Quick facts
Time
12-minute read
Cost
$0, $95, or $495 annual fee
Potential value
same housing points on all three; Palladium adds 50,000 points + Gold status after $4,000 in 90 days
Best for
renters and homeowners picking one Bilt card before they apply
Bilt sells three credit cards: Blue ($0 annual fee), Obsidian ($95), and Palladium ($495). All three earn Bilt Points on rent and mortgage with no transaction fee, and all three earn the same housing points. What changes is how much you earn on everything else, which credits you get, and whether the fee pays for itself.
That last part matters more than it looks, because Bilt only gives a welcome bonus on your first Bilt Card 2.0. Picking the wrong tier and fixing it later can cost you the bigger bonus.
Every fact below was checked October 17, 2026 on Bilt’s card comparison page, the individual Blue, Obsidian, and Palladium pages, the Bilt Card Offer Terms, the Bilt Cash Program Terms, and Bilt’s Elite Status support article. New to Bilt? Start with our Bilt Rewards guide.
The three cards at a glance
All three cards are issued by Column N.A., Member FDIC, and serviced by Cardless (Card Offer Terms). They are Mastercards: Bilt’s card pages describe Blue and Obsidian as World Elite Mastercards and Palladium as a World Legend Mastercard.
| Blue | Obsidian | Palladium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $0 | $95 | $495 |
| Authorized user fee | None listed | $50 each | $95 each |
| Welcome bonus | $100 Bilt Cash | $200 Bilt Cash | $300 Bilt Cash + 50,000 points + Gold status after $4,000 non-housing spend in 90 days |
| Rent and mortgage | up to 1.25X | up to 1.25X | up to 1.25X |
| Everyday purchases | 1X | 1X | 2X |
| Dining or grocery (you pick one) | not included | 3X (grocery capped at $25,000/year) | not included |
| Bilt partner restaurants | up to 4X | up to 6X | up to 5X |
| Hotels on Bilt Travel | 3X | 4X | 4X |
| Flights on Bilt Travel | 2X | 3X | 3X |
| Other travel | 1X | 2X | 2X |
| Lyft (accounts linked) | 3X | 3X | 4X |
| Annual Bilt Travel hotel credit | none | $100 ($50 twice a year) | $400 ($200 twice a year) |
| Annual Bilt Cash | none | none | $200 |
| Priority Pass | no | no | yes |
| Point Accelerator (Bilt Cash) | no | yes | yes |
| Foreign transaction fees | none | none | none |
Sources: bilt.com/card comparison table and FAQ, Card Offer Terms (annual and authorized user fees, welcome bonuses, credits), Bilt Cash Program Terms (Point Accelerator), all checked October 17, 2026. Bilt says its listed multipliers outside housing already include the Bilt member earnings that stack with the card.
Protections also step up with the fee. Per Bilt’s comparison table, all three include cell phone protection, purchase assurance, and MasterRental rental car coverage. Obsidian and Palladium add trip cancellation and interruption, trip delay, extended warranty, and lost or damaged luggage coverage. Only Palladium adds baggage delay and price drop protection. The exact terms are in each card’s Guide to Benefits, linked from bilt.com/card.
Housing points are the same on every card
This is the part most comparisons skip. Your card tier does not change how many points you earn on rent or mortgage. All three cards use the same two options from the Card Offer Terms:
Housing-only option (the default). Your housing multiplier depends on how much everyday spending you put on the card in the same billing cycle, compared with your housing payment:
| Everyday spend vs housing payment | Points on housing | Example with $2,000 rent |
|---|---|---|
| Under 25% | 250-point floor | 250 points |
| At least 25% | 0.5X | $500 spend, 1,000 points |
| At least 50% | 0.75X | $1,000 spend, 1,500 points |
| At least 75% | 1X | $1,500 spend, 2,000 points |
| 100% or more | 1.25X | $2,000 spend, 2,500 points |
Housing payments themselves do not count as everyday spend. Points on housing post after your statement closes, and there is no monthly or annual cap on housing points.
