AA Status Update & Bilt 2.0 - Are the new Bilt cards worth it for families?!?!

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A few more articles/links to read more about the Bilt cards: 

Frequent Miler Bilt 2.0 Article

Bilt Update Announcement from CEO

Bilt Calculator (from Max Miles Points)

In today's episode we pull apart the confusing launch of Bilt 2.0 to decide when, if ever, it’s worth it. The short answer: value beats vibes, and simple beats complicated.

• AA Gold to Platinum Pro to Platinum: what changed and what did not
• Group boarding, Main Cabin Extra, and upgrade odds from an AA hub
• Booking Park Hyatt Los Cabos and Waldorf Astoria with points and FNCs
• Extending an expiring Hilton Free Night via chat
• Real cents-per-point math across flights and hotels
• Bilt 2.0 structure: Blue, Obsidian, Palladium, and mixed “points” vs “cash”
• Mortgage and rent earning explained, fees, ACH, and opportunity cost
• CEO’s two new paths and why most families should pass
• Niche first-year use case for Palladium with transfer bonuses
• Starter strategy: open Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve first

We would be so grateful if you are going to apply if you would utilize our links above!

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Game Plan

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You've probably been hearing a lot about the new built cards and wondering whether or not they make sense for your family. And in today's episode, we are breaking down all the details, so listen in. Hi, I'm Raya.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

And I'm Dwayne.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

We will also share how we use points and miles to travel as affordably as possible and sometimes even completely free.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

So if you're wanting to travel more with your family, but you're not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

So welcome to our podcast where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Hello, friends.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Thanks for tuning in.

AA Status Journey And Results

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Welcome back to Travel Party if I podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

So Rhea wanted me to tell you guys that we are going to talk about three things today. Um, our American airline status.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

One. Yes. Two is you booked us another trip trip to Cabo.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

And three, built credit cards?

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Yes. Which I know nothing about. I know about Cabo.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Yes. But so um someone asked me on Instagram, actually, a couple people have asked me in the last few months for an update on the American Airlines status. Um, because I I think I talked in an episode or maybe it was even an entire episode last year around trying to utilize like shopping portals and spend on the AA credit cards to achieve American Airlines status and then evaluate whether or not having the status makes sense for our family in particular, and then therefore maybe your family if you want to go this route. So let me ex let me share a brief bit about the journey, and then I'll kind of share we we can both share our thoughts on it. So, first of all, I reached American Airlines gold status. And if you if you're not familiar, there's four status levels: there's gold, platinum, platinum pro, and executive platinum. So I reached gold status with a combination of credit card spend and uh shopping portals. Most of it was shopping portals. Really, the only credit card spend was because we did the AA double dip. So meeting the subs on both of those cards last year contributed towards the status. And then the rest was just shopping portals and whatever. So I got the gold status. Then I got an email where Hyatt was doing a status match. So if you had globalist status, you could match to Platinum Pro, which is their third highest or second lowest, depending on how you want to think of it, status level. So then I thought, okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

How does that match the globalist status?

SPEAKER_00 3:07

It basically says, like, because you have Hyatt Globalist status, like we're gonna give you this opportunity to match to this what they deem equivalent level of American Airlines status. Because Hyatt and AA have a a kind of partnership. Um, and then you if you like meet certain requirements and spend on the card in a three or four month window, you have the opportunity to then keep that status for like another four months, and it's kind of like a cycle, so you can keep it going.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

