This card will likely be available via referrals on Monday, so probably wait until then to make a friend’s day or get an even bigger bonus in two-player mode. If you don’t have a churning friend yet, George at TBB makes a good one.
If you’re like me you’re not planning on staying at those properties, but if your house floods and you need to be somewhere for a couple of weeks while it’s getting fixed, well, Hyatt House might be where you end up.
Last I checked in 1989, technology hadn’t progressed far enough for us to easily have multiple email addresses with multiple loyalty accounts. Presumably nothing’s changed. (Thanks to GCA)
The Bilt 2.02.0v2 2.0v3 debacle gets funnier (worse) every single day, though it does fit the company’s slogan:
“Simplify everything by adding complexity and owning the basement dwelling Redditors!”
Yesterday, they announced that Bilt Cash would have alternative cash-outs that include options like $10 monthly GrubHub or Lyft credit and $5 monthly off of parking at “Bilt Neighborhood Parking” lots. There are also Blacklane and Blade credits, but it’s unclear yet how much Bilt Cash things will cost, I think it’s not safe to assume that it’ll be 1:1. Don’t worry though, at least you can count on it being neither easy, nor obvious, nor straight-forward.
Happy Thursday!
Real world simulation of the disappointment in a Bilt press release.
We’ve had enough time in January to learn what works for the annual-fee-endowed American Express Platinum and Business Platinum card $200 calendar year airline incidental credits. So, how do we make those incidental credits worth something? The best quasi-cashout options seem to be:
United: Buy TravelBank credit directly. It expires in five years and can be used to pay for United flights. You can usually sell this for 88%+, and with a little trickery you can turn them into flexible credits good for other people and on other airlines. The situation sucks now, I guess buy yourself Economy Plus seats and pay for “seat selection fees”, then refund to a future flight credit [more info]
Delta: Buy airfare and pay partially with a gift card or travel credit, pay for the remainder with your card (don’t go over $200 though). Alternatively if you have a co-branded American Express Delta card and are eligible for Pay with Miles with, pay partially with miles and the remainder will be credited provided it’s less than $200 [more info]
Alaska: Buy a seat upgrade after booking and chat your “seat selection fee” doesn’t post, buy a flight paid partially with Alaska wallet funds and partially with your AmEx (less than $100), then refund to your wallet after 24 hours, or change a ticket to a higher fare as long as its less than $200 in additional cost [more info]
American: Buy cheap airfare, then change it to a flight that you really want that costs more and pay with your credit card (don’t go over the credit amount though). If you want to gamble, you’ve got roughly even odds that award taxes and fees will count [more info]
Southwest: Buy a flight less than $109, or book an international flight with taxes under $109 per ticket, then refund to a travel credit. Combine with the Choice Extra fare bucket to get around name-locking [more info]
JetBlue: There aren’t new 2026 datapoints yet, but likely 2025’s version still works: Buy a flight less than $137 then cancel the flight after 24 hours and refund to your JetBlue wallet. For best results, $74 Blue Basic fares will have approximately $99 Blue fares (thanks to Brian C) [more info]
Spirit: Gutsy choice friend! I’ll be surprised if Spirit is still around by April, so make it quick. A Big Front Seat upgrade works, and airfare below approximately $60 also works [more info]
For bonus points, you’ve still got time to cash out your travel credits using last year’s selected airline, get reimbursed, and then change to a new airline online by January 31.
Have a nice Wednesday friends!
Haven’t had enough of 2026 style yet? Here’s 2026 fashion, apparently.
The point of this article isn’t really about Bilt’s somewhat successful censorship though. Instead, my goal is to rehash how their 2.0v2 program can be beneficial for card holders, especially so for cardholders that have flexible leases with, for example, their P2 landlord. Earning under 2.0v2 “Option 1” for rent payments has four tiers, two of which are useful for us:
1x points earned when your card spend is 75%+ of your monthly rent
1.25x points earned when your card spend is 100%+ of your monthly rent
Cool I guess. But let’s say that you spend $5,000 monthly on your Bilt credit card before switching to other cards for the rest of your spend. Let’s also say you’re an expert negotiator with your P2 landlord. Under 2.0v2 Option 1, you can earn more points than with a higher rent. Let’s compare a negotiated rent of $5,000 and a negotiated rent of $5,500. Your $5,000 in monthly Bilt card spend would earn:
$5,000 * 1.25 = 6,250 points
$5,500 * 1.00 = 5,500 points
The punchline: You can earn more with a smaller rent. In fact, to optimize this completely, your monthly rent should be exactly your monthly spend / 1.25.
– AA: 1,000 bonus miles with $500+ through January 22 – Alaska: 1,200 bonus miles with $300+ through January 23 – United: 1,000 bonus miles with $300+ through January 26
Watch for Southwest to show up to the party late, much like their flights and premium travel focus.
Some of these cards convert to Amazon and Home Depot cards, but converting them is, shall we say, sometimes extremely painful in much the same way that the J4U Alaska back door has been painful.
