Let’s get the Bilt news out of the way
Feel free to keep scrolling down if you don’t care. 2 memes at the end of the newsletter as well 😜
If you have been living under a rock, Bilt recently announced Bilt 2.0, which included 3 new credit cards and the ability to earn points on rent and now mortgage payments as well. However, with Bilt 1.0, you would earn 1 point per dollar spent on rent fee-free as long as you made 5 non-rent transactions (5 bananas).
Bilt 2.0 has a bit more complex process to follow. Importantly, although Bilt had said leading up to the launch that you could always pay for housing fee-free with the new system, they omitted that there is a fee if you also want to earn points. It’s a 3% fee that can be offset with a new “currency” introduced called Bilt Cash. You can earn this at a rate of 4% for non-housing spend. This makes it so you would need to spend 75% of your housing spend on non-rent spend to earn enough Bilt Cash to offset the fee. $2,000 monthly rent or mortgage means you need to spend $1,500 on non-rent spend in the same month to offset the fee with Bilt Cash earned. This doesn’t scale very well for higher-income/higher-housing expense households. Imagine a $6,000 mortgage. Do you really have $4,500 in non-rent monthly spend that you can put on a Bilt credit card?
There was a lot of pushback and confusion so Bilt decided just a few days later to add another, “simpler option” for ways to offset fees to be able to earn points on housing spend. Instead of earning Bilt Cash, you can earn a multiplier on your housing spend based on your non-housing spend in lieu of Bilt Cash. You can view and interpret both options on Bilt’s site here. The new option lets you earn 1.25x points on your housing spend if you spend the same or more on non-housing spend… interpret that as you will.
Things you don’t want to hear
1) Cardless (the new Bilt issuer) and Richard suck for manufactured spenders. Details on MEAB.
2) Customer service from Cardless is probably not that great compared to major US financial institutions.
3) We still don’t know the full picture of what Bilt cash could be used for (good and bad but mostly bad)
4) It’s crazy you get another credit line (counts against 5/24) for getting a new Bilt card even if you had one. This is potentially the third hard pull and credit line added for Bilt loyalists!!!
5) Paying for housing with a Bilt card will draw directly from ACH instead of going on your credit card.
My take
This card really is not for everyone and for a company that appears to want to cater to more people, this launch really baffles me. You will really need to dig deep and think if this card is worth it for you. Plus, you should really wait until we know what Bilt Cash can be used for, as that is a huge new part of Bilt 2.0 and could make or break the value offering. I also purposefully avoid linking to any people trying to break down the math. I think this is a time where you should do the math yourself first, then compare notes from others.
Finally, this launch has also been extremely confusing even for points & miles diehards. The Frequent Miler team called it a “cluster——” And if you’re someone looking to get into points & miles and read about how Bilt’s cards work, well, they will likely just close out of Bilt’s site and give up on the points & miles hobby before even starting, thinking everything is this complex. My guess is they make another change to how you pay for housing “fee-free” within the next 3 1.5 months.
This week's highlights
Chase clarifies Sapphire card sign up bonus rules
Up until the Sapphire Reserve refresh in June 205, you could churn Chase Sapphire cards for a new sign up bonus (SUB) every 48 months. Then Chase added “lifetime” language where you would not be eligible for a SUB if you already had that specific Sapphire card. There was also some ambiguity on getting a SUB if you looked to get a different Sapphire card (had CSP but want CSR or vice versa).
A memo is floating around and reported by Doctor of Credit and other blogs that Chase will, starting on January 25, provide a SUB for each of the Sapphire cards. So if you had a CSP and received a sub for that already, you can now open a CSR and be eligible for the SUB or vice versa. So before, it was pretty much a “lifetime” SUB for the entire Sapphire card family, but now it is a “lifetime” SUB for each specific Sapphire card.
The June 2025 terms:
“The new cardmember bonus may not be available to you if you currently have any other personal Sapphire cards open, previously held this card or received a new cardmember bonus for this card. We may also consider the number of cards you have opened and closed, as well as other factors in determining your bonus eligibility.” - Chase
The future terms
Source; Doctor of Credit
Points for experiences
Don’t forget that points aren’t only for flights and hotels! Many programs allow you to redeem or bid points for experiences. Marriott in my opinion has some of the more interesting options and they also reward their Ambassador (highest tier) members with exclusive access to certain events.
