My Honest Bilt 2.0 Review: Is It Still Worth It?

[00:01] been without a doubt the messiest and most controversial refresh of any credit Build 2.0 is here and this is going to be my full review covering everything uploaded a quick video about Bill 2.0 the day it was announced last month. But

[00:15] just my unscripted initial thoughts. And so today, I'm going to be able to really much more structured way. And believe me, I've got a lot of stuff I want to back because this whole situation was

[00:28] into it all. Now, what I want to make clear from the start of this video is that I believe build 2.0 is an overall downgrade from built 1.0. And obviously of this whole roll out that caused some

[00:40] transition from the old program to the new one. That's completely understandable. But I'm not one of those former customers because I did decide to credit cards. And I'll talk about why I did that later on. So, even though it's

[00:53] view is that part of the whole credit card game has always been about adapting out where you can get the most value moving forward. So, that's what I'm with how I'm still finding value from built in my own personal situation

[01:07] out there that I think more and more people are starting to realize. But again, acknowledging what Bill got wrong with the situation is important here as well as we do move forward. So, with all that said, let's go ahead and start off

[01:19] I think are the three main things that went wrong with Build 2.0. And to me, misjudged with this whole update that they've basically admitted to as well is confusing to most people. Not only that, though, but the previous Built

[01:32] Mastercard was such a good and easy to understand value proposition that it was who's a renter. So, when you go from something that was an easy no-brainer to an advanced degree to figure out just how the math behind it works, I think

[01:45] the contrast really made a lot of people feel kind of betrayed by this cool new could just use my no annual fee bill card to earn 1x points of my rent with no other credit card offered. And the only requirement to do that was just to

[01:58] use my built card five times per statement period. Now though, Build cards with two of those having annual fees and just okay credits that can But then in addition to earning points with new multipliers, we also learned

[02:11] this new thing called built cash on everyday non-housing spend. And then basically unlock points on my rental mortgage or I can use that bill cash on that was the original plan that Built

[02:24] a couple of days later, when they eventually acknowledged that this system option called housing only rewards. And this option did not involve built cash, but instead it sort of offered a tiered approach where you could spend 25, 50,

[02:38] 75, or 100% plus of your housing on non-housing spend, and that'll decide what you're going to earn between 0.5 and 1.25x points on your rent or only option was meant to simplify things. But because it introduced more

[02:52] variables, it sort of inadvertently only increased confusion because people now three credit cards to pick, but they also have to choose which one of the two earning points in their housing. Now, I'm going to give you guys my thoughts

[03:04] structure you should go with, but my team and I were also able to create what tool to help you make any decisions. So, we'll get to all that throughout this make a calculator tool like that is just proof that build 2.0 really is overly

[03:19] know if they did any focus group testing with this stuff to see if the average everything works. Now, speaking of being overly complicated, that leads me to the wrong with Built 2.0, and that would be the introduction of this new Built Cash

[03:34] of everything that's new with this 2.0 launch, Built Cash was really the one X users would get excited for. And that's because on the surface they're saying most valuable points currency on the market, but they also now earn this new

[03:49] means the no annual fee blue card, the $95 Obsidian card, and the $495 Palladium card, they all earn 4% back in bill cash on everyday non-housing spend. So if I made $750 in purchases on any one of those cards, then that would get

[04:04] me $30 of bill cash. Now, if that $30 could just be deposited into a bank revolutionary because it would make each new built card here an unlimited 4% points. But obviously, that's too valuable and not sustainable. So,

[04:19] cash can be used in a few ways. First, if you have enough built cash saved up, then you can redeem that for a few types of credits that have limits each month, such as up to $50 of monthly built travel hotel credits, as well as up to

[04:31] $40 in monthly fitness class credits, up to $10 of monthly lift credits, and a you're an Obsidian or Palladium card holder, then you can activate something called a points accelerator, where $200 of bill cash is going to unlock an extra

[04:44] 1x point per dollar on everyday purchases for up to 5,000 points. But surface, it doesn't always make sense in every situation. So, I'm going to go accelerator later on here as well. And then third, and most importantly, this

[04:57] on your rent or mortgage at a rate where $30 of built cash equals 1,000 points. that conversion still happens at that same rate. So, $3 of built cash, for and so on. Now, this built cash unlocks

