Bilt Obsidian Card
- Best for: Renters who spend $400 or more a month on dining or groceries; regulars at Bilt’s partner restaurants
- What Sets It Apart: 3X on dining or groceries, your choice; rent and mortgage payments that earn points with no card fee; one-to-one transfers to most of Bilt’s airline and hotel partners
- Cost: $95 annual fee; $50 per authorized user; no foreign transaction fees
- Features: $200 in Bilt Cash at account opening; $100 a year in hotel credits on two-night stays booked through Bilt, by default $100 in yearly Bilt Cash in 2027; 2X on airfare, hotels, cruises, and car rentals booked directly; 3X for flights and 4X for hotels booked through Bilt’s travel portal; a Point Accelerator that trades $200 in Bilt Cash for an extra 1X on your next $5,000 of purchases
- Pros: No card fee on rent paid through Bilt; uncapped 3X dining; up to 6X at Bilt’s partner restaurants when dining is your pick; trip cancellation, trip delay, lost luggage, and extended warranty coverage
- Cons: One 3X category, locked until January; 1X on other purchases; grocery 3X capped at $25,000 a year; only 250 points a billing cycle on rent while other card spending stays under 25% of it
Get the Bilt Obsidian Card if you rent and spend $400 a month or more on dining or on groceries, the category you’d pick for its 3 points per dollar. The no-fee Bilt Blue pays 1 point per dollar there, and at 1 cent a point the difference covers the $95 annual fee. Rent earns the same on both.
It’s the middle card of Bilt’s three, issued by Column N.A., and the only one paying 3 points per dollar (3X) on a category you choose.
Key Features
- $95 annual fee ($50 a year per authorized user) and no foreign transaction fees
- 3X on dining with no cap, or on groceries up to $25,000 a year
- 2X on airfare, hotels, cruises, and car rentals booked directly, rising to 3X for flights and 4X for hotels booked through Bilt’s travel portal
- Rent and mortgage payments through Bilt earning 0.5X to 1.25X by default, as your other card purchases that billing cycle rise from 25% to 100% of the payment
- $200 in Bilt Cash, credit for spending with Bilt’s partners, at account opening
Pros
- No card fee on rent paid through Bilt, whatever your landlord’s portal charges for paying rent by card
- $100 a year in hotel credits, $50 each half-year, on two-night stays booked through Bilt, by default becoming yearly Bilt Cash in 2027
- Trip cancellation, trip delay, lost luggage, and extended warranty coverage the Bilt Blue Card lacks
- One-to-one point transfers to most of Bilt’s airline and hotel partners, including United and World of Hyatt
Cons
- Your 3X choice can change once in your first 30 days, then only in January
- Only 1X on everyday purchases outside your 3X category
- Just 250 points a billing cycle on rent while your other purchases stay under 25% of it
- Bilt Cash expires at the end of the month a year after you earn it and can’t pay your card balance
- No single published value per point, though Bilt pays 1 cent each toward student loans and 1.5 cents toward a home down payment
At 1 cent a point, $4,750 a year in your 3X category, about $400 a month, earns 9,500 more points than the Blue would, worth the $95 fee without counting the yearly credit. Renters who spend less there and won’t use the credit do better with the no-fee Blue, which earns the same on rent.
Learn more about the Bilt Obsidian Card or see how it compares to the best credit cards for dining.
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