00:00:00:02 - 00:00:04:01
Built just rolled out three
new credit cards and a brand new currency


00:00:04:01 - 00:00:07:17
called built cash, and the internet
immediately lost its mind.


00:00:08:13 - 00:00:10:18
It was so complicated


00:00:10:18 - 00:00:13:22
it left even points and miles
professionals scratching their heads.


00:00:15:03 - 00:00:18:17
Now that the dust has settled a bit,
we want to look at builds, new cards,


00:00:18:17 - 00:00:21:17
and the Build Cash program
to see what the big picture looks like.


00:00:22:07 - 00:00:26:19
So is built 2.0 a total disaster
or are we all missing


00:00:26:19 - 00:00:29:19
something important here?


00:00:34:14 - 00:00:35:16
Hey I'm Chris.


00:00:35:16 - 00:00:37:21
Welcome to the Upgraded Points podcast.


00:00:37:21 - 00:00:38:18
And I'm Katie.


00:00:38:18 - 00:00:41:21
And today we have some Priority Pass
app news.


00:00:41:21 - 00:00:46:12
We've got an update on is Citi
and Barclays American Airlines


00:00:46:12 - 00:00:47:21
card transition.


00:00:47:21 - 00:00:51:23
And we are diving in to the build
2.0 program.


00:00:52:13 - 00:00:54:13
Before we get to that, as always, don't
forget to like


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and subscribe on YouTube, Spotify
or wherever you get your podcast.


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And be sure to share this
with a travel loving friend.


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So, if any of you follow Chris on social,


00:01:04:15 - 00:01:07:23
you realize that
he just got back from Japan


00:01:08:06 - 00:01:11:13
and I'm sure you're really interested
in hearing about his trip, I know I am.


00:01:11:20 - 00:01:13:06
We are going to dive into that


00:01:13:06 - 00:01:17:00
next week's episode,
so be sure to tune back in for that.


00:01:17:08 - 00:01:20:15
But we have a lot of stuff to talk about,
and it just did not fit in this week.


00:01:21:03 - 00:01:24:03
Yeah, I think, some news broke
while I was in Japan.


00:01:24:15 - 00:01:26:03
2.0 yeah.


00:01:26:03 - 00:01:26:18
Something small.


00:01:26:18 - 00:01:27:22
And you know.


00:01:27:22 - 00:01:30:21
Fun to try and keep track of
with the jet lag.


00:01:30:21 - 00:01:32:00
Yeah. Yes.


00:01:32:00 - 00:01:35:05
Chris just got back yesterday,
so forgive him if he's a little fussy.


00:01:35:13 - 00:01:37:23
Yeah. So we're recording this at 1 a.m..


00:01:37:23 - 00:01:38:09
Just kidding.


00:01:40:12 - 00:01:40:21
All right,


00:01:40:21 - 00:01:44:02
well,
let's start with this new Priority Pass


00:01:44:02 - 00:01:47:06
Plus app that
that is rolling out gradually.


00:01:48:05 - 00:01:51:10
So eventually the original Priority Pass
app will be phased out


00:01:51:10 - 00:01:54:10
in this new Priority Pass
Plus will be implemented.


00:01:54:20 - 00:01:58:01
Not everyone has access to it yet,
but what I'm


00:01:58:14 - 00:02:01:08
particularly excited about
is you're going to have the option


00:02:01:08 - 00:02:04:08
to add multiple priority
pass memberships to this app.


00:02:04:09 - 00:02:07:09
So now Katie and I
and many people in this hobby,


00:02:07:14 - 00:02:10:17
if you have a premium credit card
that comes with Priority Pass,


00:02:10:17 - 00:02:14:00
each one will give you its own membership
and membership number.


00:02:14:06 - 00:02:17:08
And that will come with a variety
of benefits like getting into Chase


00:02:17:08 - 00:02:21:00
Sapphire Lounges
and you get those once per calendar year.


00:02:21:00 - 00:02:24:03
So now instead of logging in
and logging out of your app,


00:02:24:03 - 00:02:27:02
memorizing your numbers or logins,
whatever,


00:02:27:02 - 00:02:30:00
one app will be able to manage
all of your memberships.


00:02:30:00 - 00:02:33:00
So now you can just easily swap
between those next time


00:02:33:00 - 00:02:36:00
you get into a lounge,
which I think is a really nice feature.


00:02:36:09 - 00:02:37:15
Yeah, that's going to be a great update.


00:02:37:15 - 00:02:41:21
That Priority Pass app
was not not amazing up until now.


00:02:41:21 - 00:02:44:11
So I'm really excited
to see this, this update.


00:02:44:11 - 00:02:46:20
So that's great now. Yeah. Me too. Yeah.


00:02:46:20 - 00:02:50:21
So we have known for quite a while
that, American Airlines


00:02:50:21 - 00:02:54:01
is moving
solely to Citi as their card issuer.


00:02:54:01 - 00:02:55:13
And dropping Barclays.


00:02:55:13 - 00:02:56:11
That is not news.


00:02:56:11 - 00:02:57:12
But what is news is


00:02:57:12 - 00:03:01:07
we don't know a little bit more about
how that's going to work and the timeline.


00:03:01:17 - 00:03:07:06
So, Citi products will convert on
or I'm sorry,


00:03:07:06 - 00:03:10:18
Barclays products will convert to Citi on
April 24th.