[05:12] the level where you've essentially unlocked the equivalent of earning the full 1x back. So, if you had, let's say, a $2,000 rent, then you could use built each month. And if we work backwards from that, you'll see that putting an

[05:25] average of $1,500 of monthly non-housing spend on your built card at 4% back, that would earn you the $60 of bill cash required to unlock those 2,000 points. Again, because $30 of built cash equals 1,000 points unlocked. That means you've

[05:37] got to spend 75% on non-housing spend to continue taking home the same full 1x expense like you were able to earn before under the old built program. But again, even if you're putting less than 75% of non-housing spend on your card,

[05:51] points on your rent or mortgage, which could be better than nothing. Bill's also been clear that you'll never have to pay a 3% transaction fee on your rent new built cash currency effectively acts as a way to incentivize users to put

[06:04] compared to before. And that increased the cost that Build has to pay behind the scenes when it comes to those understand why Built needed to introduce something like this Built Cash system to

[06:17] still allowing people to earn some points on housing. But I also think that once here with this refresh. I'm sure they wish they could have had more time to maybe roll out this Built Cash first in one year so we could all wrap our

[06:30] cards and the whole new reward structures the following year. But I money and they just wanted out of this partnership, Built didn't really have a these changes at the same time as they switched over from Wells Fargo to

[06:43] finally, the third main thing that I think Built got wrong here is that they transition as a definitive upgrade, calling it the new era of Built. But what it really was. It was a necessary move made by a new and fast growing

[06:58] old business model on the credit card side of things was not going to be can understand that handing out super valuable points on rent under a system that did not incentivize everyday spend very well was basically a gravy train

[07:12] But in talking with you guys both here on YouTube and over on my newsletter, have been a lot more straightforward about this reality from the start instead of sugar coating the truth. And I completely agree with that. I think

[07:25] admitted early on. Now, two days after the January 14th launch event, we did get a message from Built founder and CEO Anker Jane that basically addressed reality behind how we deliver the richest rewards possible. The more

[07:37] members who use the card for everyday spend, the more unique value we can ecosystem." He also went on to say, "It's probably not a surprise to any of you, but if members only purchase four bananas and earn free rent points, it

[07:50] value proposition for everyone." Now, that's referring to a running joke over bill program, all you had to do is make five transactions per statement to earn those five transactions and then just bought four bananas separately for a few

[08:05] be able to collect hundreds, if not thousands of dollars worth of points bucks out of pocket. Now, like I said, those were just the primary highle their 2.0 transition. And I'm going to cover some other downsides to this new

[08:19] on here. But next, let's go ahead and get into the details and talk about the have a few thoughts on them. So, for this new lineup of built cards, first be the no annual fee option. And then we've got the $95 per year obsidian card

[08:33] that comes in this black finish, as well as the $495 per year palladium card that comes in this metallic finish. But the Palladium also gives users the option to which spoiler alert is what I chose myself, and it does look pretty cool.

[08:46] actually offering signup bonuses, which is long overdue and nice to finally see. So, the blue is giving you $100 of bill cash when you're approved. The Obsidian Platium is going to give you $300 of bill cash. But again, the value of that

[09:00] dollar for dollar because it kind of just depends on how it's used. More actually offers what I would consider the one true signup bonus here that's $300 of bill cash that you get right away, you can also earn 50,000 build

[09:16] both of those things are going to come after spending $4,000 in the first 3 good enough that it played a big role in me deciding to transition to the Pladium year to see how it goes. And that's because 50,000 build points is easily

[09:31] likely more for me for at least $1,000 in value. So that's one thing that did is that bill points are still objectively the most valuable points how many transfer partners they have which includes easy value ones like

[09:46] because of how appealing that signup case scenario that if I end up hating this card after a year I can always just cancel it then or hopefully downgrade in 2027 if that happens to be an option.