I get that, but when you say match, globalist being the highest status of Hyatt.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Right. So they're really not matching you, matching it if they're gonna give you the second tier status, like I so even if you have like dis uh explorer status with Hyatt, you can match to either AA gold or platinum. So I think it just matches you to like, depending on what your status with Hyatt is, it matches you to like a level up. I'm not 100% sure how it works. I just know that they sent me this offer, and then I thought, oh, I can match to this and have it for the next four months and not have to do anything really. And so I did that because we had a few flights booked on AA during that time. So we had um a few positioning flights and I don't know, whatever. We also had the the flight to Japan um was on JAL, but anyways, so I did that. I did the status status match. So for the last four months of 2025, we actually had Platinum Pro status. And so I don't know, we flew three or four times utilizing it. Um, we were group two boarding, and we did have the opportunity to choose main cabin extra seats at no additional cost to us. So I could book like a basic economy fair if I wanted to, and then use you know, my status to get us all seats together closer towards the front of the plane. And then it also gives you like free checked bags. Um, the other benefit is you get upgrades if they're available, but it's only for you and one companion. So if you're traveling with more than two people, you either have to separate yourself from the reservation on a separate PNR, which you can do, and I did one time, um, or you just kind of forego your chance of being upgraded. Um, not one time have we been upgraded. And I will say, not every time I separated it. So there were a few times where I knew there was no chance because they're not gonna upgrade five of us, it's just literally never gonna happen. But also because we fly out of an AA hub, there's just a lot of executive platinums and also people that can buy to upgrade. So it never happened to us, not one time. Um, and since then the match uh status has expired. It expired at the very end of 2025. Um, but then I hit AA platinum status just on my own. Um I actually went in to check and I was like, oh, how far away am I? And I was like 300 points. So I was like, oh, okay, like that's easily doable. So I was able to hit that. And so we will have platinum status for the rest of 2026 and the first two months of 2027 because AA status runs March 1st to February 28th or 29th. Uh, so I guess if I wanted, I could make a big push over the next five or six weeks to get up to the next level. But I think I I still need I would need like 50,000 loyalty points to do that. And that just doesn't seem realistic to me. So um with platinum, we still get to choose main cabin extra seats at no cost, and there is still the potential for an upgrade. Although, again, I don't think it's gonna happen. I'm actually flying tomorrow on a work trip on AA and work trip in quotation. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_01 7:11

That's just what I tell all my co-workers. I'm like, hey, my wife is going on a work trip this week. So I have to leave early and pick up kids. I have to babysit my kids, I tell them.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Oh god. Um, so I and okay, so again, so I'm platinum, so now second level up, right? So one step down from the platinum pro that I matched to, but I didn't fulfill the requirements to keep that status because I just I don't know. I what did you? I mean, did you like being able to board in group two? Like that's nice, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

I mean it is, it's basically one because no one, I mean, no one's in group one.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

So I mean, yeah. I'm all for it.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

It's great to have, but like, do you think it's worth like spending tens of thousands of dollars to get it?

SPEAKER_01 7:58

No, especially, especially if they have family boarding.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Well, they well, they don't, but yeah. Um, yeah, I mean, I don't know. I like the earlier boarding with platinum, I'm group three. With platinum pro, I was group two.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

So, but for example, for tomorrow, it says I mean the only reason why we need that is because you make us only take carry-ons.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Yeah, so it's nice if you have carry-on only because then you definitely will have space for your bags. But even when I'm like group five, I don't know. First of all, I would probably get on at the end of group four if I'm group five, just saying. Um, I've never not had room for my bag. But when when you're a family, like you need room for five bags. So I guess that does make a difference. I don't know. At the end of the day, I'm just not really sure it's super helpful, but we will have platinum through the rest of the year, and so we will see how that goes. Um overall though, like I guess if you okay, so if you're gonna check bags a lot, then I s I definitely see the value more so because what is it, like$30,$40,$50 a bag?

SPEAKER_01 9:08

I I want to know because we don't check bags.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Good lord. Good lord. Yes. Okay, so all right.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Um all right, so cabo, what was your process for booking that?

Real-World Value Of AA Perks

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Oh, yes. Let me talk about cabo, but sorry, I was gonna say one thing about my work trip. Okay, so I'm flying to Florida tomorrow on AA, and it said that I would um was eligible for an upgrade, you know, 48 hours prior to take off. And it is now like less than 24 hours until takeoff, and I have been given no upgrade. I am on the upgrade list. Um, I can't see the wait list until probably late tonight or early tomorrow morning, but I like I have zero percent chance that I'm sorry, I have zero hope is the word, zero hope that I will get upgraded. Like, I just don't think it's going to happen. So I definitely wouldn't get this status thinking you're gonna get upgrades. You need to go way higher. So that that's my two cents. I I really don't think it's worth it unless you're a family who, you know, checks a lot of bags and whatever. So that's my two cents. Um, but it is nice to get on the plane earlier. So there we have it. Um, okay, let's transition to Cabo because we're gonna fly AA to Cabo. So we have a few longer trips again this year. I really want to, there's two places I really, really want to go without kids. One is Antigua and the other one is Bora Bora. But to do both of those, I feel like we need at least five or six nights away from the kids, if not seven. And there's just not enough PTO in the world to go around this year to make that happen. So we are gonna do, we're gonna go to Cabo this year in the summer, four nights. We are going to stay at the park hayat Cabo, and we're going to stay at the Waldorf Astoria. Yes, Los Cabos Petrogal.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

