Bilt pivots to housing commerce network

This showed that Bilt's original card worked as a customer acquisition machine, not as a durable credit business. Wells Fargo was funding rent rewards with the expectation that cardholders would also swipe the card for everyday purchases and sometimes revolve balances. Instead, many users treated it like a rent only utility card, which meant the bank paid the subsidy but did not get enough interchange and interest income back. The break forced Bilt to move faster toward landlord payments, annual fee cards, and housing linked financial products.

• The old setup was unusually generous. Wells Fargo paid Bilt about 0.8% on rent volume processed through the card and also paid signup bounties, while Bilt cardholders routed rent through Bilt's portal and Bilt sent the landlord ACH or check. That only works if the bank makes money elsewhere on the account.
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• The replacement model changes who carries the economics. The Wells Fargo partnership ended on February 6, 2026. Bilt launched a new three tier card lineup on February 7, 2026 through Cardless and Column N.A., with $0, $95, and $495 options that add annual fee revenue and push harder on non rent spend.
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• That matters because Bilt is no longer mainly a card company. It now embeds a Pay-by-Bilt button inside major property management systems and collects roughly 0.6% to 0.9% from landlords on payment volume, giving owners a cheaper retention tool than offering one or two months free on a lease.
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Going forward, the center of gravity shifts from bank subsidized rent rewards to a housing commerce network. The winning version is a Bilt that makes money when rent is paid, when landlords use rewards to fill units, and when renters graduate into mortgages and local merchant spend, rather than relying on a bank to underwrite a thin card use case.