00:03:11:01 - 00:03:14:21
Citi says the, current card
holders will get their new card


00:03:14:21 - 00:03:17:21
within six weeks, 6 to 8 weeks after that.


00:03:18:13 - 00:03:22:18
So I think if you still have your Barclays
card, I'm assuming it'll still work,


00:03:22:18 - 00:03:25:19
but it'll kind of behind the scenes
be a city card at that point.


00:03:26:06 - 00:03:29:09
So everyone should have
their new cards by mid-June.


00:03:30:10 - 00:03:33:10
If you have a Barclays American Airlines
card,


00:03:33:12 - 00:03:36:20
you will be automatically transitioned
to a city card.


00:03:36:20 - 00:03:38:23
And we now know what
that's gonna look like.


00:03:38:23 - 00:03:41:23
So if you have the old aviator world
elite Mastercard,


00:03:41:23 - 00:03:45:16
you will get the American Airlines
AAdvantage miles up card


00:03:46:04 - 00:03:48:19
if you have the Aviator World Elite Blue


00:03:48:19 - 00:03:51:20
Mastercard, which has not been available
for quite a while.


00:03:51:20 - 00:03:54:08
So I'm sure there's not a ton
of these floating around.


00:03:54:08 - 00:03:57:02
You will get the City Advantage
Gold Mastercard


00:03:57:02 - 00:04:00:09
for those of you with the aviator
Red World Elite Mastercard,


00:04:00:09 - 00:04:04:07
you will be transitioned to the City
Advantage Platinum


00:04:04:07 - 00:04:09:07
Select, World Elite Mastercard,
the Aviator Silver Card


00:04:09:18 - 00:04:12:11
will get the new, Citi


00:04:12:11 - 00:04:16:13
AAdvantage globe card,
and then those of you with the aviator


00:04:16:13 - 00:04:20:08
business will be transitioned
to the city business card.


00:04:21:23 - 00:04:23:20
If you have


00:04:23:20 - 00:04:26:20
already an American Airlines Citi card,


00:04:27:10 - 00:04:32:12
and you now are going to have a duplicate
because of a Barclays card,


00:04:33:05 - 00:04:37:12
you can contact Citi
and have those cards linked to kind of,


00:04:37:19 - 00:04:42:09
ease that transition and then,
the good news is you won't be excluded


00:04:42:09 - 00:04:45:20
from a welcome bonus if you're transferred
into one of those cards.


00:04:45:20 - 00:04:47:22
So that's really great news.
It sounds like that's great news.


00:04:47:22 - 00:04:50:00
This is going to.


00:04:50:00 - 00:04:51:22
We're worried about that. Yeah. Yeah.


00:04:51:22 - 00:04:54:22
It sounds like this transition
will be hopefully as smooth as it can be.


00:04:55:07 - 00:04:57:10
Yeah. Great news


00:04:57:10 - 00:04:59:23
okay Chris it's time we.


00:04:59:23 - 00:05:02:05
Really. We got to dive into this okay.


00:05:02:05 - 00:05:05:22
So as I'm sure a lot of,
you know, last month Bill


00:05:06:00 - 00:05:10:17
introduced three new credit cards
and a new currency called Bill to cash.


00:05:11:03 - 00:05:14:18
Almost immediately,
everyone kind of lost their mind


00:05:14:18 - 00:05:17:18
and noticed
how complicated the program was.


00:05:17:21 - 00:05:19:18
The New York Times even said, quote,


00:05:19:18 - 00:05:23:07
it is the most complicated reward system
we have ever seen.


00:05:24:03 - 00:05:26:20
And I completely agree with you.


00:05:28:04 - 00:05:31:02
Not only that, but the Bill loyalists,


00:05:31:02 - 00:05:33:23
those of us who have been fans for years
felt like Bilt


00:05:33:23 - 00:05:37:11
founding principle, you know, earning
points on rent and then a mortgage,


00:05:38:03 - 00:05:40:17
without transaction fees disappeared.


00:05:40:17 - 00:05:46:00
And so while now you can technically,
earn points on your rent and mortgage,


00:05:46:00 - 00:05:50:18
now without a fee, it's not as simple
or straightforward as it once was.


00:05:51:12 - 00:05:53:11
So today
we're going to give you a clear breakdown.


00:05:53:11 - 00:05:56:13
There's no hype, no panic, just the facts.


00:05:57:17 - 00:06:00:15
But yeah, right now
you can earn unlimited points on rent


00:06:00:15 - 00:06:03:15
and mortgage even more than one property,
which is.


00:06:03:21 - 00:06:04:20
That is awesome. Okay.


00:06:04:20 - 00:06:06:14
There's no question about that.


00:06:06:14 - 00:06:10:17
But there is a 3% transaction
fee on rent payments.


00:06:11:11 - 00:06:13:05
If you want to earn
points on those payments,


00:06:14:09 - 00:06:15:11
you can waive that fee.


00:06:15:11 - 00:06:19:07
However, by spending on those built cards
that we're going to talk about


00:06:19:12 - 00:06:22:22
and applying this new built cash
to waive the fee.


00:06:23:11 - 00:06:27:22
So let's dive into these cards
that we want to earn those bill cash with.


00:06:28:13 - 00:06:28:23
Okay.


00:06:28:23 - 00:06:32:03
So these, three new cards
are going to talk about our,


00:06:32:16 - 00:06:36:10
active as of a couple days
ago, February or February 7th.


00:06:36:10 - 00:06:37:22
Excuse me.