And so I used points to book the park hayat Cabo. I also used a sweet upgrade award, but I may cancel that part because it's only two nights, and I don't know if that's the best use of it. It just depends if I have if I find a better use for that one, I'll I'll cancel it. But as of now, we have five sweet upgrade awards.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Which one which property are we saying at first?

SPEAKER_00 11:31

The Park Haya Cabo.

Booking Cabo On Points

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Oh I say we use it and just see if we can check in early.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Well, I mean, we're gonna get there at like 1 p.m.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

so I say we keep it.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

And then the so the second two nights will be at the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos, which is a Hilton property, and I used two Hilton Free Night certificates to book that stay. And fun fact, one of our Hilton Free Night certificates was actually expiring July 1st, and we are not going on this trip until August. And when I I use the chat feature to book these, you can call, but when I'm booking through Dwayne's account, I always like to use the chat because then he doesn't have to do it.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Yeah, because you're not me.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Yeah, but I can be him through the chat. And so I just said, Hey, I want to book, you know, book this night or whatever. And the chat person was basically like, Oh, your certificate is expired. Hold on, I need to get an extension. And then I was, you know, waited for a bit and then they came back and they said, Okay, like you're all set. So I think if if you have Hilton Free Night certificates and they are expiring, it is worth, you know, asking, like if they're if they're if they can be extended a little bit. So give that a try. That worked for us. And so yeah, so Four Nights in Cabo. The I started using a new tracker for tracking all of our trips, and the cents per point for this trip is 8.3 cents per point for across all of it. So I'm really excited. We'll fly economy on AA there and back. It's a non-stop flight. Um, I because of my platinum status, I was able to choose main cabin extra seats, which have, I guess, a little extra leg room. So I guess that's nice. Um, I don't know. I'm not a tall person, so we'll see. But really looking forward to that. I think it'll be nice. And then hopefully next year we will plan to do some shorter family trips so that we can do a longer couples trip.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Yeah, that would be nice. So relaxing.

unknown 13:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

I'm excited for Cabo because we had such a great time last time.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

We did have a great time, and the park high at Cabo is brand new. It just opened in the last like month. And so I feel like by the time we go, they'll have had all they'll be open for almost a year and they'll have had time to work out all the kinks. Plus, the all the food that we ate in Cabo was so good.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Except for the Korean fried chicken.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Oh lord, yes. Listen, just because you're not the best orderer, does it's not Cabo's fault.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Oh, I didn't say it was Cabo's fault. I just don't get the Korean fried chicken in Cabo.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Well, it was at the the Cape. The man Mantu, Manta, what was that restaurant called? Manta. At the Cape.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Yeah, but it also had a Michelin star.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Which correct.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Well, the tacos that I got were great, delicious.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

And the little appetizer, what was it? Some tuna.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Oh, yeah, we had, yeah. I don't know. There was some kind of ceviche. There was also like chicharrones. I don't know. It was all all the food we have was good. Even the the guacamole at the bar on the beach where all the people are harassing you all the time, even that was delicious. So looking forward to that. It's a it's not a long flight. So, and we get to experience two other like luxury uh cabo properties. So I'm looking forward to that. Um, okay, we're gonna dive into the main topic, which is the built 2.0 credit cards. And I was trying to give Dwayne a brief rundown of this last night because I have been deep into the built cards over the last week, but he and I have not talked about it one time. And it's it's like kind of weird to be so, I don't want to say invested in something, but like to be like fo so focused on something and then have your partner like be completely unaware.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Like completely, completely unaware. Even when you were run giving me the rundown last night, it was late and I was like dozing off while you were explaining to me. So I have no idea what you said last night.

