15 Valuable Benefits of the Bilt Palladium Card

The Bilt Palladium Card (rates & fees) is the most premium of Bilt’s newly refreshed 2.0 card lineup, offering the most benefits but also coming with the highest annual fee at $495 (rates & fees).

With that fee, though, you get perks such as a generous welcome offer and earning rates, Bilt elite status, hotel credits, lounge access benefits, flexible redemption options, and the ability to earn Bilt Points on rent and mortgage payments and Bilt Cash (up to $100 of Bilt Cash earned rolls over to the next year) on everyday purchases (offer terms).

While you may have to study Bilt 2.0’s extensive program and the card’s intricate benefits to maximize your experience with it, once you understand the best way to use it, you’ll be well on your way to earning lots of rewards.

1. High Welcome Offer

The Palladium Card currently comes with a generous, 3-part welcome offer:

• Subject to approval: Earn 50,000 points after spending $4,000 on non-housing expenses in the first 90 days + Gold elite status. And, $300 Bilt Cash when you apply and get approved (offer terms).

2. Earn Bilt Points on Housing Payments (Mortgage and Rent)

The Palladium Card is one of the few cards on the market (alongside the midtier Bilt Obsidian Card (rates & fees) and the entry-level Bilt Blue Card (rates & fees)) that earns rewards for both mortgage and rent payments.

That said, there are things you should know before you can get the most out of this benefit, so review the terms carefully ahead of charging any housing payments to your card.

3. Lucrative Housing Rewards Earning Structure

If you hold the Palladium Card, you have 2 different reward options: Bilt Cash or housing-only rewards (offer terms). It takes a bit of time and organization to grasp the card’s earning structure, but we like the card’s flexibility.

Bilt Cash

Use Bilt Cash for credits or to unlock the ability to get the full 1x Bilt Points on rent and mortgage payments, with no transaction fee (rates & fees).

For example, for every $30 of Bilt Cash, you can unlock 1,000 Bilt Points. If your rent or mortgage is $4,000 per month, you’d need $120 in Bilt Cash per month to earn all 4,000 Bilt Points. You also earn a percentage back (4%) in Bilt Cash for every nonhousing purchase you make.

Housing-Only Rewards

You can earn up to 1.25x Bilt Points on housing payments if you choose the housing-only rewards option. However, you need to spend a certain amount to unlock this benefit. Do the math ahead of time to make it worthwhile (and track your spending in the Bilt app):

• Spend 25% of your monthly housing payment on everyday purchases to get 0.5x Bilt Points on your housing payment.
• Spend 50% of your housing payment on everyday purchases to get 0.75x Bilt Points on your housing payment.
• Spend 75% of your housing payment on everyday purchases to get 1x Bilt Points on your housing payment.
• Spend the same amount (or more) of your housing payment on everyday purchases to get 1.25x Bilt Points on your housing payment.

4. Generous Earning Categories

The Palladium Card features the following earning structure:

• 5x points at Bilt partner restaurants (over 20,000 throughout the U.S.)
• 4x points for hotels and flights booked via Bilt Travel
• 4x points on Lyft purchases (after linking your Lyft and Bilt accounts)
• 2x points on everything else

Because you can earn 2x points on everyday purchases, it’s easy to grow your stash of points quickly, even if you aren’t spending as frequently in the more limited bonus categories (offer terms).

5. Flexible Redemption Options for Bilt Points

We value Bilt Points at 2 cents per point and consider them among the most valuable points and miles out there, thanks to their flexibility and the ease with which you can earn and redeem them.

Cardholders of the Palladium Card can transfer their Bilt Points to more than 20 transfer partners, mostly at a 1:1 ratio.

You can also redeem your Bilt Points for travel at the Bilt Travel Portal, fitness classes, gift cards, Lyft rides, down payment on a home, home delivery of everyday essentials, statement credits, on Amazon, or for student loan payments. That said, we think Bilt Points are the most valuable when you transfer them to hotel and airline partners.

6. Earn More on Rent Day

Rent Day is when you should plan to spend as much as possible on your Palladium Card. From 12 a.m. Eastern time to 11:59 p.m. Pacific time on the first of every month, you earn double points, meaning you can get 4x instead of 2x on everyday purchases (offer terms). This is a great day to make purchases that don’t usually earn bonuses, especially more expensive ones, such as a new bike, annual school supplies, items for the kids, or even a car or an engagement ring.

You could also schedule bill payments for this day or buy gift cards for restaurants and shops. Note that you can only earn up to 1,000 total bonus points per month on Rent Day, and you don’t get double points on housing purchases.