00:06:37:22 - 00:06:41:17
These new cards are issued by card lists
instead of Wells Fargo,


00:06:41:17 - 00:06:44:19
which is the bank
that issued the old Bilt Mastercard.


00:06:45:02 - 00:06:48:02
If you were a previous card holder,


00:06:48:10 - 00:06:51:03
and chose to transition,


00:06:51:03 - 00:06:55:18
your new card has been, quote,
turned on as a couple days ago.


00:06:55:23 - 00:06:59:12
And if you were opted
to not get a new build credit card,


00:06:59:18 - 00:07:00:22
you're staying with Wells Fargo.


00:07:00:22 - 00:07:03:10
You now have a Wells Fargo autograph card.


00:07:05:03 - 00:07:06:00
So let's


00:07:06:00 - 00:07:09:18
start with the first card,
which is a no annual fee card.


00:07:09:18 - 00:07:13:00
Isn't it always nice to have a
no annual fee card?


00:07:14:00 - 00:07:16:17
This card is the built blue card.


00:07:16:17 - 00:07:20:21
It earns, up to one point on rent
and mortgage payments,


00:07:21:07 - 00:07:24:12
and then one ex points plus 4% cash


00:07:24:12 - 00:07:27:12
back in built cash on everyday spending.


00:07:28:12 - 00:07:30:23
The perks for this card are pretty limited
for a nominal fee card,


00:07:30:23 - 00:07:35:11
as expected, but no annual, no foreign
transaction fees, no annual fees.


00:07:36:09 - 00:07:39:09
And it does come with a welcome offer,
which is not something we have seen on the


00:07:39:18 - 00:07:41:05
previous, card.


00:07:41:05 - 00:07:45:20
The 1.0,
the welcome offer is $100 of built cash.


00:07:45:20 - 00:07:48:20
When you apply and get approved,
that's enough to unlock


00:07:49:01 - 00:07:54:00
$3,333.34 worth of housing payments,


00:07:55:01 - 00:07:58:08
at one ex earnings,
while avoiding the 3% transaction fees.


00:07:59:01 - 00:08:02:13
One thing to note, your mortgage
and rent comes out of your bank account,


00:08:02:17 - 00:08:04:17
so even though you're charging it


00:08:04:17 - 00:08:08:11
to your account, it won't count against
your credit limit, which is pretty nice.


00:08:08:18 - 00:08:09:07
Yeah.


00:08:09:07 - 00:08:11:03
And the other thing to note,
and we're going to talk about this


00:08:11:03 - 00:08:14:06
in our next segment,
built cash is not exactly cash back.


00:08:14:13 - 00:08:16:04
So just think of it as built cash.


00:08:16:04 - 00:08:18:06
That's okay I just wanted to be clear.
Thank you.


00:08:18:06 - 00:08:19:22
So you are not getting 4% cash back.


00:08:19:22 - 00:08:20:20
You're getting 4% milk.


00:08:20:20 - 00:08:23:23
Cash, which you may not be. Yeah.


00:08:24:12 - 00:08:25:02
Okay. So,


00:08:26:03 - 00:08:28:07
next one is the built obsidian card.


00:08:28:07 - 00:08:31:03
This is a $95 annual fee card.


00:08:31:03 - 00:08:33:15
That's a real nice
sweet spot in annual fees.


00:08:33:15 - 00:08:34:03
We love that.


00:08:34:03 - 00:08:37:03
We just talked
about a whole bunch of those last week.


00:08:37:05 - 00:08:41:00
You can earn up to one point
per dollar on rent and mortgage payments.


00:08:41:19 - 00:08:45:00
Three points per dollar plus 4% cash.


00:08:45:05 - 00:08:49:06
Built cash on your choice
of dining or grocery spending.


00:08:49:06 - 00:08:51:00
I almost did it there.


00:08:51:00 - 00:08:53:16
Each year, up to $25,000 in purchases.


00:08:53:16 - 00:08:56:09
And that is, you can choose your category,


00:08:56:09 - 00:08:59:09
but you can only change it
once per year in January.


00:08:59:10 - 00:09:01:21
So it's not quite as simple as, like,
you know, this month


00:09:01:21 - 00:09:04:06
I want dining, this next month
I want grocery.


00:09:04:06 - 00:09:05:21
It's for the whole year.


00:09:05:21 - 00:09:08:22
It defaults to dining. I believe.


00:09:08:22 - 00:09:13:11
I read somewhere, but I'm assuming
when you get the card, not in January.


00:09:13:11 - 00:09:15:00
You can still choose grocery.


00:09:16:19 - 00:09:18:02
It also earns two


00:09:18:02 - 00:09:21:20
points per dollar
plus 4% billed cash on travel spending


00:09:22:04 - 00:09:24:20
and one point per dollar on everything
else, plus


00:09:24:20 - 00:09:27:20
4% in built cash.


00:09:28:01 - 00:09:31:01
This one has a couple little perks.


00:09:31:02 - 00:09:36:00
You do get a $100 and build travel
credits towards hotel bookings each year,


00:09:36:00 - 00:09:39:20
and that's up to $50, for each
half of the year.


00:09:40:06 - 00:09:44:03
These stays require two nights,
so it's a very similar structure


00:09:44:03 - 00:09:47:03
to what we've seen on a lot of other
cards.


00:09:47:05 - 00:09:51:05
Just, you know, 50
bucks could could come in handy.


