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🤙🏿 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!)

Finally settling back into things.

Getting close to finishing the audio book.

And trying to keep up with everything that's already going on in 2026.


Anyway, let’s get to it.

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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.

I was reading this rental car horror story on reddit today.

It reminded me of a client I helped who rented a car for a day in Europe.

He drove it, returned it, and the company tried to hit him with a bill for a couple thousand dollars.

They claimed there was a scratch.

Thankfully he’d used a card with primary rental insurance.

He reported it, the credit card’s insurance team stepped in, and the rental company dropped the claim.

Good reminder to stick with reputable rental companies in the U.S. and abroad.

A lot of the time it’s your word against theirs.

Take photos and a quick walk around video before you drive off, and snap the odometer and fuel level when you return the car.

If they try something, you’ve got proof.

Without photos, it’s back to your word vs. theirs.

Best move is to pay with a card that has primary rental coverage so the insurer does the fighting for you.

Rental companies are far less likely to push bogus charges when a card issuer is involved.

It’s sad to see, but some places play this game.

Booking through reputable brands (or via Costco Travel) helps.

Unfortunately, this stuff happens more than you’d think.

Some guy on Reddit did what people on Reddit do, and I guess looked at the code on Bilts website.

The three cards that are supposed to launch later this year had information about them on there.

Not really sure how accurate this information is, but this is what's out there:

None of this is concrete yet, but there are some decent features.

Nothing out of the park.

Obsidian looks like it’s aiming at the Amex Gold play with 3x on dining or groceries (would have liked to see it at 4x).

It’s not Amex Gold level for earning, but still competitive when you factor in Bilt’s transfer partners.

Palladium feels like “get back what you put in.”

I’m not really seeing a big difference across the three on rent/mortgage.

All show 4% Bilt Cash on everyday spend for those payments.

The outlier is Palladium earning 2x on everything else, so you’ll rack up points faster.

Maybe trying to take away some of that spend from the Venture X 2x on everything.

One thing to note: you’re earning two currencies here.

Bilt Cash (likely redeemable at Bilt ecosystem merchants) and Bilt Points (transferable to hotel and airline partners).

That’s more tracking and mental math to keep up with.

I’ll keep an eye on it as details firm up.

tldr- nothing mind blowing, but solid, usable cards.

Richard just dropped this video about the announcement - what does the banana comment mean 🤔

Back in 2019, Goldman Sachs and Apple launched the co branded Apple Card.

A few years (and some bad decisions), the portfolio ended up with more subprime accounts than expected, balances piled up, and Goldman wanted out.

The problem was, nobody wanted to take the bag.

JPMorgan finally stepped in to take over the Apple Card portfolio at a discount.

About a $1B cut on roughly $20B in outstanding balances. That’s not typical for a co brand this big.

Usually an Apple sized partnership sells at a premium.

JPM is taking real risk here, but the bet is they’ll make it back by pulling people deeper into the ecosystem: Apple Savings, then other JPM cards down the line.

I don’t expect the Apple Card to suddenly get better rewards or points.

More likely it stays what it is while JPM leverages the relationship.

Big picture, this helps JPMorgan expand, but hopefully it doesn’t force other moves elsewhere in the card lineup.

If the numbers don’t pencil, banks tend to tweak benefits or fees on other products to cover the gap and nobody wants that.

Interesting deal, worth keeping an eye on.

Let’s hope it doesn’t spill over into cuts on Chase cards we actually care about.

Last year, there were some lounge changes.

Since I’ve slept since then (and hopefully you have too), I wanted to highlight them since they’re about to go into effect.

First up, the Ritz-Carlton card, you can’t outright apply for this card and have to product change into it.

It used to allow for an unlimited number of guests for Priority Pass, which was a broken benefit, and they finally caught on.

The new policy, effective January 15th, caps you at two free guests per visit, and any additional guests will cost $27 each.

The one that really hurts starts February 1 of this year for Capital One Lounges.

They’re ending complimentary guest access for both their own lounges and Priority Pass.

Anyone coming with you now has to pay $45, and kids ages 2–17 are $25.

You don’t even get one free guest included, which is stingy, but I get it, given the overcrowding.

Priority Pass guests will be $35 each.

There is one workaround, if you spend $75,000 in a calendar year, you’ll get two free guests at Capital One Lounges.

The Venture X Business still keeps two free Priority Pass guests with no spend requirement.

Those are the two big ones to start the year.

With lounges getting busier, card fees going up, and lounge contracts getting more expensive, I wouldn’t be surprised if more banks tighten guest privileges later this year.

I’ll let you know if and when it happens.

Saks is reportedly hunting for a $1B loan to cover debt.

The reason it matters is that if you’ve got the Amex Platinum, the new year just started and you have a $50 Saks credit (Jan–Jun) to use.

You get $100 per year total, split $50 Jan–Jun and $50 Jul–Dec.

If Saks actually files for bankruptcy, the Amex partnership perks may not survive or get honored.

So if you want to squeeze all the value out of your platinum card, I’d use that credit now.

Buy something online and wipe $50.

If you’re near a store, grab a $50 gift card in person.

And if you’ve got old Saks gift cards sitting in a drawer, use them before any potential changes.

No one knows if they’ll actually file, but I’d rather burn the credit now than get stuck later when everyone rushes at once and stock dries up.

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