For Marriott Ambassadors, there will be an exclusive package for 2 tickets to the Bonvoy Luxury Suite at a Lakers game redeemable for only 2,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. Package available in 22 days so set your calendar.
Marriott also has packages to view La Liga games, college sports games, global luxury dining experiences, Formula 1, concerts, Carnaval in Brazil, and many more. Check it out!
Qatar Privilege Club also might be adding World Cup-related packages soon. And other airlines also offer the ability to redeem miles for experiences including United and Alaska Airlines. If you’re in Anchorage in February, you can redeem 4,000 Alaska points to have a tour of an Alaska Airlines hangar!
Source: Marriott Bonvoy Moments
Singapore Airlines bookable through Aeroplan again
I’m seeing Singapore Airlines awards bookable again through Air Canada Aeroplan! This is a big deal because you can book Singapore Airlines flights at a lower cost and better change/cancellation policy through Air Canada compared to booking directly on Singapore Airlines’ own program. However, Singapore Airlines will have more availability (but at a worse rate) compared to Air Canada.
I hadn’t seen this availability since November 2025, which coincides with when Singapore devalued their program. I had posted some dates earlier in the week and more keep popping up including in November-December 2026.
Sweet spots for business class
JFK-FRA: Starting at 60k points one-way
US-SIN: Starting at 87.5k points one-way
Deal of the week
Still need a nudge to visit Japan? Have Chase, Bilt, or a lot of Hyatt points? Well the newly reopened Park Hyatt Tokyo has pretty wide open availability to book a standard room on points. It will cost 35k-45k points depending on off peak, regular, or peak times.
There is availability now through January 2027 with the exception of the anticipated peak cherry blossom season (late March-early April), a handful of summer dates, and during the winter 2026 holiday season.
If you have suite upgrade awards, try to see if you can find availability for their Park Suites including the Park Deluxe Suite, as you can book a base level room then immediately apply a SUA for it. However, these are much harder to find now.
Don’t forget, Hyatt now has a calendar option as well to find availability! Just type in the name of the property, make sure to choose points, then hit search. Then there is a small area where you can view the “Points Calendar”
Source: Hyatt
Source: Hyatt
Need help finding deals? (affiliate link)
Check out seats.aero, a search engine for all things award travel. View award availability for flights for the next 60 days for free. Subscribing unlocks a full year of availability and helps you get the edge over others. You can also set alerts, get access to an invite-only Discord community, and find hotel award availability.
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Other news to highlight
Keep an eye: Delta trick starting/ending in Mexico to get better business class award rates came back briefly…now dead again. (Thrifty Traveler)
Register: Another crappy Hilton promo but 2,000 points per stay is 2,000 points (Hilton)
Targeted: Log in to IHG and see if you have targeted promos including 12k points after 2 stays (IHG)
Avianca LifeMiles expire with inactivity. Redeeming Lifemiles does not count as activity. (Loyalty Lobby)
Buy Amtrak Rail pass for $250 (50% off). Make sure to read the terms as you can’t use this to replace a multi ride pass ☹ (Amtrak)
Rakuten has targeted 15% cash back on a lot of stores today (1/19). New to Rakuten, check out my guide on my blog here (Find Flights for Me)
Hilton adding Apartment Collection by Hilton sometime in 1H26 (One Mile at a Time)
Richard Kerr apologies for meme (Reddit)
United has a 7 hour flight with no lie-flat business between EWR-GLA, ouch! (Reddit)
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About Find Flights for Me.
I started the idea of Find Flights for Me back in 2023 to help educate and inspire people to use their credit card points more effectively, with a focus on using points to fly business and first class flights.
When I’m not working on Wall Street or searching for flight deals, you can find me planning for my upcoming wedding, enjoying local restaurants, helping my parents book their next trip, traveling internationally, or visiting friends/family in NYC, Philadelphia, or DC.
Source: Richard Kerr via Instagram
Source: Some basement dwelling Redditor