Food, Hotels, And Trip Details

Bilt 2.0 Cards Overview

Fees, Built Cash, And Mortgage Math

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Oh okay, so here's the background, and I'm gonna build wants their new cards to be like an everyday person's everyday spending card. Like that is their goal. And so I thought it would be fun if I could explain it to Dwayne, who is absolutely an everyday person, and see if it makes sense because it's pretty confusing. And I say that as someone who looks at credit card offers all day long and is still like, wait, what? So, okay, let me give you the the details first. So, and I guess let me preface this by saying I'm recording we're recording this on Sunday, January 18th. And these cards were announced on Wednesday, January 14th. And by the end of the week, so I think the 16th, the CEO has already come out and made a change. So everything that I'm saying today, I guess has the potential to change, but this is this is what we know so far and and how it is so far. So there will be three built cards. They are the built blue, the built obsidian, and the built palladium. And I guess let me also say I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna go into an incredible amount of detail on each card. I'm gonna give you the high-level overview, then I'm gonna give you my thoughts on whether or not we're gonna get these cards and maybe what you should think about if you're, you know, a family traveler using points and miles and whether they make sense for you or not. So the built blue card, which is the kind of lowest level, there is no annual fee. And the sub, and I'm putting that in quotation marks. So the sign-up bonus is$100 in built cash when you apply and get approved. Um, one other important thing to note is these cards are not available for applications yet. Uh, they will be as of February 7th, 2026, unless you currently hold a built card. And then I believe you can like basically make your choice of what you want your new card to be. I have heard of like people who have the card getting declined, though, which is another frustrating and confusing piece of this puzzle. If you haven't been paying attention, the rollout of these cards has not gone fantastic. It has been a little bit of a train wreck. So, anyways, so the built blue card,$0 annual fee,$100 built cash when you sign up. It earns 1x on everyday spend. And then it also earns 4% built cash on everyday send on everyday spend. So sorry, the 1x is built points and the 4% is built cash. So there are two separate kind of earning buckets here. So you need to remember that. And that's going to be the same for all three cards. So there's built points and built cash. The way that built originally came about, if you don't know, is they made themselves known as the card that you can use to pay your rent and you can earn points on rent. So many people have this huge rent expense and they were unable to earn points on it. And Built has been teasing that mortgages were coming. So you could earn points on your mortgage coming soon. And these cards are gonna allow you to do that, but not in the same way that you have previously been able to earn points on rent. And in quite to be quite honest, not in a way that I think makes a lot of sense. But okay, so let me finish running through the rest of the kind of overviews of the three cards, and then we'll talk about how the points earnings work and how the built cash can potentially work. Um, the second card after the built blue card is the built obsidian card. This is like their mid-range card, the annual fee is$95, and the sign up bonus, again, in quotation marks, because is it really one is$200 in built cash. But again, no points. Um, this card is gonna earn 3x on dining or grocery, and you have to choose which one, and you can only choose once per year, so with 30 days of approval of getting the card, you have to decide if you're going to do it on dining or grocery. And the grocery is capped at$25,000 spend per year. It also earns 2x on travel and then 1x on everyday spend. Um, similar to the built blue card, it also earns 4% on four sorry, 4% built cash on everyday spend, in addition to the points earning rates. And