Flexible Bilt Cash option. Instead of the tiered multiplier, you earn 4% Bilt Cash on everyday spend. You can then redeem Bilt Cash to unlock housing points: $3 of Bilt Cash unlocks 100 points, up to 1 point per dollar of your payment. Under this option you do not get the 0.5X to 1.25X tiers or the 250-point floor.
You pick one option for the whole account. If you do nothing, you are on Housing-only. After the first seven days, a change takes effect at the start of your next billing cycle.
What this means for choosing a card: the spend ratio counts dollars, not points. A Blue cardholder and a Palladium cardholder who each pay $2,000 rent and put $2,000 of everyday spend on the card both earn 2,500 housing points. The higher-fee cards only pull ahead on the everyday spend itself, plus credits.
Watch Out
If most of your everyday spending lives on other cards, any Bilt card earns only the 250-point floor on housing under the default option. A Bilt card works best as a real everyday card, not just a rent card.
Bilt Blue: the $0 starting point
What you get: $100 Bilt Cash at account opening, up to 1.25X on housing, 1X on everyday purchases, 3X on Lyft when linked, 3X on hotels and 2X on flights booked through Bilt Travel, and up to 4X at Bilt partner restaurants (Blue page). Blue lists a 10% intro APR on new purchases for 12 billing cycles, then a variable 26.74% to 34.74% APR. Pay in full anyway.
Who it fits:
- You want points on rent or mortgage with no annual fee.
- Your everyday spending is modest, or it is mostly in categories no other Bilt card boosts.
- You are new to Bilt and want to see how housing earning works before paying a fee.
What it lacks: no dining or grocery bonus outside Bilt partner restaurants, no hotel credit, no travel insurance beyond rental car coverage, and no access to the Point Accelerator.
Bilt Obsidian: the dining or grocery card
What you get: $200 Bilt Cash at account opening, 3X on dining or grocery (your choice), 2X on other travel, 4X hotels and 3X flights on Bilt Travel, up to 6X at Bilt partner restaurants, and a $100 Bilt Travel hotel credit (Obsidian page, Card Offer Terms).
The category choice: dining is the default. You can switch to grocery once within 30 days of opening the account. After that, Bilt’s Obsidian page says you can change the category once a year in January. Grocery at 3X is capped at $25,000 per calendar year, then 1X. Dining is uncapped. Whichever category you do not pick earns 1X.
The hotel credit: $50 from January through June and $50 from July through December. It only applies to hotel bookings of 2 nights or more through the Bilt Travel portal, and unused halves do not roll over.
Who it fits:
- You spend real money on restaurants or groceries every month.
- You would book at least one 2-night hotel stay a year through Bilt Travel, so the $100 credit is likely to get used.
Simple fee math (illustrative, not a Bilt figure): compared with Blue, Obsidian earns 2 extra points per dollar in your chosen category. If you value a Bilt Point at 1.5 cents (our assumption for this math), the $95 fee equals about 6,300 points, or roughly $3,200 a year of dining or grocery spend. If you also use the full $100 hotel credit on a stay you would have booked anyway, the credit alone covers the fee.
Bilt Palladium: the flat 2X premium card
What you get (Palladium page, Card Offer Terms):
- 2X on all everyday purchases (excluding housing), 4X on Lyft when linked, 4X hotels and 3X flights on Bilt Travel, up to 5X at Bilt partner restaurants.
- Welcome bonus: $300 Bilt Cash at account opening, plus 50,000 Bilt Points and Gold status after $4,000 of everyday spend (not rent or mortgage) within 90 days.
- $200 Bilt Cash every year, deposited at account opening and then each January 1.
- $400 Bilt Travel hotel credit, as $200 from January through June and $200 from July through December, on 2-night-minimum bookings through Bilt Travel.
- Priority Pass membership. Bilt’s Palladium page says it covers you and two guests at 1,300+ locations, and authorized users also get Priority Pass.
Gold status from the bonus lasts a long time. The Card Offer Terms say Gold earned through the welcome bonus is valid for the rest of the calendar year you qualify, all of the next year, and through January 15 of the year after that. Qualify in 2026 and Gold runs through January 15, 2028.
Who it fits:
- You put a lot of non-bonus spending on one card and want a simple 2X everywhere.