00:09:51:05 - 00:09:52:22
You never know. Yeah.


00:09:52:22 - 00:09:54:18
And then it does
also have a welcome offer.


00:09:54:18 - 00:09:59:18
You can earn $200 in built cash
when you apply and get approved,


00:10:00:04 - 00:10:07:17
and that is enough to unlock 600 and
or $6,666.67 worth of housing payments,


00:10:08:21 - 00:10:10:15
at one


00:10:10:15 - 00:10:13:15
point per dollar earnings.


00:10:13:19 - 00:10:16:17
Okay, so you got that full.


00:10:16:17 - 00:10:18:03
Circle, right?


00:10:18:03 - 00:10:21:14
Well, now here is the top tier card
that they are offering.


00:10:21:14 - 00:10:24:22
And this one is at least
getting some positive feedback.


00:10:25:04 - 00:10:27:08
This is the built Palladium card.


00:10:27:08 - 00:10:30:08
This has a $495 annual fee.


00:10:30:22 - 00:10:35:20
Now this credit card will earn one point,
on rent and mortgage payments.


00:10:36:04 - 00:10:39:15
And then two points plus 4% build cash,


00:10:40:10 - 00:10:43:10
build cash on everyday spending.


00:10:44:01 - 00:10:45:04
I'm going to repeat that so you'll get.


00:10:45:04 - 00:10:46:19
You should have a little disclaimer
at the bottom.


00:10:46:19 - 00:10:49:19
Yeah. Built cash is not cash back.


00:10:49:21 - 00:10:51:19
Earn one point on rent and mortgage.


00:10:51:19 - 00:10:52:17
Awesome.


00:10:52:17 - 00:10:54:15
Earn two points plus 4%.


00:10:54:15 - 00:10:56:07
Build cash on everyday spending.


00:10:56:07 - 00:10:59:23
Okay, so the perks for this and builds
playing card.


00:11:00:03 - 00:11:05:03
You can, earn up to $400 and build
travel credits towards hotel bookings.


00:11:05:03 - 00:11:08:12
That's available as up to $200 in each
half of the year.


00:11:08:15 - 00:11:09:17
Same as the other card.


00:11:09:17 - 00:11:13:12
Minimum two night
minimum two night stay, $200 and build


00:11:13:12 - 00:11:16:12
cash deposited into your account annually.


00:11:16:14 - 00:11:21:02
So that's enough to unlock
that same $6,666.67


00:11:21:02 - 00:11:24:02
worth of housing payments
at one ex earnings.


00:11:24:02 - 00:11:26:08
That would be to avoid the 3% fee.


00:11:27:12 - 00:11:29:10
And it comes with party pass membership.


00:11:29:10 - 00:11:32:10
So always nice to have
another one of those in your wallet.


00:11:33:00 - 00:11:35:11
This card comes with a welcome offer.


00:11:35:11 - 00:11:40:12
And this has a 50,000 points
after spending 4000 on non


00:11:40:12 - 00:11:43:12
housing expenses
in the first three months.


00:11:43:13 - 00:11:47:23
Plus, you get gold
elite status and $300 built cash


00:11:48:03 - 00:11:49:16
when you apply and get approved.


00:11:49:16 - 00:11:53:06
So that's $50,000 rewards points.


00:11:53:06 - 00:11:55:00
And we love build
reward points around here.


00:11:55:00 - 00:11:59:00
So this card is already looking
pretty good.


00:12:00:20 - 00:12:02:22
But as you can see it's pretty confusing.


00:12:02:22 - 00:12:07:12
And so immediately after announcing
all of this, and all the, you know,


00:12:07:12 - 00:12:12:18
the backlash the build received online,
they came out built 2.1 K.


00:12:12:18 - 00:12:14:10
Do you want to cover that one?


00:12:14:10 - 00:12:17:04
Yes. And, we are not exaggerating.


00:12:17:04 - 00:12:21:18
Literally two days after they introduced
this, they kind of like, oh no.


00:12:21:18 - 00:12:23:04
Whoa, whoa, here.


00:12:23:04 - 00:12:26:09
And we realize it's complicated
or we hear you saying, it's complicated.


00:12:27:07 - 00:12:28:09
How about this?


00:12:28:09 - 00:12:34:00
To help things be easier
and instead of simplifying the program,


00:12:34:00 - 00:12:37:17
they just added a parallel program
that you can choose,


00:12:38:08 - 00:12:43:14
which just adds to the complexity
of this whole, this whole program.


00:12:43:14 - 00:12:45:12
So yeah, I,


00:12:45:12 - 00:12:47:10
I don't know what they were thinking,
but let's,


00:12:47:10 - 00:12:50:12
let's go through the second program
that we are dubbing where we are not


00:12:50:13 - 00:12:52:13
the whole industry is dubbing built 2.1.


00:12:54:00 - 00:12:55:10
So instead


00:12:55:10 - 00:12:58:10
of what we talked about on those cards,


00:12:58:10 - 00:13:03:08
you can pay your rent or mortgage
each month with your bill, credit card


00:13:03:08 - 00:13:07:17
with no fee and choose to earn rewards
instead of bill cash.


00:13:08:04 - 00:13:12:13
But the amount of rewards
you earn depends on how much you spend on


00:13:12:13 - 00:13:15:17
non housing purchases
each month with your bill, card.


00:13:16:13 - 00:13:19:13
So let's take a look
at some of the numbers.


