Now that I’ve introduced the new Bilt ecosystem, and introduced the Obsidian card, it’s time to go through the most expensive new card on offer: the Bilt Palladium Card. This card sits at a $495 price point, and so is intended to compete in the premium credit card space.
While it’s unfortunate that the better cards carry an annual fee, it makes sense for Bilt to segment its customers, and they need to make the cards profitable long term. So, let’s see what you get for an additional $495 over the free card.
This blog is for entertainment purposes only and is not financial advice. I provide the information here just to give readers a vague idea if the rewards offered by the card might make sense for them to consider the card. The information on this page has been collected independently, and all information should be confirmed with the card company before applying.
Welcome Offer
The Bilt Palladium Card looks to have a consistent welcome offer of 50 000 Bilt Points and Bilt Gold status after spending $4 000 in 3 months, as well as $300 Bilt Cash automatically. That’s not terrible off a $495 card, but also not the most exciting I’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely better than the other cards!
Earnings
The Bilt Palladium card has a straight-forward earning structure of 2x points/$ on everything. It’s a simple doubling of the number of points you’d otherwise earn on the free Bilt card. This is strictly an improvement over the free Bilt Card and is mostly an improvement, in principle, over the Obsidian Card.
Benefits
The main benefit of this card is the ability to earn Bilt Cash that can be used to earn points from paying rent on the card. All the new Bilt cards earn 4% Bilt Cash per dollar and have the same complex redemption structure.
Ok, so what do you get for the extra $495/year beyond some double points? You get the following: $200 Bilt Cash annually, a $400 (2x $200) toward hotels booked through the Bilt Travel Portal, and a Priority Pass membership (like every other “premium” card…)
How to use the points
Bilt lets you redeem your points as a statement credit but only gives you a value of 0.55 ¢/point, which is not great. You can also redeem the points for travel at a rate of 1 ¢/point, which is better. The best use of these points, however, in my opinion is to transfer them to partners. And Bilt has some decent transfer partners. Specifically, Bilt partners with United Airlines (like Chase), British Airways (like every card honestly), Alaska Airlines (Atmos Rewards), and World of Hyatt (which has been considered to be one of the most valuable reward currencies, but that may be changing). In my case, I will probably transfer them to American Airlines on demand to top up my balance. I could also transfer them to British Airways, but I already can do that from Chase and from American Express.
Examples of using the card
I’m not going to bother with a spend matrix for this card because it just has a flat rate of 2x points/$. That’s a perfectly reasonable earn rate for a premium card. If you spend enough on the card to be able to earn points off rent, it’s effectively an earn rate of 3.33x points/$.
Specific examples
I will note that this is the first credit card post to reflect the fact that BA now awards Avios based on flight price.
| Card (% return) | British Airways (World Traveller) ($750) | Marriott Hotel night ($230/night) | Points values (BA/Hotel) |
| No rewards card | 3 000 Avios (5.2%) | 2 200 MP (7.7%) | $39.00 / $17.60 |
| General 2% cashback card ($0) | 3 000 + $15.00 (7.2%) | 2 200 MP + $4.60 (9.7%) | $54.00 / $22.20 |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95) | 3 000 + 1 500 UR (8.2%) | 2 200 MP + 460 UR (10.7%) | $61.50 / $24.50 |
| Amex Green Card ($150) | 3 000 + 2 250 MR (9.4%) | 2 200 MP + 690 MR (11.9%) | $72.75 / $27.26 |
| Bilt Palladium Card ($495) | 3000 + 1 500 BP (8.2%) | 2 200 MP + 460 BP (10.7%) | $61.50 / $24.50 |
Is this credit card right for you?
I find the value of this card, like the other new Bilt cards, to be marginal at best. I really don’t find any value in travel portal hotel credits or yet another Priority Pass membership. They’re a dime a dozen at this point, but if you only have a single premium credit card, I could see this one being worthwhile to pick because of the 3.33x/$ potential points earnings. I’m willing to grant that of the three new cards, this one is likely to provide the best value, but spending $495 to get a bunch more credits to deal with just isn’t worth it at this point, when there are so many other options in the market right now.
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