with this card, you get a$100 built travel hotel credit that you have to use twice a year:$50 the first half,$50 the second half, and there's a two-night minimum stay required. Ugh. The third card is the built palladium card. And this is their premium card. Annual fee is$495, but this one has an actual signup bonus. So no air quotes needed here. It is$50,000 built points plus$300 in built cash. You also get with this card gold elite status after you meet the sub. The sub is spending$4,000 on non-housing spend in the first three months of the card. And so the$50,000 points you get after you meet the$4,000 in spend. The$300 built cash you get when you are approved for the card. Again, I said the fee is$495. This card earns 2x on your everyday spend and 1x on mortgage or rent. We're going to come back to that because there's a caveat to that. And then it also earns, again, 4% built cash on everyday spend, not including your mortgage or your rent. This one also has some coupons, which we hate. It has$400 in built travel hotel credit. Again, a two-night minimum stay required. And you have to use it$200 in the first half of the year,$200 in the second half of the year. It also comes with Priority Pass. And you can, yeah, which I don't value at all because we have 17 other cards that have priority pass. All of these cards are a MasterCard. So that is worth noting. You cannot use them in person at Costco. But MasterCard does have some like benefits. And some of it's like travel protections and whatnot. Okay. The other piece that we need to talk about is how you earn points on your mortgage or your rent. So if you have the built card currently, previously you were able to pay your rent with your built card and earn points with no fee as long as you had like five transactions a month on the card. And so some people were buying like five bananas one at a time and you know calling that your your five transactions, which is true. It it works. However, we could probably all agree that is not a sustainable uh business model. And so the way that you can earn points on your rent or mortgage now is either you pay the fee to do it, which is uh 3% of whatever your rent is. So if your rent is$1,000 or your mortgage, then the fee would be$30. Or that is one of the things that you can use the built cash for, is to offset the fee, basically, pay the fee for you. So if you spend enough to earn$30 in built cash, and again, that's everyday spend, but not your mortgage or your rent, then you can utilize that built cash to cover the fee to pay your mortgage or your rent. Uh, the other option is you can just pay it, but I I wouldn't do that. Um, I wouldn't recommend anyone do that. Okay, so uh I just don't love any of these cards. Um I also think that the built cash is kind of half baked because it's not super clear what else it can be used for other than to offset the fee. The other piece that doesn't really make any sense is that when you pay, like let's say, okay, let me let me give you a full real life example. Our mortgage is roughly$1,800 a month. It's a little bit less, but let's just call it$1,800 a month, okay, which is pretty low. Okay, we have a sub 3% interest rate and we're not going anywhere. So if we wanted to use the built palladium card, that's the one that I would get if I were gonna get one because it's the only one that has a signup bonus. If I were if we were gonna use that to pay our mortgage, we would have to pay$54 in fees to to do so. So I would need to earn$54 uh dollars in built cash to offset the fee. But here's the thing I don't understand. The way that the mortgage would be paid is through an ACH poll. Okay, that's the way we pay our mortgage now from our bank account directly to the mortgage account. So you're not even using the card for the mortgage. So the fee that you're paying is essentially you're essentially just buying the bill points. And I just I think that's silly because$1,800 times 12 months is 21,600 points. That is not a lot of points for a whole year. If you have a higher mortgage, that's really no points. I know. That's like one night in a hyat, a decent hyatt. Like it's it's it's not good.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

