Earlier this week, Bilt announced another slew of changes coming to its credit card program in 2027. One of the biggest changes that came from that reveal was that, starting next year, new cardholders will no longer earn 4% Bilt Cash on purchases (which comes along with any eligible Bilt Points). Instead, the cards will be sticking with the “Housing Only” set-up that they introduced in a panic when their original Bilt 2.0 plans weren’t well received. Oh, the irony.
Anyway, while this will impact new cardholders starting January 1st, those who already have the card will have a bit longer. Nevertheless, even those of us who are grandfathered in will need to take action if we want to keep the 4% Bilt Cash back setup.
For those who want to keep what Bilt calls the Flexible Bilt Cash scheme, you’ll need to confirm your intent before your cardholder anniversary date. In my case, that’s March 5th. Also, be aware that, by opting to keep this set-up, you’ll lose the ability to switch back and forth between it and the Housing Only option. Or, I should say that if you ever do switch over to Housing Only, you’ll be unable to go back.
So how do you opt in? First, I’d check to make sure your Bilt app is up to date (I needed to update mine before the correct option would show). Then, open the app and tap the Wallet icon. From there, you’ll want to scroll down until you get to the “Your Card Rewards” section.
Under “Your Card Rewards,” you should see a Bonus Rewards section. In the corner of that widget is a sort icon. After selecting that, you should see a box at the top with your effective change date and your selection. When you tap it, you’ll be able to select either the updated card rewards or that you want to stick with Flexible Bilt Cash. Then, just hit “Save,” and you should be all set. After I did it, my screen showed “Keeping: Flexible Bilt Cash,” which seems reassuring.
Truth be told, I have yet to make a housing payment with Bilt 2.0. At the same time, I’ve actually come to find some value in Bilt Cash, so keeping the 4% back earnings makes a lot of sense for me.
Oh, and speaking of Bilt Cash, it will no longer expire at the end of the calendar year. Instead, it will expire 12 months after you earn it. More specifically, it will be at the end of the month 12 months after you earned it. So, if you got some Bilt Cash on January 14th, 2027, you’d have through January 31st, 2028 to use it.
As much as I’d like to roll my eyes at Bilt for overhauling its program once again, I do give them some kudos for keeping this alternate option around for those of us who have grown accustomed to it. Well, actually, they didn’t quite say how long we’d be able to keep it, and I don’t really expect it to be forever. In the meantime, though, I’ve locked in my 4% Bilt Cash going forward — and I hope that you can too.