00:13:19:20 - 00:13:25:00
For let's say a $2,000 rent
or mortgage per month


00:13:25:14 - 00:13:29:08
if you put 25% of that number.


00:13:29:08 - 00:13:33:18
So $500 in non
housing spend on your card in the month,


00:13:34:11 - 00:13:38:19
you will earn half a point
per dollar on that rent or mortgage.


00:13:38:19 - 00:13:40:09
Spend.


00:13:40:09 - 00:13:43:09
If you put 50% so a thousand


00:13:43:09 - 00:13:46:09
you would earn 0.75 points per dollar.


00:13:47:05 - 00:13:52:00
If you put 75% of that $2,000 monthly


00:13:52:00 - 00:13:56:20
payment in non housing spend on the card,
you'll earn one point per dollar.


00:13:57:17 - 00:14:02:03
And then if you put 100% of your monthly


00:14:02:03 - 00:14:06:15
housing
spend on your card in non housing spend.


00:14:06:15 - 00:14:10:05
So you have a $2,000 mortgage,
you put $2,000 on the card.


00:14:10:05 - 00:14:15:10
In a month you'll earn 1.25 points
per dollar if you don't meet any of those,


00:14:16:04 - 00:14:20:14
minimum spending thresholds,
you will receive 250 bill points.


00:14:21:03 - 00:14:25:21
You can switch between these two easy
to use, symptoms or symptoms.


00:14:26:11 - 00:14:27:13
If you can't,


00:14:28:17 - 00:14:29:02
you can


00:14:29:02 - 00:14:32:02
choose between these two systems,
at any time.


00:14:32:02 - 00:14:35:03
And your change will take effect
the following month.


00:14:36:05 - 00:14:39:05
So super easy to understand, right?


00:14:40:04 - 00:14:40:22
Super.


00:14:40:22 - 00:14:42:22
You know, and I kind of think like,


00:14:42:22 - 00:14:45:23
yes, this this second program
makes it way more complicated.


00:14:46:17 - 00:14:49:06
Like, why didn't they come out with
something like,


00:14:49:06 - 00:14:52:06
like if they had just come out
with a second program,


00:14:52:11 - 00:14:55:12
it would probably still have gotten
a lot of criticism, but nowhere near


00:14:55:14 - 00:14:59:15
what it got with the regular build 2.0. So


00:15:01:03 - 00:15:02:21
again,
I don't know what they were thinking,


00:15:02:21 - 00:15:05:21
but you do have this second, second option


00:15:06:10 - 00:15:10:06
to earn points on your rent or mortgage.


00:15:10:14 - 00:15:12:16
So with that, let's take a quick break.


00:15:12:16 - 00:15:16:05
Everyone's going to process this for
a few seconds, and then we will come back


00:15:16:05 - 00:15:21:18
and we are going to dive into built cash
and how to use this built cash.


00:15:30:08 - 00:15:30:20
Okay.


00:15:30:20 - 00:15:31:21
Welcome back.


00:15:31:21 - 00:15:34:14
So we've covered, the new bill credit
cards.


00:15:34:14 - 00:15:35:13
Bill 2.0.


00:15:35:13 - 00:15:38:13
And Katie went over Bill 2.1.


00:15:39:00 - 00:15:42:05
But let's dive into built cash
and what it is


00:15:42:05 - 00:15:44:15
and where you can use it for.
And pretty much


00:15:44:15 - 00:15:47:22
it's a new currency that can be used
inside the built ecosystem.


00:15:48:01 - 00:15:51:01
All new Bill rewards credit cards earn 4%


00:15:51:14 - 00:15:55:18
back in the form of bill cash on all
non housing spending.


00:15:55:18 - 00:16:00:10
So your everyday spending bill members
even those without a bill credit card


00:16:00:15 - 00:16:04:06
can earn $50 and build cash built cash
each time


00:16:04:06 - 00:16:07:06
they achieve a 25,000 point
status milestone.


00:16:08:18 - 00:16:10:22
But there's a problem.


00:16:10:22 - 00:16:14:14
This bill cash expires
each year on December 31st,


00:16:14:22 - 00:16:20:01
and you can only roll over a maximum of
$100 of your bill cash into the next year.


00:16:21:10 - 00:16:22:19
Yeah, I don't love that.


00:16:22:19 - 00:16:27:10
And, like, why isn't it just expire
after year if you have to have it expire?


00:16:27:10 - 00:16:30:20
Because you could earn Bill
cash on December 1st and that bill cash


00:16:30:20 - 00:16:33:20
expires at the end of the month.


00:16:33:21 - 00:16:38:17
So I hope that's maybe something they will
look at and adjust going forward.


00:16:38:21 - 00:16:39:22
Yeah. Okay.


00:16:39:22 - 00:16:43:01
So let's talk
about how this bill cash can be used.


00:16:43:22 - 00:16:49:01
The big news is it can be
used on your rent or mortgage payments


00:16:49:01 - 00:16:53:08
to waive the 3% fee that you need to pay


00:16:53:08 - 00:16:56:08
to earn points on your rent or mortgage.


00:16:57:09 - 00:17:01:01
And so you redeem $3 of Bill


00:17:01:01 - 00:17:04:05
cash, which unlocks
100 points on housing payments.


00:17:04:17 - 00:17:06:07
That doesn't make any sense to me.


00:17:06:07 - 00:17:09:00
So we've had some other people do
the math.