It's not good. If I'm being honest, I don't even know why we're talking about this built card.

CEO Changes And Two Paths

SPEAKER_00 26:00

There's just a it's a big hullabaloo in the points in Miles community, and I do think that there is a use case for getting the card in certain situations, and we're gonna talk about that. I'll give my thoughts in a second, but I I wanted to quickly share. So the update that the CEO of Built shared again, two days after the launch, like they launched, and then the response was so bad and so negative and so overwhelmingly not positive that they already made changes. And so they basically have announced like two options for going forward. Okay, so the first option, option one, pay your full rent or and I'm reading this directly from his post so there can be no like miscommunication. You can pay your full rent or mortgage every month with no transaction fee and earn points on housing in lieu of earning built cash. And your everyday spend will not earn built cash, but you'll still get your annual or welcome built cash credits with the card. And then the more you use your card for everyday spend, the higher your points multiplier on housing will be, up to 1.25x. So if you spend at least 25% of your monthly rent on the card, and in this example that he gives, it's a$2,000 rent amount or mortgage. Okay. So let's say if your mortgage or rent is$2,000, if you spend 25% of your monthly rent on the card, and again, that's everyday spend that this isn't paying your mortgage with the card. So let's say you want to use your mortgage or want to use the card to pay your mortgage. So then you need to buy like$500 of let's just call it groceries on this card, okay? You'll earn 0.5x points on your mortgage spend. If you spend 50% of whatever your rent amount is, in this example, it's going to be a thousand dollars on let's just call it groceries or whatever, you're gonna earn 0.75x points. To earn one X points, you have to spend at least 75% of your monthly rent. So$1,500 in this example, again, on non-mortgage or housing spend. So groceries, gas, whatever. And then if you spend at least an amount equal or greater to your mortgage or rent amount, so in this example, that's$2,000, you'll earn 1.25 X points on the spend. So you would then earn for$2000, a$2,000 mortgage, you would earn 2,500 points. But only if you spend$2,000 on other things using that card. So one thing you have to consider is the opportunity cost of take you spending that$2,000 on the built card versus using that spend to get a signup bonus on a different card, right? So if every month, you know, you want to earn the 1.25 X points, that's$2,000 that you have to spend on the built card that you therefore cannot spend on a new signup bonus for another credit card. So number one, you have to factor in what is your monthly spend and can you make that and is it worth the opportunity cost? The other option that he has given is the original fee-free structure is still available. And that's what we already talked about. So the 4% back in built cash on everyday purchases, in addition to base points that you would earn on the card. Remember, built cash and built points are two completely separate buckets. And then you can utilize that built cash to offset your the fees to pay your mortgage or rent every month. And then they claim that you can also redeem built cash dollar for dollar for monthly credits across the built ecosystem. In parentheses, it does say with monthly merchant-specific caps or for exclusive benefits like higher transfer bonuses or special access to experiences. Obviously, the more you spend on um like regular expenses and not housing expenses, the more cash you'll earn. That's again going back to I think the built cash idea is half baked because it is unclear at this point what other things we could utilize built cash for. And if you're like outside, I think in New York City, maybe there's a more built-up ecosystem, but in Phoenix, Arizona, not so much. So I I don't really know what the heck I would do with the built cash. And at the end of the year, you can only roll over a hundred dollars of built cash. So you have to find a use for it. So here is where I think it could make sense. First of all, are you so confused?

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Well, I mean, being that I know the minimal I have the minimal knowledge of this.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

You are the everyday person, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:52

That's like From what I'm hearing you say, this card sounds horrible. Like, I don't, I wouldn't even, I don't even know why we're talking about it, to be honest. Like I don't, I don't get it.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

It's because people have been so excited to learn about this launch and they've been teasing it for months and months and maybe even years, really, because no one has been able to earn points on mortgages until now. With the exception of the Mesa card, which you also don't know anything about, but came out last year and is already out of business.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Yeah, I mean, I I see this going the same route.

When Bilt Might Make Sense

SPEAKER_00 31:29

Well, uh built has been around for like five years, so it's it's not as new. Um, there is a lot of unknowns about their card issuer that they just moved to, which is called cardless. So they're switching from Wells Fargo over to Cardless. Um, you can only get one of these three built cards, so you can't get all of them or two of them. You just have to choose one. Um, here's here's where I think the use case could make sense. And I think if you're gonna get one, I'll I'll give you my recommendation. So I think the built palladium card, which is the the premium card, the$495 annual fee card, I think it potentially could make sense for the first year, if a couple of things. One, I wouldn't like I wouldn't calculate the um the the$200 semi-annual hotel credit as a benefit. Like the rage that I feel when they say that you have to do a two-night minimum stay to utilize this hotel credit is, I mean, it really pisses me off because I find that so like you might as well just say, we don't actually want you to utilize this credit. You know, like what why can't I use to the$200 on one night? You know, they want breakage, they want, they want people to not use the credit so that they can become more profitable. And that just really irks me. So I wouldn't consider that credit as like I wouldn't, I probably won't even use it. But 50, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

I was just gonna say, but I mean, most people that are staying at a hotel are gonna stay more than one night.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

Well, we would either stay one night or like three or four.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

So the two is just enraging because you then you can't use it for like an airport hotel, you can't use it on a road trip. Like it really limits the the possibilities, I think. And I mean, maybe other people do, but you and I don't spend a lot of two nights in a hotel for the most part, you know, and and and also$200 off the type of hotels that we like to stay in is nothing.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Like when you excuse me, Miss Bougie.