- You travel enough to use Priority Pass and can book 2-night hotel stays through Bilt Travel in both halves of the year.
- You can meet $4,000 of normal, non-housing spend in 90 days without stretching.
Simple fee math (illustrative, not a Bilt figure): the $400 hotel credit and $200 Bilt Cash only count if you would use them anyway. If you use neither, Palladium has to earn its $495 fee through the extra 1X over Blue. At an assumed 1.5 cents per point, that takes about 33,000 points, or roughly $33,000 a year of everyday spend. If you fully use the hotel credit on stays you would book regardless, the remaining $95 takes about 6,300 points, or roughly $6,300 of everyday spend at the same assumption. Your real answer sits between those two lines, depending on how much of the credits you actually use.
Bilt Cash and the Point Accelerator
Bilt Cash is a separate currency from Bilt Points. You cannot redeem it as a statement credit. You can use it for things like housing point unlocks, Bilt Travel hotel bookings, and capped monthly partner credits (Bilt Cash Program Terms). It expires December 31 of the year you earned it, and only $100 rolls over into the next year.
Obsidian and Palladium cardholders can also use the Point Accelerator: redeem $200 of Bilt Cash for an extra 1X on the next $5,000 of eligible purchases on that card, up to five times per calendar year. Two catches from the Bilt Cash terms:
- You must be on the Flexible Bilt Cash option. Housing-only accounts cannot use it.
- Rent, mortgage, and other housing payments do not count toward the $5,000.
On Palladium, an accelerator turns 2X everyday spend into 3X for that $5,000. On Obsidian, it adds 1X to your purchases, so 1X becomes 2X and your 3X category becomes 4X (Obsidian page). Blue cannot use it.
Tip
Palladium’s welcome bonus and first-year annual Bilt Cash together put up to $500 of Bilt Cash in your account in year one, per Bilt’s Palladium page. Plan where it goes before December 31, since anything above $100 expires at year-end.
Bilt status and the cards
Card spending helps your Bilt status on every tier. Per Bilt’s Elite Status support article (updated October 9, 2026), you get the higher of two paths:
| Status | Points earned in a calendar year | Or Fast Track (non-rent spend) |
|---|---|---|
| Silver | 50,000 | $10,000 |
| Gold | 125,000 | $25,000 |
| Platinum | 200,000 | $50,000 |
Non-rent spending on any Bilt Card counts toward the Fast Track. Points that count toward status include points earned on rent and everyday spend, and points unlocked with Bilt Cash on housing. Status earned in a year stays active through the end of the following year.
Two practical takeaways:
- Palladium’s bonus is a shortcut to Gold. $4,000 of spend gets the status that would otherwise take $25,000 of Fast Track spend or 125,000 qualifying points.
- Status changes what Bilt Cash can do. The Bilt Cash terms let Blue and Silver members put up to $50 of Bilt Cash a month toward Bilt Travel hotel bookings, versus up to $100 a month for Gold and Platinum.
Status has also set the size of past Rent Day transfer bonuses, covered in our Bilt Rent Day guide.
Upgrades, downgrades, and the one-bonus rule
Read this section before you apply. From the Card Offer Terms:
- One welcome bonus, ever. Welcome bonuses are only for people who do not hold, have never held, and have never received a welcome bonus on a Bilt Card 2.0 issued by Column N.A.
- Upgrades can carry an Upgrade Bonus, but its amount is whatever Bilt shows in the app or website at the time. When an Upgrade Bonus includes 50,000 points and Gold status, you need $4,000 of everyday spend within 90 days of the product change. You cannot get the Upgrade Bonus for a card if you already received that card’s (or a higher card’s) welcome or upgrade bonus.
- One voluntary upgrade or downgrade per rolling 12 months, plus at most one refund-and-revert.
- Downgrading within 30 days after an annual fee posts reverses the prior card’s welcome bonus and already-used credits, which can leave a negative Bilt Cash or points balance. Downgrading more than 30 days after the fee posts keeps that year’s credits until your next anniversary.
What this means: if you are fairly sure you want Palladium, applying for Blue “to start” means giving up the Palladium welcome bonus and relying on whatever upgrade offer Bilt shows later. If you are unsure, Blue is a fine place to start. Just make that choice on purpose.
