How to Earn Triple Points on the Bilt Palladium
Tl;dr: The Bilt Palladium officially earns 2x Bilt points plus 4% Bilt Cash per dollar spent, but it’s possible to earn an effective rate of 3 Bilt points per dollar (or more) with the point accelerator or via housing rewards. It just takes a little setup and—potentially—monitoring.
The Bilt Palladium card is one of the most powerful credit cards on the market—in fact, I think it’s the best. Not only does it earn incredible points, it earns them very quickly. But, this being Bilt 2.0, it’s all a bit complicated: the Bilt Palladium technically earns 2x points plus 4% Bilt Cash on every purchase. But if you use Bilt’s rewards system correctly, you can turn much—or even all—of your spending into an effective earning rate of 3x or better.
It might sound complicated at first, but the options aren’t that challenging to navigate, and the rewards are well worth it. Here are the three ways to turn the Bilt Palladium into a 3x everyday card.
| Method | Effective Rate | 3x+ Spending Range | Effort | Main Catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Accelerator | 3x | Up to $25,000/year | Medium | Must reactivate after each $5,000 in spending |
| Bilt Cash → Housing | 3x–3.33x | Up to 100% of monthly housing payments | Low | Housing costs limit how much spending earns 3x+ |
| Housing-Only Rewards | 3x–4x | 25%–125% of monthly housing payments | Higher | Missing the spending targets can sharply reduce your return |
Point Accelerator
Bilt’s Point Accelerator allows you to redeem $200 in Bilt Cash to earn an extra Bilt point per dollar on your next $5,000 in spend, turning it directly into a 3x card. Because the Bilt Palladium comes with $200 in Bilt Cash each year, you can activate it immediately when you get the card and as soon as each new calendar year begins. And spending $5,000 earns exactly $200 in Bilt Cash, allowing you to repeat the process on up to $25,000 in spending.
Downsides
You can’t set the Point Accelerator to auto-renew, so (if I’m reading the terms correctly) you won’t earn points on “straddling” purchases. So if you’ve used $4,500 and make a $1,000 purchase, you might not earn 3x on the full purchase. More importantly, Bilt doesn’t send a reminder when you exhaust your bonus, so you’ll have to monitor it. If there’s a gap between when you exhaust your Point Accelerator and when you reactivate it, you won’t be earning 3x Bilt points during that time (but you’ll still be earning 2x plus Bilt Cash). And if you’re a heavier spender, the $25,000 annual limit might not be enough for you.
Housing Rewards with Bilt Cash
If you pay your housing expenses via Bilt, you can use the Bilt Cash from your spending to earn additional Bilt points on those housing expenses, ultimately earning 3 or more Bilt points per dollar spent on the card. But stick with me here, there’s math. 😬
Each dollar spent with the Palladium earns 4¢ of Bilt Cash, while you can redeem 3¢ for 1 point on housing. Because of that ratio, each dollar spent on the Palladium (or any other Bilt card, for that matter) generates enough Bilt Cash to redeem for roughly 1.33 Bilt points. As a result:
If card spending is less than or equal to 75% of housing payments through Bilt, each dollar spent on the card earns 1.33 Bilt points via housing (3.33x total).
If card spending is between 75 and 100% of housing payments, each dollar spent on the card earns between 1 and 1.33 Bilt points via housing (3 to 3.33x total).
If card spending is more than 100% of housing payments, each dollar spent on the card will earn less than 1 Bilt point via housing, but will result in leftover Bilt Cash.
Simply put, if your housing payment is $2,000 and you pay it via Bilt, you can earn at least 3x Bilt points total per dollar spent on up to $2,000 in card spending each month. And unlike the Point Accelerator, this is essentially set-and-forget; although you can change how you earn at any time (more on that later), once you start earning this way you don’t need to renew the benefit.
Downsides
The main downside to this option from a points perspective is that the amount of your housing payments will limit the amount of spending you can do at the 3x effective rate. Big spenders with modest rent or mortgage payments might end up with a lot of Bilt Cash (not necessarily a bad thing) if they don’t divert spending to other cards.
Use your mortgage, HOA, or rent payments to earn more Bilt points.
Housing-Only Rewards
When the complicated Bilt Cash provoked a backlash, Bilt quickly launched “simple, fee-free rewards” (AKA housing-only rewards). Under this system, you can decline to earn Bilt Cash, and instead earn points on your housing payments based on your card spending. As long as you spend an amount equal to at least 25% of your Bilt-processed housing payments you will earn between 0.5x and 1.25x Bilt points per dollar on those housing payments.
The actual Bilt Points return on your spending depends on the final ratio of card spend to housing spend. Which option earns more Bilt points—Bilt Cash or housing-only rewards—depends on your exact card-to-housing spending ratio, and there are calculators to help people figure it out. There are two main takeaways for housing-only rewards, though:
First, as long as you use the Palladium to spend an amount equal to at least 25% but no more than 125% of your housing payment, the card earns an effective rate of at least 3x.
Second, either option can be more rewarding depending on your spending ratio. But housing-only rewards have a higher ceiling, so points nerds willing to target specific spending totals can come out ahead.
For example, with a $2,000 rent payment, you could earn an effective rate of 3x on the Palladium when spending anywhere from $500 to $2,500 in a given month. But spending exactly $500 would net 2,000 total Bilt points, for an effective rate of 4x, while spending exactly $1,000 would net 2,500 Bilt points, for an effective rate of 3.5x.
Plus, you can switch back and forth between earning with Bilt Cash and via housing-only rewards each month depending on which is easier or more rewarding.
Downsides
Although the housing-only rewards option has the highest upside, it also has fairly high risk. If you fall short of spending 25% of your housing payment on the card, you’ll get only 250 points, a potential shortfall. Meanwhile, any spending above 125% of your housing payment is simply wasted. You won’t get any additional Bilt Cash or other benefits, and it will tip your effective earning rate under 3x.
Lazy Take 🦥
Bilt doesn’t make it as easy as it could be, but there are several ways to optimize the Palladium card to earn 3x or more total Bilt points per dollar spent. Each method has its limits, though, so if you’re a big spender you might want to have a complementary card like the Atmos Summit or Chase Sapphire Preferred to make sure you can maximize your earning rate on the Palladium.