[09:59] Now, it's important to note that the $4,000 spending requirement to get that mortgage spend because that's going to be handled separately. And that actually to touch on here as well that was kind of a hidden negative to some people that

[10:13] that's the fact that you can no longer float your rent expense. Basically, what charge your rent or your mortgage now to the credit line on your built card and before the due date on that card. So, some people like to do this because it

[10:26] obviously just helps with cash flow if you yourself don't have to pay rent the instead you could effectively just pay it off a few weeks later interest free instead, Bill now requires that every card holder pays their rent or their

[10:39] transfer that goes through them. And honestly, I already had that bank past with Bill because I only ever cared about earning points on rent and not floating it. But to other people, having this new AC transfer requirement for

[10:53] is definitely going to be a devaluation that's worth mentioning. Now, back to of spending multipliers, the blue card is going to earn 1x points on everyday earn 3x points on dining or groceries, which you can choose, although 3x on

[11:08] groceries is going to be limited to only 25k of spend per year. But the Obsidian 1x points on everyday spend. And then the Palladium card just earns a flat 2x we'll come back to this in just a minute here because I'm personally going to be

[11:22] differently. I think a lot of other people are going to be doing the same. said before, each of these cards here can also earn either 4% back in that structure, or they could choose to not have to deal with built cash at all if

[11:37] Now, I'm going to touch on how I'm looking at deciding between those two want to finish up going over the rest of the features and benefits on these details that are kind of easy to miss, but they're very important to know

[11:49] about. So, the Platium card also comes with $200 of Built Cash annually, which I got deposited instantly as soon as I transition over to Built 2.0. And like I of value depending on how it's used. But then for any other credits on these

[12:02] bad news. The good news is that Build credits on the surface. So, you'll see that the no annual fee blue card comes it costs nothing to hold it. But then we've got a $100 Built Travel Hotel

[12:15] credit that can help to fully offset the $95 annual fee on the Obsidian card. And there's a $400 Built Travel Hotel credit to help partially offset most of the $4.95 annual fee on the Palladium. However, the bad news here is in the

[12:27] credits because they're not as easy to use as it might seem. So, the $100 into 50 bucks, which is going to be applied twice per year on qualifying be 50 bucks from January through June, plus 50 bucks from July through

[12:42] Palladium is going to be similar with that one being 200 bucks from January July through December on qualifying built travel hotel bookings. But, if you is an important detail that's left out

[12:56] bookings. So, if we jump over to those terms, you're going to see that it says two nights or more through the built travel portal if you actually want to fan of hotel credits that require two minimums. Plus, whenever you're booking

[13:10] going to have to pay attention to prices as well to make sure they're competitive. Sometimes prices are competitive, but not always. So, I'm own experience is like over the next year with my Palladium card and trying

[13:22] to use these hotel credits to see if they're actually worth a full $400 in specifically, you're going to see a lot of people out there trying to compare it to the Capital 1 Venture X because both credit cards earn 2x on everything and

[13:34] booking in a travel portal. But the Venture X travel credit for $300 annually is objectively much easier to use. That's because it applies to all travel and it's not split up semiannually and it also doesn't come

[13:47] a full comparison video between these two cards in the near future. So, make below so you don't miss that. But then for the last few things to mention about be good to know that all built cards have no foreign transaction fees and

[14:01] protections as well. But those protections sort of get slightly better with each higher annual fee card. So they all have a cell phone protection get anything like trip cancellation and interruption protection, trip delay

[14:14] coverage, you're going to need to have either the Obsidian or the Palladium website. Just be aware though that the master rental car coverage is now coverage under the old built master card was primary. So that's another hidden

[14:28] also offers a few other benefits that the others do not have, such as price insurance, and priority pass airport lounge access. That Priority Pass access But one thing that's missing here from a premium card with a travel focus like

[14:43] this that I'm surprised to not see is a credit for either Global Entry or TSA care about that because I've got credits for those things on several other cards. same thing and that's why it's not here or if it would have just required them

[14:56] higher or something like that. So, it was best just to leave it out. So, aware of here if you don't already have Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. Also, to add an authorized user on these cards, each authorized user is going to be $0

[15:09] per year for the blue card, $50 per year for the Obsidian, and $95 per year for pay extra for these additional cards as another small negative. Now, with all 2.0 and these three new cards, here's why I decided to go ahead and move

[15:24] for my own credit card strategy. And here's how I went about comparing the tiered housing only structure to kind of decide which way I wanted to unlock or all, one of the main reasons I was excited about build 2.0 know in the