Bilt’s card FAQ also says there is no credit score impact to apply and see if you are approved, and that if you are declined you can apply again in 45 days (bilt.com/card).
Which Bilt card should you pick?
Use this in order:
- Will the card be one of your main everyday cards? If no, take Blue. The higher-fee cards mainly pay off through everyday spend and credits.
- Do you spend heavily on dining or groceries and book at least one 2-night stay a year? Look at Obsidian. The 3X category plus the $100 hotel credit can cover the $95 fee.
- Do you have high general spending, travel through airports with Priority Pass lounges, and use Bilt Travel for 2-night stays twice a year? Look at Palladium, and plan to hit $4,000 in 90 days with normal spending.
- Unsure between two tiers? Remember the one-bonus rule. Starting low is safe; starting low and upgrading later can mean a smaller bonus.
Practical checklist before you apply
- Pull your last three months of card statements and total your everyday, dining, grocery, and travel spend.
- Divide your everyday spend by your rent or mortgage to see which housing tier you would hit.
- Decide between Housing-only and Flexible Bilt Cash. Point Accelerator users need Flexible Bilt Cash.
- Count only the credits you would actually use: Bilt Travel hotel credit (2-night minimum), annual Bilt Cash, Priority Pass.
- If choosing Obsidian, decide on dining or grocery within 30 days of opening.
- If choosing Palladium, map out $4,000 of normal non-housing spend inside 90 days.
- Pay the statement balance in full every month.
FAQ
Do the Bilt cards earn different points on rent?
No. Blue, Obsidian, and Palladium all earn up to 1.25X on housing under the same spend-ratio tiers, or up to 1X by unlocking points with Bilt Cash (Card Offer Terms).
Is Bilt Palladium worth $495?
It depends on usage. If you will use the $400 Bilt Travel hotel credit and value Priority Pass, the fee is easier to justify. If you will not use the credits, you need very high everyday spend for the extra 1X to cover the fee on its own.
Is Obsidian better than Blue for dining?
For dining outside Bilt partner restaurants, yes: Obsidian earns 3X when dining is your category, Blue earns 1X. At Bilt partner restaurants, Bilt lists up to 6X on Obsidian and up to 4X on Blue (bilt.com/card).
Can I get the welcome bonus on two Bilt cards?
No. The Card Offer Terms limit welcome bonuses to people who have never held or received a bonus on a Bilt Card 2.0. Upgrades may come with an Upgrade Bonus shown in the app instead.
Does Bilt Cash expire?
Yes. Bilt Cash expires December 31 of the year it was earned, and up to $100 rolls over (Bilt Cash Program Terms).
Do I need a Bilt card to earn Bilt Points?
No. Bilt’s support article says members can link any debit or credit card: third-party credit cards earn 1 Bilt Point per $2 spent, a debit card or linked bank account earns 250 points when you pay monthly rent through BillPay, and Neighborhood and Lyft earning work with linked cards too (Bilt support). Shopping portals are another route; see our Bank of America, Rakuten, and Bilt stack for one example.
Bottom line
Bottom Line
All three Bilt cards earn the same points on rent and mortgage, so choose by everyday spending and credits you will really use. Blue suits most people who want housing points with no fee. Obsidian makes sense if dining or groceries are a big monthly line item. Palladium is for high spenders who will use the hotel credit and Priority Pass. Because the welcome bonus is one per person, pick the tier you actually want on day one.
Once you have points, the next questions are where to send them and when. Our Bilt Rewards guide covers transfer partners, Bilt Rent Day explained covers monthly transfer bonuses, and our post on transferring Bilt Points to Hyatt before Jan 1, 2027 covers the 1:1 to 4:3 change.
The Points Quest
Related reading
Points Quest is educational content only, not personalized financial advice. Annual fees, earning rates, credits, welcome offers, APRs, status thresholds, and product change rules were checked on bilt.com and support.biltrewards.com on October 17, 2026 and can change at any time; terms apply. Point valuations used in fee math are our own illustrative assumptions, not Bilt figures. Bilt Cards are issued by Column N.A., Member FDIC. Advertiser Disclosure