All Blog Posts 🗺️

🤙🏿 Welcome back to the Better Than Points Newsletter - the premier place for all things Credit Card Points News and Travel

My name’s Luis and I’m the one writing this (hit me up here!)

Holy cow. 🐮

Some new cards were announced yesterday.

And boy, were some people mad.

Let’s get into whether they’re worth it.

Not a subscriber yet? Sign up free here

Get your brands in front of 6,000+ travelers & entrepreneurs.

✈️ Want to Travel More in 2026? Let Thrifty Traveler Find the Flights for You.

To be transparent: I may receive compensation through my partnership with advertisers when you click on links to offers in this email. These are my own opinions, not those of any travel brand or booking platform. That said, I only recommend tools I personally use and Thrifty Traveler Premium is one I depend on.

It’s the start of a new year, and for a lot of us, that means making travel happen.

But let’s be honest finding award flights is time consuming.

That’s why I love Thrifty Traveler Premium:

They send award flight and cash deals directly to your inbox so you don’t have to spend hours searching.

Deal Highlight:

Just today, they sent an alert for business class flights to Hawaii starting at 40,000 points one way.

Yes, business class. To Hawaii. For 40K.

✅ Get award and cash flight deals delivered daily
✅ Alerts include premium cabins, great redemptions, and rare partner space
✅ You book directly with the airline no middleman or booking service
✅ Save hours of searching, and never miss a redemption again

I’ll be including some of those Hawaii dates in the Flight of the week section, but trust me:

this is hands down one of the best tools for points travelers who don’t want to spend all day searching.

👉 Try Thrifty Traveler Premium and start your year with better travel.

Each week, I’ll share something cool I’ve discovered or tackle a question from the community. It’s my little corner to explore ideas, offer fresh perspectives, and hopefully spark your own curiosity.

With the new Bilt cards launching yesterday, I’ve been nerding out on whether they’re actually worth it and if I’d recommend them.

They’re not straightforward, unfortunately.

The real winners here are folks with a mortgage who can finally earn points on a big monthly bill, even if it means running it through the card.

Another winner: people with lots of Airbnbs/rentals or high property spend.

Earning on an expense that used to earn nothing is a big deal.

And if you value transfers to Hyatt and Alaska (plus the other partners), these cards get interesting fast.

A lot of the pushback is from people who only used Bilt for rent and nothing else.

Now you actually have to spend on the card to unlock value, which is ticking off that crowd.

But if you want a “one card” or “two card” setup, this might be it.

There are downsides.

The travel insurance isn’t great, lounge access isn’t great, and the big one for me: no primary rental car insurance.

I road trip a couple times a year, and that benefit can save hundreds (if not thousands) over time.

So I’m not dropping my Chase Sapphire Preferred for car rentals, or my Venture X for lounges.

But if those things don’t matter to you and you want simplicity, grabbing the Palladium card the first year, even at $495, can make sense if you hit the intro bonus.

50,000 points you can transfer to Hyatt or Alaska, Gold status through 2028, and it unlocks 1:1 Rakuten to Bilt transfers.

If you’ve got a partner, have them pick up the Obsidian card and see which of these categories, dining or groceries, you spend more on, so you’re covering your top category, plus everything else, along with rent/mortgage.

I’ll break down the technical unlocks for paying rent/mortgage in the new cards in the news section (it’s… a little complex).

Super interesting lineup overall, and I’m still digging since not every detail is finalized.

Well DANG.

With Bilt launching three new cards yesterday, the hype was loud and the confusion louder.

Quickest way to say it: you can “pay” rent and mortgage through Bilt, but the actual payment pulls via ACH from your bank, not as a card charge.

So no more floating rent on a credit line, which is why people are salty.

Bigger thing to understand: it’s pay to play.

If you want points for rent or mortgage, you need to put regular spend on the card first.

You’ll need to put at least 75% of the cost of your monthly rent or mortgage on the Bilt card in order to get the full amount of points.

Example: $5,000 rent or mortgage means about $3,750 in card spend (thats not your rent or mortgage) to unlock the full amount of points on that month’s housing payment.

Across all three cards, you also earn 4% in “Bilt Cash” on purchases. Which some will be used to offset/redeem for your rent.

But talking about it will just confuse you more so I’ll leave it at that.

Today that looks like a currency you can use for status boosts, partner merchants, and whatever else they roll out.

Details are still a little vague.

Here’s the quick lineup:

Again, all 3 cards earn 4% “Bilt Cash”

Bottom line: the value is there if you can hit the 75% unlock and you want Bilt Cash plus points on housing.

If you were only using Bilt to float rent, this new setup won’t feel great.

I got introduced to the Rosewood portfolio a couple of years ago, and we splurged on one for our anniversary.

It was the drug I didn’t know I needed.

We stayed at Kona Village, a Rosewood resort, right after it reopened.

It had been closed for years after the tsunamis that hit Kona.

Since then, it’s been my favorite hotel I’ve ever stayed at.

I’ve been scheming on ways to go back and to hit other Rosewood properties.

I keep hearing the Hong Kong one is a must.

So the rumors about Marriott possibly acquiring Rosewood definitely got my attention.

It started with a few posts.

Some folks think it won’t happen, but even partial access to that portfolio would be huge.

Rosewood has explored selling some assets before, so it might not be every property.

Still, it’s one of the strongest luxury brands in the world, and the idea is exciting.

I’m not holding my breath.

But if Rosewood ever lands inside Marriott, I’d 100% start paying a lot more attention to Marriott.

I’ll share more if any real details drop.

Last Friday, the president took to social media calling for a 1-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates.

The reason it matters is that it would drastically cut how much profit card issuers make on interest.

And like it or not, those profits are what fund big sign up bonuses and a lot of the perks we enjoy.

If we look at Europe as an example.

With stricter rules and rate caps, the credit card market isn’t as competitive.

Bonuses and multipliers aren’t nearly as juicy as they are in the U.S.

A cap here would likely move us in that direction.

It would also hit banks on the lending side.

Capping earnings on revolving balances shrinks a major profit center, which can mean tighter credit and less willingness to extend loans.

For example, in 2024 interest fees were a massive revenue source across the industry.

Capital One, one of the big beneficiaries of high interest, made huge income from card interest alone, and a 10% cap could easily cut that in half.

That would instantly reduce credit availability and how much banks are willing to lend to people and businesses.

Bottom line: if this moves forward, expect a trickle down effect on credit cards.

Smaller welcome offers, fewer statement credits, tighter approvals, and leaner ongoing perks.

Worth keeping a close eye on.

Check out these crazy award deals!

This section includes some of the best award flights of the week bookable with points and miles.

Chat with TravelBot - my AI clone. It’s trained on every newsletter I’ve published along with my 10+ years of points and credit card knowledge 🧠.

It’s also trained on my voice, so you can call it and have a full blown conversations. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

This section includes some of the best links videos and articles of the week around the points and travel community