In late 2024, Bilt hinted at plans to make changes to its credit card portfolio, with the intent of moving to a tiered card structure. While details have been limited, a major announcement has just been made. Still, there are more questions than answers.
Major Bilt credit card changes coming early 2026
Bilt will be completely overhauling its credit card portfolio as of February 2026, with the introduction of what’s being called Bilt Card 2.0:
- Bilt will be transitioning from Wells Fargo to Cardless, and existing cardmembers will be “seamlessly moved” to the new platform
- We’ll see the introduction of three cards at three price points — a no annual fee card, a $95 annual fee card, and a $495 annual fee card
- The company claims that they’ve been “developing new cards that deliver the depth and breadth of product experience you all have asked for”
More details about the new issuing partner, enhanced rewards (including points on both rent and mortgage), the broader card value proposition, and the transition process, will be announced in early fall 2025. Bilt emphasizes that everything stays the same for now.
This announcement coincides with Bilt revealing that it has raised $250 million at a $10.75 billion valuation, which… wow.
My take on these Bilt credit card changes
Obviously as of now there are a lot more questions than answers about what the card value propositions will look like. We know that the no annual fee card will reportedly continue to offer points for rent, though it remains to be seen what restrictions will be associated with that.
When Bilt surveyed credit card changes in early 2025, the incremental value proposition of the more premium cards was minimal, so I’m curious to see what the end product looks like.
While Bilt has an absolutely massive valuation and is now much more than just a credit card issuer, there’s no denying that Bilt has had issues with the profitability of its credit card partnerships. Roughly a year ago, we learned how Wells Fargo was reportedly losing around $10 million per month on Bilt.
For those of us into maximizing points, the best thing about Bilt is that you can earn points for paying your rent at no fee, as long as you make at least five transactions per billing cycle. So obviously in order to fund the rewards for rent, Wells Fargo was counting on a certain percent of purchase volume being for non-rent expenses.
Wells Fargo had reportedly expected that around 65% of purchases would be for non-rent transactions, but the inverse ended up being true. So we’ve known that Bilt was looking for a new credit card partner, since the current relationship isn’t going well, and Wells Fargo was looking for an out.
This is obviously a huge win for Cardless in terms of market share and exposure. For those not familiar, Cardless is a fintech company that prides itself in quickly launching co-branded credit cards. This is without a doubt the biggest agreement the company has had to date.
The question is, can Cardless find a way to actually make this partnership profitable, and if so, how? I’m curious to see how this all plays out. Like I said, there are more questions than answers.
Bottom line
Bilt has announced major changes to its credit card portfolio as of February 2026. The company will be transitioning from Wells Fargo to Cardless. Along with this, we’ll see the introduction of three credit cards, including a no annual fee card, a $95 annual fee card, and a $495 annual fee card.
We should learn more details about this arrangement in the coming months. I’ll reserve judgment until all the details are unveiled.
What do you make of these Bilt credit card changes?
