Bilt Relaunches Tiered Card Suite With Housing Rewards and 10% Intro APR

Bilt 2.0 unveiled its new suite of cards on Wednesday, extending rewards to mortgage payments in addition to its existing rewards for rent payments, and offering new cardholders a 10% introductory APR on eligible purchases for the first 12 months.

The fintech is the first to step up to the call by President Donald Trump for credit cards to rein in interest rates.

After Wells Fargo ended its partnership with Bilt in July, Bilt announced plans to release the new 2.0 card lineup in February 2026. The company is partnering with fintech firm Cardless, Fidem Financial, and Column N.A. to roll out the new cards.

Annual fees for the three new Bilt cards are $0, $95, and $495 for the Bilt Palladium Card. Current cardholders with a Bilt Card have until Jan. 30 to preorder one of the new cards, keep the same credit card number, and avoid a hard inquiry on their credit report.

The New York-based fintech was founded in 2019 on a unique rent rewards value proposition that connects housing payments with spending on neighborhood business. The company has developed a rewards card offering that will allow it to enter into the broader rewards card marketplace.

Bilt initially differentiated its Bilt 2.0 card by allowing users to earn transferable rewards points on rent transactions with no transaction fees — a benefit that few of its peer companies were offering.

Bilt will be implementing a more commonly used strategy among issuers of credit cards by offering several cards with varying price tags. That approach allows Bilt to provide rewards options for casual users, frequent travelers, and heavy spenders all under one umbrella brand.

Rewards on the Bilt 2.0 cards include earning 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday spending that can unlock points on rent or mortgage payments or be redeemed to pay for rideshares, restaurants, and other local spending.

Bilt’s new rewards currency can also be used to unlock access to housing rewards and transfer bonuses. There’s no transaction fee to pay rent or make a mortgage payment, and no spending limit on housing payments.

Bilt card members can also choose to have their on-time housing payments reported to credit bureaus to help build their credit history. That’s a considerable expansion of Bilt’s original focus.

The $495 annual fee for the Bilt Palladium Card joins other similarly priced premium cards that target big spenders. Bilt’s top-tier card comes with a limited-time 50,000-point signup bonus, $300 in Bilt Cash with a new account, and $600 in yearly credits.

Housing payments — including rent and now mortgage payments — play a greater role in supporting the justification for expensive fees.

Instead of using the card’s credit limit, housing payments are drawn from the cardholder’s linked bank account, which allows cardholders to earn points without tapping into their credit line.

This creates a conundrum. Housing payments — both rent and mortgages — are large, but generally fixed in amount.

If the reward-earning rate is raised, then the economic viability of the card will become increasingly difficult to sustain.

Nick Reyes of Frequent Miler said success will depend on “how Bilt balances earn rates versus breakage,” especially since housing payments are central to the value proposition.

Major credit card issuers and card marketers will be watching Bilt’s experiment. Housing-related spend has historically been considered outside the boundaries of traditional rewards models. Bilt proved that the assumption may be incorrect.

Bilt 2.0’s expansion of its model to higher-fee levels could prompt an industry review of other “non-traditional” categories of spend such as utilities, insurance, and tuition payments.

If Bilt fails, then it will show why most issuers have been hesitant to use housing-related spend as the basis for rewards models.

Bilt has moved from a niche rent rewards card to a full-fledged rewards card issuer with the official launch of its 2.0 suite of cards. All three of its cards reward cardholders for making rent and mortgage payments.

The 10% introductory APR — a response to President Trump’s proposal to cap card interest rates — will return to APRs that range from 26.74% to 34.74% after the 12-month promotional period.

And the company is offering existing Bilt members a seamless transition to the new cards if current cardholders preorder before Jan. 30.