[15:38] any details or any of those details got leaked ahead of time is just because as channel I stopped renting towards the end of last year because my wife and I lost the ability to earn points on my mortgage under built 1.0 anyway because

[15:53] that previous program only supported earning points on rent. So the fact that built 2.0 even allows me to earn any points on my mortgage now that is going for many homeowners out there who can now do the same. Now, obviously, I still

[16:05] transitioning over to this complicated new build program was actually going to running those numbers, I saw an opportunity to sort of reframe the way I forward. So, here's what I did. Basically, I'm looking at earning points

[16:20] on housing as being gone now under build 2.0. So, essentially, I'm going to zero points per dollar. And if I was earning zero points per dollar. I know that Build's going to continue marketing

[16:32] this whole idea of unlocking points on your rent or mortgage through Build Cash or earning between 0.5 and 1.25x on your rent or mortgage based on the reward that the mechanism behind how you actually go about unlocking and earning

[16:46] completely tied to how much non-housing everyday spend you put on these build instead. I'm viewing each of these three new build cards like they're brand new forcing myself to basically forget about the fact that I was earning points under

[17:00] the old bill program because again that's dead to me now. But if I'm just cards and if I'm also considering that most valuable points in the credit card game for travel, then honestly I'd

[17:13] actually be excited to see that I can now earn 3x points on groceries with the earn 2x bill points as a catch-all with the Palladium. Now, that's assuming the built travel hotel credits are actually valuable, which again is kind of

[17:27] twoight minimum. But there's going to be one feature here that I want to throw these cards even more valuable for everyday spending compared to what their advertised multipliers are showing on the surface. That feature is actually

[17:39] option to unlock points on your rent or mortgage. And that's because by going way the math works is that you're able to add effectively an extra 1.33x points per dollar on top of all everyday multiplier categories on these cards as

[17:54] long as you're spending 75% or less of what your linked housing costs are. So earning zero points on my rent or mortgage. But with a points unlocked from built cash, I'd be earning 2.33x on everyday spend with a blue card. I'd

[18:06] everyday spend with a blue card. I'd earn 4.33x on dining or groceries, 3.33x on travel, and 2.33x on everyday spend with the Obsidian, or 3.33x on what I went with because that is going to beat any of my 1.5 or 2x catch all

[18:21] example of this. Let's say that I have the Palladium card and a $4,000 mortgage expect that I'm going to spend on average around $1,000 per month on my Palladium card on everyday non-housing expenses that would typically fall under

[18:35] my miscellaneous catch-all category. That $1,000 of spending is going to earn of 2,000 points. But if I've selected the flexible built cash option, then I'm also going to earn 4% back in built cash, which would be $40. That $40 of

[18:49] built cash is then going to unlock 1,333 built points, which again sounds because Built is going to automatically do this math for you anyway. But I also and link to down below where you can plug in your own numbers because I do

[19:02] understand this is confusing. But anyway, that means that again with a be looking at it like I'm not earning any points on that housing expense. miscellaneous non-housing spend generated 2,000 points from the 2x

[19:16] multiplier on my Palladium card, and because that $1,000 of spend led to enough built cash to then unlock an additional 1,333 points, that means I'm taking home a total of 3,333 points from 1K of spend. Doing the math there, that

[19:30] means my effective earning rate is that 3.33x points per dollar number I was the math is going to continue working, that's the exact amount I'm going to effectively earn per dollar, as long as I'm spending on other everyday stuff for

[19:42] up to 75% of my rent or mortgage. Now, the reason I chose those numbers of $4,000 for a mortgage and $1,000 for non-housing spend in this example here is because those numbers could actually show why the tiered housing only

[19:54] Cash. But I'll explain why I'm still going with Built Cash anyway. So, under my everyday non-housing spend in a billing cycle is at least 25% of my rent points per dollar on that rent mortgage. So, because my everyday spend is $1,000,

[20:11] which is exactly 25% of my $4,000 mortgage in this example, that earns me 0.5x points on my mortgage, which is 2,000 points. Then, I'll also earn 2,000 Palladium card for my $1,000 of spending. So, that's going to get me

[20:25] having to worry about built cash. and 4,000 total points earned relative to $1,000 of spend is actually an effective 4x points per dollar, which is insane. Now, that 4x relative effective multiplier actually beats the 3.33x

