Points Capital

Bilt just told cardholders that the 4% Bilt Cash option on everyday spending is going away, and the clock runs on your own card anniversary, not on a single date for everyone. If you picked the Flexible Bilt Cash mode when Bilt Card 2.0 launched this year, you’ve got a decision to make before that anniversary rolls around. Bilt announced the changes on October 27, along with new Bilt Cash expiration rules and tighter hotel redemptions.

What’s changing

Right now, Bilt Card 2.0 holders pick one of two modes: Housing-only (up to 1.25x points on rent or mortgage) or Flexible Bilt Cash (4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday purchases).

At your card account anniversary, Bilt retires Flexible Bilt Cash mode and moves everyone to the housing rewards structure. Bilt says points multipliers on everyday purchases stay the same. The only way to keep 4% Bilt Cash is to opt out of the change in your card settings before your anniversary date.

The key details

• Opting out: Done in the Bilt app’s card settings, before your card anniversary. Bilt says opting out keeps your eligible annual credits, but you can’t switch between Flexible Bilt Cash and Housing-only mode afterward.
• Palladium credits: If you move to the new structure, the $200 Bilt Cash credit and $400 hotel credit combine into one $600 Bilt Cash credit each year.
• Obsidian credit: The $100 Bilt Travel hotel credit becomes $100 in Bilt Cash each year.
• Credit timing: Palladium and Obsidian annual Bilt Cash credits now post on your card anniversary instead of January 1.
• Bilt Cash expiration: In Bilt’s words, “Bilt Cash now expires at the end of the month, 12 months after it’s earned.” That replaces the old year-end expiration. So Bilt Cash earned in February 2026 expires at the end of February 2027.
• Hotel redemptions (starting January 1, 2027): Bilt Cash hotel redemptions drop from once a month to twice a year. Caps per redemption are $50 for Blue and Silver members, $100 for Gold and Platinum, and $200 for eligible Palladium cardholders. The two-night minimum stays.
• New cardholders: One Mile at a Time reports that new cardmembers can still choose 4% Flexible Bilt Cash through December 31, 2026, with housing rewards becoming the automatic option from January 1, 2027. Bilt’s own announcement doesn’t spell out the new-applicant rules, so treat that as something to confirm.
• New perks: A Daily Rewards program starts January 15, 2027. In 2027, Platinum members get SIXT ONE Platinum and Hertz President’s Circle status matches, and Gold and Silver members get SIXT ONE Gold and Hertz Five Star.

Who this hits, and what to do

If you’re in Housing-only mode already, not much changes for your earning. Your main adjustments are the new Bilt Cash expiration clock and the twice-a-year hotel limit.

If you’re in Flexible Bilt Cash mode, this is the part that matters. Do some quick math on your own spending. Say you put $2,000 a month of everyday purchases on the card. At 4%, that’s $80 a month in Bilt Cash, or about $960 a year, on top of your regular points. How much that’s really worth depends on whether you actually use Bilt Cash well, since it now expires after 12 months and hotel redemptions get capped. If you spend that much and use the cash, opting out to keep 4% probably makes sense. If your Bilt Cash tends to sit unused, the housing structure is simpler.

Either way, find your card anniversary date now and put a reminder on your calendar a few weeks before it.

Our take

We think this is a quiet devaluation dressed up with some nice extras. The 4% Bilt Cash option was the most interesting thing about Bilt Card 2.0, and now it lives on only for people who take action in time. And because it’s an opt-out tied to each person’s anniversary, plenty of people will lose it without noticing.

There’s real good news mixed in, though. Palladium holders who move over get $600 of Bilt Cash in one bucket instead of a split credit, and a rolling 12-month expiration beats a hard year-end cutoff. Here’s the catch: going from monthly to twice-a-year hotel redemptions cuts how often you can use Bilt Cash on stays.

We’d opt out and keep 4% if you run real everyday spending through the card and redeem Bilt Cash regularly. We’d let it switch if you mainly use Bilt for rent points and rarely touch Bilt Cash. New-applicant details are still a bit fuzzy, so check Bilt’s terms before you decide.

Source: Bilt newsroom: 2027 Bilt program updates; additional reporting from One Mile at a Time and NerdWallet.

Card offers and terms change frequently; confirm current terms with the issuer before applying. Points Capital is not a financial advisor.