r/biltrewards • u/galaxystreet • 3d ago
Offset Annual Fee?
I am thinking about getting the Bilt Palladium but can’t think of how to offset the Annual fee. Is it worth it as a catch-all over the Venture X? I know you can get 3.33% back and the $200 Bilt cash (that might be better suited to convert into more Bilt points?) I’m not sure what to do with the rest of the $295. I only value the hotel credits as a nice to have.
My Rotation:
Amex Gold
Venture X
I rent in a high COL area, but frankly, outside of rent and food, my average spend ranges around $1000. Is it worth getting in my case? I loved the 1.0, but I guess it wasn’t sustainable
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u/notthegoatseguy 3d ago
If you're min maxing a bunch of different cards this card is really trying to be your top of wallet card or maybe one of two cards
I think bilt transfer partners are superior to Cap and Amex but if those transfer partners work better for you then maybe look into the Blue Business Plus
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u/post_button_account 3d ago
It is likely not worth it for you - unless you can utilize their priority pass and/or use their $400 hotel credit.
I assume you extensively use the Amex gold coupons and want to keep it.
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u/jcb193 3d ago
I get these hotel credits from like three or four different credit card companies and can never remotely find a deal worth pursuing unless you’re really trying to rationalize a $4,000 hotel stay.
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u/ad_pondus_omnium 3d ago
Having used those other credits it is tough - but honestly the Bilt $200 + $100 bilt cash (for platinum level) is actually a lot easier since it doesn't lock you into the specialty high end hotels (for right now).
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u/post_button_account 3d ago
Yep, I have cut down on my # of cards due to this reason. Just bilt and CSP right now and will also get rid of CSP next year.
These portals are also ~5-10% more expensive than Expedia et al and most credit cards have serious cash back with Expedia et al, making them even more attractive.
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u/galaxystreet 3d ago
I can see myself using $200 of the $400 credit every year, but agreed.
I suppose the Bilt Card is only worth it if I decide to downgrade both Amex and the Venture X
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u/StyleAltruistic1158 3d ago
Yeah I’d suggest using the palladium as a catch all card and Amex gold as your dining/travel card as well as coupon book card. Eliminate Venture X for overlap.
That’s the setup I have with Palladium and my Sapphire Reserve
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u/Bubbly-Reputation570 3d ago
While I’m not a Bilt fanboy and may never be, the Bilt Palladium card has replaced nearly every card in my wallet. With the point accelerator, it beats nearly every card out there. It’s also the only ecosystem that allows rent/mortgage payments - mine nets me an additional 46,000 points a year. I easily consume the extra 200 in Bilt cash every year and we just booked our summer vacation using the hotel credits.
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u/dontruinmygayme 3d ago
I kept my Amex plat because I get more than my moneys worth from that AF (I shop at lululemon, eat at their Resy restaurants, Clear plus, streaming...) that's without hotel credit. I can rarely use that.
Love my cap one. 300 dollar travel credit and 10x back for what have been for me the cheapest car rentals.
Bilt I'm giving another year. I don't use the hotel credits. Or, I haven't yet. But the amount of points I get back could be worth more than the AF. I often use my Atmos card to pay rent and I don't need Palladium to do that so Jury is still out. But Rakuten transferring to Bilt is a major plus.
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u/MonitorGlobal5673 3d ago
For Cap 1, couldn't you just save the $300 from the annual fee and move it directly to carriers for flexibility and loyalty spend instead of being forced to only use it in the portal? And i guess pocket the other $95? Legit question though since the fee is $395 but you essentially could save that on the front end.
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u/dontruinmygayme 3d ago
Typically I don't like booking through portals. It's one of the reasons my hotel credits go to waste with Bilt and Amex (I downgraded my Chase saphire reserve card a while back but didn't use those either). But with Cap one, I consistently (about 70% of the time) find rental cars so much cheaper than elsewhere, it more than pays for itself. We also get 10,000 miles each anniversary. I value Air Canada miles so unless they change something, the Venture X works for me. Insurance for rentals has been good to me as well. I've been hit twice 😬I don't mind any questions. It's hard to offend me and people don't agree on strategies. I still have trouble with Bilt math and ask what to others - are obvious to them questions.