[20:39] pretty cool. And again, I encourage you guys to go ahead and actually play to down below because that's going to be a very good visual tool that might make understand. And checking out that calculator is actually going to also

[20:51] sign you up for our free newsletter called Wiser Wallet. In that newsletter, personal finance news, as well as plenty of examples on how to actually redeem we've been covering several stories lately about Built updates over there as

[21:05] of breaking news videos here on this YouTube channel. But if you ever want to or anything else, then my newsletter is actually going to be the best way to do that. So, make sure to go ahead and check out that calculator and join the

[21:17] subscribed to Wiser Wallet. But back to the way I'm looking at the whole built structure thing, there is going to be sort of a problem with the tiered structure that makes me personally not want to use it. That problem is that my

[21:29] given month are going to be sort of unpredictable. And when you actually sit be certain levels of monthly spend under the tiered option where you make out the palladium. But there's also certain levels of spend under that tiered option

[21:43] where you can effectively earn less than 3.33x. So, this chart here that I found down what various spending amounts as a percentage of your housing is going to under Bill 2.0. So, you can go ahead and pause this video here if you want to go

[21:57] that calculator we created as well to plug in your own numbers. But basically, and my everyday spend is typically always going to be well under 75% of that every month, I prefer to go ahead and lock in the effective 3.33x

[22:12] more predictable built cash option instead of the less predictable tiered back and forth between these two options if you ever do change your mind. And though Built Cash does seem confusing, Built actually allows you to just tap a

[22:26] button inside of your account to then automatically convert as much Built Cash possible on your renter mortgage. So, it's good to try to understand the but it's also handled for you anyway, which is nice. Built cash also gives me

[22:40] the option to occasionally use it at a one:one value exchange for certain other $10 towards a lift ride here or there. And then the other thing that seems the ability to then use it for that points accelerator I mentioned earlier

[22:54] to be careful here because when you do the math, $200 of built cash can be used to unlock an extra 1x point per dollar on everyday spend for up to 5,000 points. So that allows you to earn 3x on a card like the Palladium for up to

[23:07] extra points. But looking at that another way, $200 of bill cash is points, assuming that you reach the full spend amount. However, that same $200 of

[23:19] built cash would actually unlock 6,667 points from your rent or mortgage. So, here if your goal with built cash is to earn the most built points possible is to use as much built cash as you can to unlock the full amount of points that

[23:33] mortgage. But if you have a somewhat lower housing expense and your everyday spend on these cards happens to be more than 75% of your housing cost, just know excess built cash that cannot be used to unlock any more points on housing. And

[23:46] built cash could be good for using it on that points accelerator. And that's because you can only roll over up to $100 of built cash from year to year. use it or lose it. So, as you can see from everything, this new build 2.0 know

[24:00] subjective thing where there's no true should be using it. So again, I tried to just lay out the way that I'm personally to go ahead and run your own numbers and then think through this for yourself to

[24:12] worth it for you. And then if it is worth it for you, what options you want to go with to make it work. So is built 2.0 way too complicated? Yes. Was the roll out very messy? Yes. And did this transition piss off a lot of people?

[24:27] Also yes. But like I said, I'm still going to get good value from Build 2.0 some points because of my mortgage rather than no points because there's that's going to earn points on my housing with no fees. But I really just

[24:40] wish it wasn't so confusing and hard to explain to everyone in a video like only build 2.0 video because there's to talk about and this video is just getting way too long. And some of that

[24:52] build transition has been going because some things were smooth. But other payment through Built has actually been not so smooth. So this 2.0 transition is only just beginning and 2026 is going to be a big year for Built to kind of prove

[25:07] hoping they can pull it off. But I'm really curious to hear your guys' thoughts as well here on Build 2.0 now that it's officially here. Let me know decided to make the transition and how it's been going for you so far. and are

[25:19] way as me by using the Platium card as your new catch-all? Now, if confusing really aren't your thing, then make sure to go ahead and check out this video recently broke down the seven best credit cards of 2026 that I think are

[25:33] value to the most people. But, as always, thanks so much for watching and always, thanks so much for watching and I'll see you in the next one.