Bilt has sent out a letter to members for 2024 and discusses a road map for 2025. The main message seems to be downplaying the importance of the cobranded card with Wells Fargo:
But more importantly, I’ve been reading and passing along your feedback and requests for the current Wells Fargo issued-and-operated Bilt card program. We know you want more premium offerings – and also ways to earn points on your mortgage payments. We also hear the challenges many of you have had with approval rates, credit line sizes, and the need for core tech features like authorized users, pay over time, and auto-pay integrations. Some of you have mentioned that your credit limits are too low to cover more than a month or two of rent, leaving little room to take full advantage of the card’s benefits – especially considering the average FICO for these members is above 750. We hear you loud and clear. These are all things that require support from our issuing bank partner, and we’re actively working on solutions
Hinting at earning points on mortgage payments (points on home purchases was already announced).
We’ll announce the first phase of plans in the mortgage space, creating a whole new category of value for homeowners. Whether you’re making monthly payments or refinancing, you’ll soon be able to earn points on your mortgage payments.
It also seems like they might offer a tiered card structure at some point:
With guidance from industry legends Ken Chenault (former American Express CEO and Bilt Chairman) and Phillip Riese (former President of American Express Consumer Card), we are building towards Bilt Card 2.0. This next evolution of our card program would focus on tiered offerings that better serve different member needs while delivering enhanced value through new benefits on housing spend and our neighborhood network.
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How much are the points worth? What are the redemption choices? For example, 100 points equals $1 cash back or some other value.
Depends. If you transfer them to either Hyatt and AA, then your valuations will be higher than most other programs.
Does Bilt still throw you a few points when you link travel accounts?
No
It had been the case but not certain that they're still doing it. No harm to try.
Read: New scams for gullible morons while they take away more chairs so you can have a nasty surprise when the music stops playing
My wife and I are among those gullible morons. We each played double points for 30 days when we first got our cards. We each played the extra 10k points on Rent Day for a long stretch. We each maxed out the 2.5X transfers. Sure, we ended up with millions of points at Air France and Virgin. But, what a ripoff. Where do I sue?
Bilt *was* a great card. We cleaned up. Those who didn't figure out how to clean up are the unfortunate ones. And, those who didn't figure out how to clean up are the ones who seem to complain about Bilt. Does the shoe fit?
Bilt is no longer a great card. No question. Bilt management knows this and understands their program needs to evolve. What if Bilt rolls out one little nugget -- such as points on mortgage payments or points on a home purchase -- that costs someone nothing but (combined with a transfer bonus) turns into two business class tickets to somewhere every year? Perhaps consider the value of something to someone other than just yourself.
@BofA, your prejudgment will foreclose to yourself any such opportunity that Bilt might roll out and reinforce your negative opinion. Let alone foreclosing it to others with different circumstances.
💯
Tiered card offering: Wonder if this will lead to reduced earn rate with the no-fee card? Upgrade to Built Platinum card for $295 AF to continue earning 1 pt per dollar on rent plus additional perks.
*Bilt (not Built)
Enshitification ensues! Nice way to move stuff that's currently free into a paid tier.
I wouldn't be surprised if Bilt is monetizing data on apartment rental rates. Depending on how it is shared (particularly among Bilt Alliance Properties), it can be competitively sensitive information about apartment rental rates.
The DOJ went after RealPage for sharing apartment rental rates with apartment owners and also using it in their suggested pricing algorithm. But the Trump DOJ will probably be less activist on antitrust.
It’s clear that the only winners of the Bilt card are us, the credit card holders. Wells Fargo is bleeding tens of millions on this product and Bilt knows the gravy train will end soon. How they get this product to long-term profitability without making the card useless is a tough problem to solve.
My apartment requires bilt. They should partner with more complexes. The more complexes the more users., which means higher chances of missed payments, extra spend, etc.
Oh no! The 'little guy' is actually the winning for once?? That is literal communism. Evil! Only the extremely wealthy and most powerful are supposed to win. Our government must rescue Wells Fargo, like the big banks after 2008. Restore the natural order!
They aquire all your financial data is how. And you give it to them for free/minimal cost. Same with Kudos. Then they sell it to marketers. All the money is in your data. You are the product, nothing is free.
It's easier said than done. I've worked in the industry and everyone banks their hopes and dreams on the "data" being valuable, but surprisingly tough to actually pull that off, let alone that being your sole product line. There are an extremely limited set of companies that are successful with the data as its source of success.
Exactly! But people are programmed to repeat the same stuff over and over again ("you are the product" etc) some of which ARE true but other things have evolved over time.The bar for data quality has moved higher, I think people forget that. "All data is valuable" is a myth at this point.
Other than knowing rent payments, what other data is Bilt collecting that other credit card issuers wouldn’t see through credit card transactions? Or are you saying that Bilt is better at monetizing credit card transactions?
This isn't Facebook or Google. BILT and Wells Fargo do actually earn something from our use of their credit cards, just possibly not as much as we receive as a benefit (like when transferring to Hyatt).
Winners are are also BILT executives who are drawing fat salaries and founders who will exit at peak valuation before the whole thing collapses.
I wish BILT all the best. I've made 130K points in the last year from them, and transferred most to Hyatt, which apparently costs them more, so.. cool. Anyway, I loved the Reddit post by Richard Kerr, BILT's VP of Travel, where he called out American Express for being cheap and charging customers the excise fees on domestic transfers. Fun while it lasts.
Wells rolled out the Autograph Journey. While Wells needs to broaden its transfer partners, at a $95 AF, the Journey is a heck of a card. If its Beyond card is the premium offering, what might it be?
Then Citi Strata Elite will finally launch in 2025H1 (to replace the Prestige). The Chase will emerald-ize the Sapphire Reserve. And, Chase will offer a business version of the CSR.
With all of the foregoing, Bilt 2.0 or whatever will need to contend with it if it is going to be competitive. And, they know it. And, they know they lost fans with all of the changes and uncertainty that 2024 saw.
Acknowledging that something needs to change, let's see what they roll out and withhold judgment until then.
Guidance from Amex? Get ready for another coupon book!
Not sure about it. These guys were around long before the coupon-ization of the Platinum.
Couponization has been wildly successful for Amex earnings so yes, it will be happening.
This next evolution of our card program would focus on tired* offerings...
Fixed that for them