Rent Day also typically offers a higher promotional transfer bonus with a select partner, and depending on your elite status, you could see really high earnings or redemptions. Since you’d already have a minimum of Gold status once you reached the spending threshold and earned the welcome offer, you’d already be starting off with a higher ratio, which means your Bilt Points would be worth quite a bit more.

7. Lounge Access

If you hold the Palladium Card, you and 2 guests get Priority Pass access to airport lounges worldwide. Additional guests cost $35 each. You can activate and manage your membership via the Bilt app.

Considering the Palladium Card’s annual fee is only $495, we appreciate that cardholders can bring 2 guests into lounges, unlike many cards with annual fees under $500, which restrict guest lounge access.

8. Hotel Statement Credits

Get $400 in Bilt Travel Hotel credit each year with the Palladium Card. Credits are applied in $200 increments semiannually to qualifying hotel bookings made on the Bilt Travel Portal.

9. Annual Bilt Cash Reward

Cardholders of the Palladium Card receive $200 in Bilt Cash, awarded annually. At the end of each calendar year, any Bilt Cash balance over $100 expires.

10. Bilt Gold Status

Once those with the Palladium Card meet the spending threshold to hit the welcome offer requirement, they earn Gold status.

If you earn status with the card, it’s valid for the year you get it, the entire calendar year after that, and until January 15 of the following year.

These are some of the perks you get with Gold status:

• Higher transfer bonuses on rent days
• Priority access to Rent Day experiences
• Access to Bilt Travel Concierge
• Complimentary access to BLADE lounges
• Homeownership concierge (if you’re using Bilt Points for a down payment on a home)
• $100 property credit, room upgrades, and more with Home Away from Home
• Virgin Voyages elite status match

11. Travel and Purchase Protections

The Palladium Card comes with the following travel and purchase protections because it’s a World Elite Mastercard:

• Purchase assurance: Get a maximum of $1,000 per loss and a total of $50,000 per cardholder for lost or stolen purchases within 90 days of purchase.
• Extended warranty coverage doubles the manufacturer’s warranty.
• Price drop protection
• MasterRental Coverage
• Trip cancellation and interruption protection: Get up to $2,000 per trip and $5,000 per account.
• Trip delay reimbursement: Get up to $300 per trip if your trip is delayed by more than 6 hours.
• Lost or damaged luggage insurance: Get up to $1,500 per incident for repairs or replacement of your luggage.
• Baggage delay insurance: Get up to $250 per claim for emergency replacement of items in your checked baggage.
• Mastercard ID Theft Protection provides fraud alerts.
• Access to World Elite Mastercard Concierge: Offers assistance with restaurant recommendations, travel, and much more

12. Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection

If you charge your cell phone bill to the Palladium Card, you get up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per covered card each year for stolen or damaged phones, subject to a $50 deductible.

13. Easy-To-Spend Bilt Cash

We tend to think that the best way to use Bilt Cash is to earn extra Bilt Points on housing payments without a transaction fee at the full earning potential.

However, you can also use limited amounts of Bilt Cash (check restrictions on amounts and timing) for purchases at Walgreens, Bilt Dining restaurants, Lyft, hotel stays, fitness classes, and more.

If your earning method is set to Bilt Cash, you could also use it to buy a points accelerator, which lets you earn an additional point per $1 on up to $5,000 in spending until the end of the calendar year. You can do this up to 5 times annually (offer terms).

14. No Foreign Transaction Fees

The Palladium Card has no foreign transaction fees (rates & fees), so you can spend abroad without incurring additional charges.

15. Authorized Users Get Lounge Access Benefits

Authorized users on the Palladium Card cost $95 (rates & fees), and you can add up to 5 users. The primary cardholder can choose how the authorizer user earns rewards.

Authorized users don’t receive hotel credits or Bilt Cash credit, but they get their own Priority Pass membership with the ability to bring 2 guests, and they also earn Bilt Points at the same rates as the primary cardholder.

Final Thoughts

Although the Palladium Card does come with a higher $495 annual fee, you end up with valuable benefits that can easily outweigh it, from the ability to earn points on housing payments to $400 hotel credit (split into 2 $200 semiannual credits), earning Bilt Cash, and obtaining higher transfer ratios on Rent Day.

If you’re looking for a lower annual fee, consider the midrange Obsidian Card or the beginner Blue Card instead.

*A maximum benefit amount and certain restrictions and limitations apply. Please review the Bilt Palladium Card Mastercard Guide to Benefits for details.