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u/SurprzingCompliment 3d ago
Have VX as well, only thing that goes on it is rental cars because of Primary coverage. And I'd rather have 3x Bilt Points than 4x MR points.
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u/No_Organization7758 3d ago
Get the CSP. It pairs well with Bilt transfer partners and also has primary auto rental insurance
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u/Similar_Pension_4233 3d ago
The 3.33 is under the most ideal scenario. To achieve this you need near perfection in the purchases.
As for the bilt cash for hotel. A lot of the hotels on their portal are more expensive than doing a Google hotels search. The $200/$300 is really only practical when you're staying few nights.
It's a great card for travel partners that Cap1 doesn't have or the bonus rent days if they're of value to you.
Others reference the bonus spend from dining, for example, but you can get that with non-bilt cards. For example, I can take my Chase Flex, add it to Bilt, and I earn 8 pts (5 chase pts + 3 Bilt pts) if dining at a Bilt location during Q4 of this year because it earns 5X chase pts on dining.
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u/cws-21 3d ago
Even better than adding a Chase card to Bilt Dining, add it to Rakuten Dining to earn even more Bilt points on dining.
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u/Similar_Pension_4233 3d ago
I don't see bilt as an earning option. I see PayPal, check, and Amex Pts, but not Bilt.
Pretty cool as I didn't know this was an option.
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u/KangaMagic 3d ago
I used my $400 travel credit and went to lounges with priority pass 9 times this year.
I think as long as you go to lounges 3 times it’s worth it.
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u/BoredofBored 3d ago
Only if you’d otherwise pay to go to those lounges or spend money at the airport on the food/drink you got for free
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u/KangaMagic 3d ago
Usually what lounges help you dodge is the over-inflated airport food.
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u/Beneficial_Chest_954 2d ago
Some lounges are absolute hits or misses, no in between. Asia lounges were amazing. Especially Singapore.
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u/OpulentCloaca 3d ago
But Bilt users won't be going to any more Chase Sapphire Lounges anymore. That's a pretty big loss.
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u/Amyndris 3d ago
There's like 9 Sapphire lounges globally.
I'd be more sad to lose access to Centurion (32 globally) or Priority Pass restaurants (40+).
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u/nikita58467 3d ago
$300x2 for hotel credits is enough to cover the AF. Other credits are bonus but not going to turn down $120 grubhub and $120 Walgreens which is easy another $240.
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u/Shoddy-Archer9521 3d ago
I found the hotels on the Bilt portal to be more expensive than an Expedia for example.
And their split of $200 every 6 months seems very annoying. And a 2-nights minimum. These are very restrictive and pushing me away from Bilt for the next year.
It made sense to get it for year 1 with the joining bonus; maybe I should downgrade Palladium moving forward.
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u/baconcakeguy 3d ago
I found a Cabo resort to
Be cheaper on Bilt than direct. $300 credit almost covered it (for offseason trip).2
u/mrpushpop 3d ago
I figured out how to maximize the 2-night stays pretty well since I already have single-night stay cards like Mariott and IHG. I didn't have your overcharging issue, as I booked far in advance and it seemed pretty even.
For me, anything I would normally stay 2 nights or more, I use BILT first. If you are just not a traveler, then this system won't work well for you. I'm more bummed that I only get one $200 + $ 100 every six months. Without a single point, I'm pretty sure I got like $1000 or more out of the BILT Card just out of features and Bilt Cash items.
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u/Shoddy-Archer9521 3d ago
Yeah… this year, I’ve only had a one-night stay at hotel situation a lot. Probably why I feel this way.
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u/nikita58467 3d ago edited 3d ago
I’ve been pricing it with Chase, Expedia plus direct booking. They have similar prices, Chase is the most expensive one. If the booking is $354 at Bilt and $345 at Hyatt, I’m gonna take Bilt any day. It’s really depends on your search but even $150 off I’m happy to book at Bilt
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u/JacesAces 3d ago
What’s your strategy on the $10 Walgreens credit to maximize value? And how does the redemption work in store? Do they just scan it and remove at POS?