They’re making the program “simpler” by adding another option with its own complexity, in addition to the existing complexity. Now, just wait until they react to learning that you can earn more by spending less with the new program. (Thanks to Chris and TeddyH)
Happy Monday, may it be unlike Bilt’s!
Pictured: The Bilt 2.1 fix to the Bilt 2.0 rollout.
– Three category 1-4 free-night certificates after $5,000 spend in three months – Two more category 1-4 free-night certificates after $15,000 in six months
Personally I’d rather have the points, but I’m not you. Also, I’d wait until Monday when it’s likely also available via referrals, but I’m still not you.
Monday will probably bring a referral bonus on these cards too. Before you get too excited though, consider that the typical high bonus on these is 100,000 Avios and they’ve been as high as 125,000 Avios.
– $75 back on $1,000 in online spend – $50 back on $750 in online spend – 11,500 ThankYou Points for $1,000 in online spend
No, this card still isn’t available if you don’t already have it. (Thanks to Adam and Charlie)
Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins have 8x points on Zift Zillions cards through Thursday. Some of these cards are convertible to high value brands like Amazon and Home Depot.
I’m sure you know the punchline by now, but Giant Food stores, part of the same corporate umbrella, only earns 2x during the same period.
I couldn’t find an affiliate blog that wasn’t talking about Richard Kerr’s / Bilt’sBlit’s new Cardless issued credit card lineup yesterday. Of course being the subject that affiliates talk about for a day doesn’t necessarily mean the Bilt lineup is bad, but it does mean you should be even more skeptical than normal and look at the content as though it were written by a marketing agency, because it was. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s MEAB style distill the news without 2,000 word articles:
There are three flavors cards, each with a different annual fee, multiplier, and set of coupon credits:
$0 annual fee, 1x everywhere
$95 annual fee, 3x on dining or grocery (max $25,000), 2x travel, 1x everywhere
$495 annual fee, 2x everywhere
Bilt invented a new currency that’s earned at 4x, Itchy and Scratchy Money Bilt Cash
Bilt Cash’s only use is to allow you to earn points for paying your rent or mortgage with a Bilt card
For the only churner on the planet without a Priority Pass, $495 will get you one
There are more hotel credits that aren’t really worth much
There are small sign-up bonuses
There are other largely meaningless card features too, but I promise they almost certainly don’t matter to an average churner.
Talking Points that Affiliates Can’t Say
Affiliate relationships tightly control the content of news articles, so let’s mention a few things that they can’t:
Cardless doesn’t like manufactured spenders
A shutdown from Cardless is a lifetime Cardless ban
There’s a good chance that a Cardless shutdown means forfeited points for the most recent statement cycle
Bilt’s best transfer partner is Hyatt – you can spend $495 for 2x Hyatt everywhere with Bilt and it might last a while without cycling, but you can earn 1.5x Hyatt everywhere with a Chase Ink Unlimited which is much more tolerant and has a much bigger sign-up bonus
Many of the card’s advertised benefits come by virtue of being a Mastercard and you’ve probably got those same benefits on other cards
If you use an affiliate blogger’s link, they’re earning several hundreds of dollars in Bilt kickback; their sign-up bonus is probably bigger than yours (by all means, support affiliate bloggers if you like them, just make it a conscious choice and not a default one)
Finally, let’s talk about converting existing Wells Fargo Bilt cards:
You’re going to have yet another new personal card on your credit report
You may not be approved even if you have the Wells Fargo card
You’ve got to decide to convert by January 30 to avoid another hard pull
You won’t get a sign-up bonus as part of the conversion
For those keeping track at home, this is the third new credit card on personal credit reports for early Bilt adopters.
The MEAB Wrap
The affiliate hype machine is great at getting the word out and great at getting you excited, but it’s also good at glossing over the negatives. When a media blitz hits, be extra careful. There’s value in Bilt 2.0, but there’s plenty of downside too and a looming threat of a shutdown.
What’s my takeaway? Well, personally I just want the banana trophy or a replica as a peace offering from Richard Kerr.
Happy Thursday!
Look, sometimes misspellings are intentional, just ask Dell about its Caps Lcok key.
– $1,000 bonus with $20,000 in new funds – $1,500 bonus with $50,000 in new funds
If you bring $100,000 in new funds, you’ll earn Platinum Honors status which boosts earning on cash-back Bank of America cards tied to the same business. Note that new accounts can fast-track the status to avoid parking funds for a year, and note that you can churn these bank accounts and thus the fast-tracked status. There are rumors that the program is changing in May though, so #bonvoyed either way I guess.
– Will Spirit still be around by March 4? Maybe, it’s iffy – Will you get your money back if they’re not? Maybe, it’s iffy – Will you find MEAB flying Spirit? That one’s not iffy
In case you’re wondering how many Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays this sale covers: I counted, there are 17. But don’t worry, Spirit threw three blackout dates in there too, so, on-brand.
Happy Wednesday!
From the future: The remnants of Spirit airlines in December, 2026.