00:17:09:00 - 00:17:12:12
I'm really happy I wasn't one
that had to write all these news articles.


00:17:12:12 - 00:17:14:00
So shout out to


00:17:15:00 - 00:17:16:15
Nick and Juan and Ryan, I


00:17:16:15 - 00:17:19:23
think, who wrote the bulk of these,
articles. Who?


00:17:19:23 - 00:17:22:07
Those guys. Yeah.


00:17:22:07 - 00:17:25:01
So the number that you need to know is 75%


00:17:25:01 - 00:17:29:05
if you use your built credit card on non
housing purchases, that total


00:17:29:05 - 00:17:34:20
at least 75% of your housing payment,
that will generate enough bill cash


00:17:35:03 - 00:17:38:14
to cover the 3% fee
you have to pay to earn


00:17:38:14 - 00:17:41:16
one point
per dollar on your housing payment.


00:17:42:01 - 00:17:45:11
So if you have $1,000 rent or mortgage,


00:17:45:20 - 00:17:49:11
you need to spend $750 in other expenses


00:17:50:06 - 00:17:54:15
to earn one point per dollar
on that thousand dollar rent or mortgage.


00:17:54:20 - 00:17:58:05
If you have $2,000,
you have to spend $1,500


00:17:58:05 - 00:18:02:11
in other purchases every single month
to earn enough bill cash to earn one point


00:18:02:11 - 00:18:06:02
per dollar on that $2,000 rent
or mortgage payment.


00:18:06:21 - 00:18:07:05
Yeah.


00:18:07:05 - 00:18:12:02
So that is obviously, you know, the most
attractive way to use your built cash.


00:18:12:19 - 00:18:15:12
You want to waive that fee, get
those points on your rent and mortgage.


00:18:15:12 - 00:18:16:11
That's awesome.


00:18:16:11 - 00:18:20:13
But for someone that is, you know, maybe
putting a lot of spend on your built card


00:18:20:13 - 00:18:26:04
and you have some extra bill cash that
doesn't go towards your, your, 3% fee.


00:18:26:10 - 00:18:29:09
You can also use billed cash
in a variety of other ways.


00:18:29:09 - 00:18:32:09
And after the launch
we got all this information.


00:18:32:10 - 00:18:33:10
But you can use your bill


00:18:33:10 - 00:18:36:18
cash on dining, travel, transportation,
health and wellness, entertainment


00:18:36:18 - 00:18:39:18
options, a whole bunch of stuff
inside the built ecosystem.


00:18:40:03 - 00:18:41:18
I'll list off a few examples here.


00:18:43:02 - 00:18:43:14
You can


00:18:43:14 - 00:18:48:08
get it for up to $10 off per month
for Grubhub, groceries or food deliveries.


00:18:48:18 - 00:18:50:21
A lot of us do that, so that's great.


00:18:50:21 - 00:18:54:12
Up to $5 per month on built home
delivery powered by Gopuff.


00:18:54:12 - 00:18:58:14
Okay, up to $25, on one visit per month
at bill


00:18:58:14 - 00:19:02:16
dining locations, $50 to $100 per month.


00:19:03:03 - 00:19:06:06
Based on your status for hotel
stays in the built app,


00:19:06:21 - 00:19:09:15
you could also use your built cash
to unlock higher transfer


00:19:09:15 - 00:19:12:15
bonuses on rent day, which is interesting.


00:19:12:23 - 00:19:14:18
Up to $350 per seat.


00:19:14:18 - 00:19:17:06
That's two times per year. For blade.


00:19:17:06 - 00:19:18:22
Very cool.


00:19:18:22 - 00:19:21:10
One fitness class. Up to $40 per month.


00:19:21:10 - 00:19:23:18
Booked through the built app.


00:19:23:18 - 00:19:26:02
Up to $10 per month at Walgreens.


00:19:26:02 - 00:19:31:01
And those with the build obsidian card
and the built, Palladium card


00:19:31:09 - 00:19:34:09
can redeem $200 and built cash


00:19:34:09 - 00:19:38:08
to unlock an additional one
point on everyday spend.


00:19:38:17 - 00:19:41:09
So that's up to
5000 spent after activation.


00:19:42:16 - 00:19:43:06
Yeah, we


00:19:43:06 - 00:19:46:06
have articles listing all of a sudden
or you have to memorize all this.


00:19:46:07 - 00:19:48:13
Go have a lot of links
in the show for you.


00:19:48:13 - 00:19:50:13
That's all that is cool.


00:19:50:13 - 00:19:55:09
And you can activate this accelerated
earning rate up to five times per year. It


00:19:55:09 - 00:19:59:18
expires after the 5000 spending threshold
is met or the calendar year ends.


00:20:00:20 - 00:20:04:20
Oh, Katie, is it worth it?


00:20:05:23 - 00:20:08:08
Oh, that is a loaded question, Chris.


00:20:08:08 - 00:20:12:12
Okay, so I wanted to look
at some of the basic numbers.


00:20:13:09 - 00:20:16:06
Because I have seen
a lot of numbers out there.


00:20:16:06 - 00:20:18:21
And that just didn't make sense.


00:20:18:21 - 00:20:22:22
So let let's look at a $2,000 rent
or mortgage.


00:20:23:11 - 00:20:26:06
If you have the built Palladium card,
which is the one that earns


00:20:26:06 - 00:20:29:10
two points
per dollar on all of the other spend,


00:20:30:18 - 00:20:31:13
you would


00:20:31:13 - 00:20:38:06
need to spend $1,500 in additional
spending on that card and built 2.0.