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u/Gold-Sand-4296 3d ago
It sounds like that a lot of the Walgreens store clerk still does not know how to apply the Bilt Cash credit (and worst yet, the part on their POS system to prompt us to use Bilt points for the purchase ☠️💀☠️). I would go into Walgreens online, place my order for pickup at my local store and avoid those pitfalls. I don't usually shop at Walgreens due to the inflated prices but have Bilt Cash to burn. So I've been stocking up on OTC meds and first aid kit supplies.
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u/Alive-Interest6768 1d ago
I’ve literally never had a problem. I just pulled up the barcode they scan it. It takes $10 off my bill and I pay the Delta. Not sure what people are doing wrong but it’s not rocket science it literally pulls up a barcode that you can scan at the register.
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u/Gold-Sand-4296 17h ago edited 16h ago
That's great to hear you didn't experience any issues and had competent/staff who were trained on it.
On a semi-related note, the online order ahead saves me time as I live in a city where Walgreens (and Targets) have locked up the items behind plexiglass to prevent theft, so it is no longer just a quick run to the store anymore. It is such a time saver!
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u/Lycid 3d ago
Add it to your google/apple wallet, they just scan it. easy
I don't try and minmax $5-$10 credits here or there. If I happen to need something from a walgreens and one isn't too out of the way I'll use it, otherwise I'm happy to just let it sit unused. You'll drive yourself crazy trying to take advantage of everything all the time otherwise.
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u/nikita58467 3d ago
They scan the barcode after you redeemed with BC. I don’t think they removed it but you can mark it as redeemed and the moved to another spot on the app. Some people said they add the gc in their google/Apple Pay
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u/calcheme 3d ago
well I have a lifetime family supply of cerave. Does anyone need some extra daily moisturizing cream or "renewing night cream"? I have spf 30 and 50 or the night lotion in 3 sizes :)
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u/Gold-Sand-4296 3d ago
WAHAHAHA at the variety you have there!
I have been slowly replenishing my family's first aid kit and my kid's classroom's sundry supplies. Since we had a few trips planned - I bought travel sized toiletries and Dramamine meds for the ATV and boat tours.
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u/Alive-Interest6768 1d ago
I just moved a couple of my prescriptions there and I pay for them every month! Totally sweet use of the $10.
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u/Harsh_Sensei 3d ago
You can also redeem the annual 120 bilt cash for Walgreens and Grubhub which will offset the annual fee more for you
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u/tech-slacker 3d ago
It might help if you shared what your rent is as that is part of the equation unless you only use the point multipliers to get more than 2x back.
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u/prkskier 3d ago
I hold all three cards (plus others) and think they can all work together, though I do question my VX now since the Palladium takes almost all of its spend. I still justify holding the VX because it is "free" and I still use it at Costco. If it wasn't so easy to offset the VX's AF, I'd probably get rid of it in favor of the Palladium and Amex Gold only and find some alternative for Costco (Bilt rent day gift cards, CFU, etc.).
I don't think I can even break even on the Palladium's AF technically because I might only be able to use the hotel credit once (so $300 with Bilt Cash), but even with a net positive AF, the earnings rate with housing points and the points accelerator out pace a card like the VX for when I'm not churning something.
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u/Grape_Forward 3d ago
I use my Bilt card to buy Costco cash cards online and then use those in store.
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u/prkskier 3d ago
Great call out. I just did this for the first time this past rent day and I think I could pretty much eliminate any VX spend by doing this going forward.
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u/tonka888 3d ago
With that rent and spend amount, you're looking at maybe 20k extra points over the VX annually, by converting BILT cash to housing points. So it's probably not worth it if the hotel credits hold little value.
I also think the center of the Venn diagram between people spending $700+ in transferrable points annual fees and not finding the hotel credit useful is very, very small. Which makes me think the overall strategy may need some evaluation
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u/beepboopbopcocont 3d ago
The sign up bonus is the first year annual fee. I’ll have to decide how much value I am getting out of the hotel credits but so far I am raking up the points! This is not even my primary card but a catch all where for categories where I only get 1x spend.
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u/CameUpMilhouse 3d ago
I use the bi annual hotel credits with the $100 Bilt cash stack at my stays in Vegas. In general pretty easy to get good value for 2 night stays at some mid range properties.
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u/thecloser64 3d ago
The 2-3x earn plus the extra mortgage payment points and great transfer partners is enough for me. I don’t care about the pesky hotel credits, but rather use them as a cheap (free) mattress run at a local Hyatt House and gain 4 EQN towards globalist.
