Compare the Features and Benefits of United Club℠ Card and
Bilt Palladium Card

The United Club Card is a surprisingly robust offering from United Airlines and Chase.

The primary reason to get this card is because you fly United enough that you would like to have United Club lounge access for all of your flights.

The average person will save $55 by gaining United Club access via this credit card than by buying it directly – before taking into account all the other benefits and statement credits the card comes with. Why would anyone buy United Club access directly when it’s cheaper to pay a lower annual fee on the credit card?

By the way, the exact same thing applies to the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite MasterCard® and as well as the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card and the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Credit Card. The Delta cards even offer American Express Centurion Lounge access when flying Delta, although they also have a limit on lounge visits per year.

You also have the ability to earn the most Premier Qualifying Points towards United elite status of any of the United credit cards. You’ll earn 1 PQP for every $15 you spend on purchases with your Club^℠ Card, up to 28,000 PQP in a calendar year. This can be applied toward your Premier® status qualification, up to and including the Premier 1K® level

Now, sure, outside of 4X miles per dollar spent on United purchases, the earn rate on other categories aren’t particularly strong. But the card’s features and benefits that we’ve described above that come on top of the United Club lounge access are incredibly compelling.

To recap, those benefits include:

• United Club lounge access
• First and second free checked bags
• Receive 25% Back on United inflight and Club Premium Drink Purchases
• Earn up to 28,000 Premier qualifying points per calendar year (1 PQP for every $15 you spend on purchases)
• 1,500 Card Bonus Premier® qualifying points (PQP) each program year
• 10% Saver Award Flight Discount
• Expanded Award Availability
• Premier Upgrades on Award Tickets
• Premier Access including priority check in and priority boarding
• Return Protection for Items a Store Won’t Take Back + Extended Warranty and Purchase Protection
• Access to The Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection
• Primary Car Rental CDW Insurance
• Global Entry / TSA PreCheck / NEXUS Reimbursement as a Statement Credit
• IHG Platinum Status
• Top Tier Avis President’s Club status
• Free Instacart membership and up to $240 in Instacart statement credits
• Up to $150 in rideshare credits
• Up to $100 in United travel credits on Avis or Budget car purchases
• Up to $200 in credit on JSX purchases annually
• Up to $200 in credits for Renowned Hotels and Resorts for United® Cardmembers

That’s not all of the card features, but it sure is enough to see that the value you are getting for that annual fee is pretty amazing.

The Bilt Palladium Card is designed to be the only card you need, and while some people carry lots of credit cards with various bonus categories, some people prefer simplicity and this card is easily one of the most rewarding cards for all spend with no bonus categories to think about.

Your Best Credit Cards values Bilt Rewards points at 1.8 cents each, although the personal value you get from each point may be higher or lower. With 2X points earned on all eligible purchases, you are earning an approximate value of 3.6% worth of Bilt Rewards plus another 4% in Bilt Cash on top.

Of course, most know Bilt for the ability to pay your rent and mortgage with the card. You’ll be able to earn points for paying any personal rent or mortgage with this card. Simply redeem the Bilt Cash you earn from all of your non-rent spend to earn 1X points on  your rent or mortgage payment, which has no transaction fees. Applying $30 worth of Bilt Cash for every $1,000 in rent or mortgage payments paid will earn you points on that portion of the rent or mortgage payment, up to the full amount. You can redeem Bilt Cash for all or part of your payment.

Bilt Palladium Card

Although there is a $495 annual fee, it’s hundreds of dollars less than some other premium credit cards and you can full offset the annual fee using the annual credits:

• $400 Bilt Travel Hotel credit. Applied twice a year, as $200 statement credits, for qualifying Bilt Travel Portal hotel bookings.
• $200 Bilt Cash (awarded annually). At the end of each calendar year, any Bilt Cash balance over $100 will expire.

You can use that Bilt Cash towards transaction fees on rent or mortgage, but you have options. You can also redeem Bilt Cash for dollar-for-dollar value toward fitness classes, hotel bookings, Home Delivery orders, Lyft rides, and more.

Bilt Point redemptions include airlines, hotels, future rent and mortgage payments, Lyft rides, statement credits, student loan balances, a down payment on a home, and more.

We love Bilt Rewards for their strong list of transfer partners which include World of Hyatt, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and JAL Mileage Bank, among many others as mentioned above. You can also get 1.25 cents per point in value simply by redeeming Bilt points in their travel portal and they even offer “direct bookings” that offer loyalty benefits despite being a third party booking. Just look for “Member Rate” or “Home Away From Home” labels when searching hotels or “Direct Book” when searching flights.

And as you would expect with a premium travel card, the Bilt Palladium Card comes with Priority Pass airport lounge membership.

Authorized user cards are $95 and these come with their own Priority Pass membership.

If the annual fee is too high for you, you can also consider the Bilt Blue and Bilt Obsidian credit cards. They have less in the way benefits and earn rate, but they still earn Bilt Rewards points!