00:20:38:06 - 00:20:41:06
So that very first program I talked about,


00:20:41:12 - 00:20:44:12
you would earn 2000 points from your rent,


00:20:45:02 - 00:20:48:02
3000 points from your spend.


00:20:48:20 - 00:20:52:19
So that's a total of 5000 points
for a total of $3,500 in spend.


00:20:53:16 - 00:20:57:20
That works out to 1.43 points per dollar,


00:20:59:08 - 00:21:00:15
which is.


00:21:00:15 - 00:21:02:18
Isn't that exciting?


00:21:02:18 - 00:21:06:14
It it
I it just that doesn't make sense to me.


00:21:06:21 - 00:21:11:14
And it's not an easy 1.4
or $0.03 or points per dollar


00:21:11:18 - 00:21:14:23
because you have to keep track
of a lot of things every single month


00:21:14:23 - 00:21:17:23
and kind of jump
through some hoops to make that happen.


00:21:18:02 - 00:21:21:11
Let's look at Bill 2.1, which is that
secondary program that they added


00:21:21:12 - 00:21:23:17
two days later to simplify things.


00:21:25:12 - 00:21:29:06
If you had that same $2,000 rent
or mortgage


00:21:29:17 - 00:21:33:05
and let's say you're going to put 100% of


00:21:33:05 - 00:21:36:23
that spend in non
housing spend on your card,


00:21:37:06 - 00:21:42:13
so you have $2,000 rent, and you're
also spending $2,000 on other purchases.


00:21:42:13 - 00:21:47:11
Every single month
you would earn 2500 points on your rent.


00:21:47:11 - 00:21:50:21
So that's 1.25 points per dollar
which sounds great.


00:21:51:10 - 00:21:55:00
You would earn 4000 points
from that spend, two points per dollar,


00:21:55:00 - 00:21:56:10
which is nice.


00:21:56:10 - 00:22:01:13
So there's a total of of 6.5
6500 points for 4000 spent.


00:22:01:21 - 00:22:04:21
That works out to 1.625 points per dollar.


00:22:05:21 - 00:22:07:15
Better


00:22:07:15 - 00:22:10:15
you know, not not too shabby. But


00:22:11:02 - 00:22:14:10
there's a lot of effort to get that
when you could


00:22:15:00 - 00:22:17:18
kind of forget the whole rent or mortgage,


00:22:17:18 - 00:22:21:15
put all of your spend on this card,
or like a venture


00:22:21:15 - 00:22:24:15
or a venture X, and you're getting two
points per dollar on everything.


00:22:25:00 - 00:22:25:21
Yeah. So


00:22:26:20 - 00:22:28:16
for me,


00:22:28:16 - 00:22:31:16
the numbers don't make sense.


00:22:32:11 - 00:22:34:16
And, you know, I was talking to,


00:22:34:16 - 00:22:37:09
another points in miles.


00:22:37:09 - 00:22:39:10
Professional,


00:22:39:10 - 00:22:41:18
who's,
who's pretty well known in this space.


00:22:41:18 - 00:22:45:10
And we both kind of agreed,
even if we thought


00:22:45:10 - 00:22:48:10
the program made sense,


00:22:49:07 - 00:22:53:03
we cannot recommend it
because it is too complicated.


00:22:53:15 - 00:22:57:00
This is not something that, you know,
I have a lot of people ask me, oh, what's


00:22:57:07 - 00:22:58:20
what's the credit card
I should be getting?


00:22:58:20 - 00:23:01:19
What program
should I be getting into first?


00:23:01:19 - 00:23:04:19
I am not explaining this to Joe
from down the street.


00:23:05:01 - 00:23:05:13
You know.


00:23:05:13 - 00:23:09:05
Because every point in Miles professional
I've spoken to


00:23:10:07 - 00:23:13:12
is having trouble
grasping this and understanding it and


00:23:13:20 - 00:23:15:14
and making sense of it.


00:23:15:14 - 00:23:19:01
I don't see how an average person can.


00:23:19:10 - 00:23:22:13
I'm sure there are some people out there
that love this and


00:23:23:08 - 00:23:26:16
think, this is the best thing that's
ever happened, and go forth and conquer.


00:23:26:16 - 00:23:27:20
That's great.


00:23:27:20 - 00:23:32:02
But I think for the majority of people,
the complications of this program


00:23:32:16 - 00:23:33:11
are just too much.


00:23:33:11 - 00:23:37:06
And for me, like Bill
cash is worth absolutely nothing.


00:23:38:11 - 00:23:41:07
I don't have a rent or mortgage,
so that's not interesting to me.


00:23:41:07 - 00:23:46:02
And, you know, on the surface you think,
okay, 4% Bill cash, that sounds great.


00:23:47:03 - 00:23:49:19
But like I don't order from Gopuff.


00:23:49:19 - 00:23:52:21
It's a huge pain in something


00:23:52:21 - 00:23:55:21
to have to order from Grubhub every month.


00:23:56:06 - 00:23:59:11
Like, I don't I don't care about
going to a fitness class.


00:23:59:11 - 00:24:01:22
I'm sure they don't even have
fitness classes that I could book on.


00:24:01:22 - 00:24:04:17
Built in Columbus, Ohio.


00:24:04:17 - 00:24:05:21
Like that.


