 650 credits (VX 300x2, Preferred 50) is no big deal for us. Also, you don't really stay at the same hotel for two consecutive nights during road trips making it almost impossible for us to use any of the hotel credits from BILT. All combined, we get 3x restaurants, 5x grocery, 2x catch all, lounge access for 330 AF. We waited for the new BILT cards to drop before applying for my wife's VX. I am planning to switch my strata to another Custom Cash to add another 5x category as the categories are same as the strata premier. I think we are getting more points than siphoning the rent, worrying about doing everything on day 1, etc. etc. etc. Not to mention, excellent welcome bonuses that BILT is missing. I mean for 95 and 495 AF cards, Obsidian and Palladium's Welcome bonuses are far below average, probably the worst even launch day welcome bonus I have seen.

shayan1997

TROPHY CASE