Bilt Card 2.0 prior cardholder rule

What it does

Bilt states this once for its whole lineup rather than card by card. Its offer terms read: "The following eligibility requirements and restrictions apply to all Bilt Card Welcome Bonuses (Bilt Blue, Bilt Obsidian, and Bilt Palladium). Eligibility Restrictions: Welcome bonuses are available only to those who do not currently hold a Bilt Card 2.0 issued by Column N.A., Member FDIC, have not previously held a Bilt Card 2.0 issued by Column N.A., Member FDIC and have not received a Bilt Card 2.0 issued by Column N.A., Member FDIC Welcome Bonus in the past." Three separate bars sit in that sentence: holding one now, having held one before, and having taken any one of the bonuses. Any of the three is enough, and because the clause names all three products together, a card you held in the family bars the other two.

How it works

• The wording is categorical. "Available only to those who do not" leaves no discretion, which is why we drop the card from recommendations rather than flagging it as a maybe.
• There is no waiting period anywhere in the document, so closing a Bilt card does not restore eligibility. Treat the bar as permanent.
• Never having earned the bonus does not help. The second bar is about having HELD the card, so an account you opened and closed without the bonus still counts against you.
• It covers the family, not the product. A Bilt Blue you held in the past bars the Obsidian and the Palladium bonuses too.
• The older Bilt Mastercard is outside the rule. Bilt qualifies every mention with "a Bilt Card 2.0 issued by Column N.A., Member FDIC", and the legacy card was issued by Wells Fargo, so holding it does not count against you.
• This is a bonus rule, not an approval rule. You can still be approved for the card; the welcome bonus is the part that is barred.

What to do

• Pick your Bilt tier before you apply, not after. You get one welcome bonus across Blue, Obsidian and Palladium, so the tier you take first is the only one that pays.
• If you held a Bilt Card 2.0 before, plan for the bonus not to pay and judge the card on its ongoing earn and its credits instead. We rank it that way for you.
• If your Bilt history is the legacy Wells Fargo Mastercard, you are not barred. Tell us the card you actually hold so the engine reads it correctly.
• Read the offer terms on the page you apply from. Bilt keeps this clause in a PDF rather than in the page body, so it is easy to miss.