Tom's Top 3: January 20, 2026
The Bilt Palladium May Have A Hevy Annual Fee, But It Is Not The Rip-off Everyone Thinks It Is
Hi everyone! Welcome to this week’s installment of Tom’s Top 3 Tuesdays, where I highlight three pieces of content (Podcasts/Shows/Songs/Articles/etc.) that I found interesting or noteworthy from the prior week.
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[Movie] Netflix - The Rip
By no means a perfect movie, but man do I love watching the Boston boys do their thing. This movie is right in their wheelhouse. It’s exciting and stressful, with a little bit of mystery.
They say this film is inspired by true events—I need to know how liberally they use the word “inspired.” It feels like the kind of thing that could only happen in a movie.
With it being rather slow at the theaters right now (the only thing I’m really excited to see is the new 28 Years Later movie), it was nice to have a solid January flick to toss on at home.
[App] Hevy
One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to get back into tracking my workouts. I’ve done hand-written journals, and I’ve done spreadsheets, but I haven’t found an app that makes it easy to log my lifts and track my progress... until I tried Hevy (not an ad!).
Hevy has a very intuitive and easy-to-use interface, where I can quickly track my exercises, weights, and reps. Best part is, it’s free!
Supposedly the paid version gets you additional functionality, like making template workouts and who knows what else. Honestly, I didn’t really look into it. I wanted something that is customizable, easy, and free. Hevy has delivered.
[YouTube] Anthony Venture - The BILT 2.0 Palladium Card Is Way BETTER Than You Think
The biggest news in the credit card landscape this week was undoubtedly the reveal of the new Bilt 2.0 lineup. The changes were polarizing, sparking outrage amongst the community who used the Bilt 1.0 as an easy way to get transferrable miles on their rent purchases. Problem was, Bilt 1.0 was not sustainable, causing Wells Fargo to lose over $10M a month.
The issue with the rollout wasn’t necessarily the cards, but rather the new convoluted way that Bilt members can earn points on their rent or mortgage. I won’t go into all of that today, but if you want a full breakdown of the Bilt program, please comment down below and maybe I will post a deeper dive.
What I want to share is a brief overview of the new cards and my plan for taking advantage of the program to maximize my Atmos experience.
Here are the high-level breakdown of the three cards:
Blue Card
Annual Fee: $0
Sign-up Bonus:
$100 Bilt Cash (more on this later)
Earning Structure:
Rent/Mortgage: 1-1.25x
Everything else: 1x
Bilt Cash: 4% back on every purchase
Obsidian Card
Annual Fee: $95
Sign-up Bonus:
$200 Bilt Cash
Earning Categories:
Rent/Mortgage: 1-1.25x
Dining OR Grocery (choose one for the year): 3x
Travel: 2x
Everything else: 1x
Bilt Cash: 4% back on every purchase
Perks:
$100 Bilt Portal Hotel Credit ($50 semi-annually, 2 night minimum)
Palladium Card
Annual Fee: $495
Sign-up Bonus:
50K Bilt Points
Bilt Gold Status through January 2028
$300 Bilt Cash
Earning Categories:
Rent/Mortgage: 1-1.25x
Everything else: 2x
Bilt Cash: 4% back on every purchase
Perks:
$400 Bilt Portal Hotel Credit ($200 semi-annually, 2 night minimum)
$200 Bilt Cash Annually
Priority Pass Lounge Access
You maybe guessed it, but I went with the Palladium card. My strategy for 2026 is to earn as much Atmos points and status as possible. Bilt points transfer 1:1 to Atmos, so effectively, the Palladium gets me a 2x Atmos point catch-all card. Throw in the bonus, perks, and the ability to earn an additional 4% back in Bilt Cash, and I was sold.
Now here are the questions everyone is asking: what the f*ck is Bilt Cash, how does it work, and how much is it worth?
I have to say, for such a big announcement, Bilt gave surprisingly few details on the new feature that their whole program is seemingly built around (pardon the pun).
From what we know, Bilt Cash can be redeemed for “unlocking” earning points on your rent and mortgage (this is what caused the bulk of the confusion and outrage), credits on Bilt Neighborhood Partners (like Lyft and restaurants in their dining program), or credits on hotels booked in their portal.
The last option is the most appealing to me, which is also the focus on the YouTube video I shared. See, I don’t need to use my Bilt Cash to get points on my rent, and that is because I actually pay my rent through the Bilt portal using my new Atmos Summit card. Doing so incurs a 3% fee, but I am able to earn 3x Atmos points on my rent and 1 status point for every $2 spent.
This means I will accrue a bunch of Bilt Cash on my everyday spending that I will have to use elsewhere, and Bilt announced that you can only roll over $100 in Bilt Cash from year to year. My plan then, based on the small amount of information that we have today, is to treat my Bilt Cash as just hotel dollars.
I can combine the $400 in annual hotel credits, $200 in annual Bilt Cash, $300 in Bilt Cash from the sign up bonus, and the 4% Bilt Cash that I earn through spending on the card to book free trips through the Bilt Portal. Even better, the Gold status earned from the sign up bonus will unlock Bilt’s “Home Away from Home” collection, which will give me additional benefits on hotels like early/late checkin/out, $100 Resort credit, daily breakfast for two, and upgrades upon checking in.
This makes the Bilt Palladium card well worth the $495 annual fee for me. I am treating it like a 2x Atmos catch-all and a 4x hotel catch-all, all in one.
If you made it to this point, drop a comment to say hi. And as always, please like and consider sharing with a friend who you think would enjoy! I’ll be back next week. ✌️
This newsletter really built nicely from start to finish, no rip-offs detected, only Hevy insights and some serious points!