00:24:05:21 - 00:24:08:21
All is so unappealing to me.


00:24:09:17 - 00:24:13:17
So for me personally, I
this is not for me.


00:24:14:13 - 00:24:18:05
I know, I know,
I think one on our team wrote an article.


00:24:18:10 - 00:24:21:00
He was getting the Palladium card


00:24:21:00 - 00:24:24:00
and he was finding value in that program,
at least for a year.


00:24:24:11 - 00:24:27:00
So we can link to that to
for a different perspective.


00:24:28:13 - 00:24:31:06
But what do you think of this, Chris?


00:24:31:06 - 00:24:34:19
Yeah,
I think the problem, like with the fact


00:24:34:19 - 00:24:38:04
that we have to talk so much about it,
it's it says enough like


00:24:39:01 - 00:24:41:14
there are a lot of mental gymnastics
to make the numbers work.


00:24:41:14 - 00:24:45:06
And for a lot of people,
it's probably not worth it.


00:24:45:06 - 00:24:48:12
I agree that the Palladium card,
especially for


00:24:48:12 - 00:24:50:06
the first year, is is worth it.


00:24:50:06 - 00:24:52:14
That, you know, 50,000 bill points.
That's yeah. It's all.


00:24:52:14 - 00:24:54:10
Yeah. And I love bill points.


00:24:54:10 - 00:24:55:14
Good points are great.


00:24:55:14 - 00:24:57:23
Bill points are great. Don't get. It.
Yeah but that's not the arc we.


00:24:57:23 - 00:25:02:00
Love bill points the fantastic transfer
partners I wanted to love this program.


00:25:02:00 - 00:25:02:18
Right. Yeah.


00:25:02:18 - 00:25:05:18
That's why we're trying so hard
to make this make sense.


00:25:05:22 - 00:25:07:04
So you can get more of these points.


00:25:08:05 - 00:25:10:17
But like Katie said, for most people
it's not going to be worth it.


00:25:10:17 - 00:25:13:17
And when Bill first came out,


00:25:15:08 - 00:25:18:16
you know, the whole pitch was you can
earn points on your, your biggest expense,


00:25:19:17 - 00:25:20:08
each month.


00:25:20:08 - 00:25:26:01
And so now to get those points, you need
to spend at least 75% of that total.


00:25:26:01 - 00:25:29:21
So people are now really looking at their,
their spend every month and say,


00:25:29:21 - 00:25:32:21
okay, am I going to spend all of this
on my credit card?


00:25:32:21 - 00:25:35:10
Is it going to be worth it?


00:25:35:10 - 00:25:36:12
I don't think so.


00:25:36:12 - 00:25:37:15
And I think, you know,


00:25:37:15 - 00:25:39:14
I think there are going to be
some more changes coming


00:25:39:14 - 00:25:42:14
and hopefully not
before this episode airs.


00:25:43:12 - 00:25:45:11
But you never know. You never know.


00:25:45:11 - 00:25:46:03
Yeah. Yeah.


00:25:46:03 - 00:25:50:08
It feels like they're kind of
abandoning their original target audience.


00:25:50:08 - 00:25:50:18
Those,


00:25:51:19 - 00:25:54:07
those loyalists
who loyalists who have been with them


00:25:54:07 - 00:25:57:07
since the beginning, with those really
big rents and big cities,


00:25:58:09 - 00:26:00:15
and it just feels like they're kind of


00:26:00:15 - 00:26:03:15
losing the core of what they started at.


00:26:03:18 - 00:26:06:10
And I guess I understand that
because it wasn't profitable.


00:26:06:10 - 00:26:09:15
I mean, they they're in a business
like that's not, you know,


00:26:09:15 - 00:26:13:08
throwing out points
for free for your rent.


00:26:13:08 - 00:26:16:01
Just it's not, a way to do this.


00:26:16:01 - 00:26:17:21
Fargo is no longer the car. Yeah.


00:26:17:21 - 00:26:20:02
Make sure I get it from that perspective.


00:26:20:02 - 00:26:21:05
But it's just like they.


00:26:21:05 - 00:26:24:10
I feel like they've dug themselves in hole
and weren't quite sure how to get out.


00:26:24:10 - 00:26:28:09
And yeah, I expect to see
some more changes, from this program.


00:26:29:08 - 00:26:31:22
If you guys have,
you know, other opinions or something


00:26:31:22 - 00:26:34:01
you think we're missing,
we'd love to hear from you.


00:26:34:01 - 00:26:35:03
It's always,


00:26:35:03 - 00:26:37:15
fun to hear different perspectives
about these types of things


00:26:37:15 - 00:26:39:10
because we're
all in different situations, too.


00:26:39:10 - 00:26:43:15
So, you can always reach us at podcast
and upgraded points.com,


00:26:44:02 - 00:26:45:20
and this has been a lot.


00:26:45:20 - 00:26:49:06
So I think we're actually going to skip
our Q&A is we're going to save those


00:26:49:06 - 00:26:53:13
for next week when we hear about Chris's
trip to Japan, which I'm so excited about.


00:26:54:10 - 00:26:58:00
So don't forget to share this episode
with a travel loving friend.


00:26:58:00 - 00:27:02:21
You can find us on YouTube, Spotify,
Apple Podcasts, all over the place.


00:27:03:09 - 00:27:06:09
And Chris, I think that's going to do it
for us this week


00:27:06:20 - 00:27:08:04
and we will see you next week.