Our Verdict And What To Open First

SPEAKER_00 33:42

Well, when you use points and miles, you're like, why would I pay cash for this hotel?$200 off a thousand dollars, it's still$800 a night, but I could use points and get it for zero. So, like, what is the point? Ugh, it just that is my biggest one of my biggest pet peeves. So, anyways, here's where I do think the card could make sense though. Um, Chase has been cracking down on, you know, inks and business cards and personal cards and all the things. And that has been everyone's kind of primary transfer to Hyatt. And we haven't quite talked about this yet, but Built has some very good transfer partners. So Hyatt is one of them, and Alaska Airlines is another. They also have some other some other good ones that other card issuers don't have, but those are the two kind of primary ones that stick out for me. So I could see this making sense for the first year to get the 50,000 points and not use the card to pay your rent or mortgage. Like I would not do that. And then I would use the built cash to buy up in status on a transfer bonus. So historically, built has done transfer bonuses that are up to 100% transfer bonus. So what that means is like if you transferred 10,000 points, you would get 20,000 points in whatever the program is that has the transfer bonus. But the level of bonus that you get is dependent on your built status. And I think it goes silver, gold, platinum. Actually, don't know. Hold on. Sorry, no, it's blue, silver, gold, and platinum. So the palladium card gives you gold status, so which is the second highest, but like you could utilize your built cash. Let's say that they have a trend, they're not gonna have a transfer bonus to Hayat. It's literally never been done. So I wouldn't hold out hopes for that. But in 2025, for example, built offered 100% transfer bonuses to Avios, so like British Airways, Iberia, Airlingus, um, Avianca Lifemiles, Etihad, um, also to Hilton and Accor. Okay. So those are some examples of where if you had the highest built status, you could turn one built point into two whatever. Avios, you know, uh Avianca, whatever. So here's where I think it makes sense. Okay. Get the card, pay the annual fee for the first year, get the 50,000 points. Probably use those for Hyatt, but you know, use them for whatever you want, or save them and wait until there's a transfer bonus to a partner where you can utilize your built cash to buy up to platinum status, which is the highest status level, and then get your you know, 100% transfer bonus on your points. Um, the other piece of this puzzle is Rackiton is now a transfer partner to built. So you can instead of just using your points for Amex, you can transfer them to built. And through the May 2026 payout date, it's a one-to-one transfer. But after that, it's gonna depend on the built status level that you have. So the palladium card, again, which is the premium$4.95 annual fee card, is gonna give you gold status, which should absolutely um continue your one-to-one transfer rate from Rackettin. So I think those two things combined could make the palladium card make sense in the short term. And then from there, you'll have to decide, you know, what kind of transfer bonuses did built offer? What can I utilize the built cash for? Because again, as we mentioned several times, it's not super clear right now, and it's it's like a half-baked idea that they absolutely should have had more clarity on before they launched this. And then you, you know, decide whether you want to downgrade, you want to cancel, whatever. So that's I think the best use case. Don't even think of it as a rent or mortgage card. Like take that off the table unless you're paying, I don't know, like two or three mortgages. Maybe you've got rental property. I don't know. I have no idea. But we we will not be getting the built card for right now. The primary reason is I am 424 and you are 5 or 624. And I am saving my last 524 spot for the hopes that there is a Hyatt premium card coming in the next few months. Maybe I'm clowning, right? Like maybe I'm just Taylor Swifting all over the place, but that is my hope, and I'm saving it for that. I don't think we will be getting the built card anytime soon. So that is where we stand on it, or where I stand, and therefore where you stand.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

Like I said, the card sounds horrible.

SPEAKER_00 38:48

So and there you have it, folks. What Dwayne really wants to say is he wants to go watch the Texans um Patriots football game. So this is probably where we're gonna end the episode.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

Go Bears.

SPEAKER_00 39:06

It's a big game later today. Um, if you're a Giants fan, congratulations. We reeled in John Harbaugh, and that is probably the most exciting news that the Giants franchise has had in many, many years. So hooray for us. Um, if you have any questions on the built card or if maybe there's something I didn't cover, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram at travel party5. Um, if any of you are listening are brand new, uh, I will add the built cards are absolutely not the cards that you should start with. And what you should start with are the Chase Sapphire preferred or reserve cards. And I will post links to our referral links for those in the show notes. We would be so grateful if you are going to apply if you would utilize our link. And we will catch you on the next episode.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Thanks for tuning in and have a good one.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

Bye.