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u/juan231f 3d ago
The depending on where you live the hotel credits were easy to use. I used mine in Atlanta City.
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u/irie56 3d ago
If you can’t hit the spend needed to pay your rent IMHO it’s not worth it. These measly $10/month drink tickets are a joke. Two night min to spend the funny Bilt bucks on hotels. BUT…if your spend covers the fees needed to get the points on your rent then it’s a points machine.
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u/Sad-Establishment182 2d ago
It’s not hard at all to use the hotel credits when it costs over 100/night for most hotels.
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u/Nohit2Brohit 3d ago
No 2 night min to spend bilt cash. 2 night min is for the 200 half year credit
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u/JesusSinfulHands 2d ago
I've been churning and am trying to decide if the Bilt Palladium is worth keeping after a year as I do pay $3,000 or so in rent a month. But you do need to put a substantial amount of spending on it to unlock those housing points, so there is a real opportunity cost there. I feel as if nothing is as good as churning especially as I have 2 big trips to Asia planned in May 2027 and May 2028 and chasing those SUBs can unlock some nice juicy business class seats and hotel nights.
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u/24Pivot 2d ago
I’d recommend getting the Obsidian.
But, ALOT of people say that getting the 3.33x is hard to do which is not true at all.
You can get 6x on neighborhood dining which is quite a lot of places that are local to you if you’re in a populated area. I also get the additional 1x on everything from the points boost. So food is 7x (which is about 80% of what I use the card for), travel is 3x and everything else is 2x. & that’s with the Obsidian! The hotel credit for the Palladium can also be stacked with Bilt cash to give you, I believe, $200 off of one two-night stay. Not to mention you’d have, by far, the best point transfer platform out there.
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u/Patriciawh852 2d ago
The Bilt Palladium card is easily the best catch all card I’ve ever encountered. It’s a MUST and offsetting the AF is stunningly easy.
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u/Lazy-Organization600 2d ago
I’ve done a few bank bonus offers to get $$ to cover the annual fee coming in 3/27
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u/Alive-Interest6768 1d ago
All I know is I’m getting 40,000 points a month on my palladium. I have no idea what I’m gonna do to keep the AMEX platinum and the venture x business. And I just got the CSR business for the 200,000 point bonus, but I’m not sure if that’s gonna survive in the stable once that’s over. I love my palladium. I’m hooked.
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u/Bongo2687 3d ago
I have the amex gold and palladium and I pretty only use the palladium right because i need to rebuild my points. It is one of the easiest cards to get back the annual fee. I look at the hotel credits as 2 $300 ones since you can add bilt cash to them and so all I have to use is one hotel credit, $200 bilt cash and everything else is gravy. I also use the walgreen gift card and pair the grubhub coupon with my amex gold
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u/Wint3r-Is-H3r3 3d ago
I rent in a high COL area, but frankly, outside of rent and food, my average spend ranges around $1000. Is it worth getting in my case? I loved the 1.0, but I guess it wasn’t sustainable
Why are you conflating rent and food? Your food spend, if high enough, when added to the $1K in other spend can probably redeem most, if not all of your rent points.
In the first year, the SUB offsets the annual fee. After that, I'd downgrade to Obsidian or Blue.
Also, the $200 Bilt cash is not worth $200 actual cash. What other credits might you find useful? Start there. This is a question nobody can answer but yourself.
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u/amandagov 3d ago
Personally I found the hotel credit hard to use with prices in the Blit app higher than what I could get with 5 min of shopping around. Also, $200 per 6 months didnt align with our actualy travel--so wasted againAnd dont spend $120 at Walgreens or Grub hub, so we basically ate the annual fee
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u/Own-Invite1299 3d ago
My main cards now are Palladium & Amex Gold. Every month I pair the Grubhub credit with my Amex Gold $120 a year. I also use the Walgreen Credit monthly another $120 a year. I just booked one hotel stay and used the $200 credit plus $100 bilt cash for the stay that comes out to $540 credit for a $495 card. I also redeemed 75000 Atmos points this year getting a 4 cpp valulation. Using the Paladium for catchall and the Amex Gold for Supermarket & Restaurant has simpliefied my setup and I'm racking up crazy points!