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This year has started with a bang for those who like to earn points on their rent — or now, even mortgages — with the much-anticipated Bilt 2.0 launch.

This launch included the introduction of three new credit cards and a new system that layers in a secondary rewards currency, Bilt Cash, alongside the Bilt Rewards points that many of us already know and love.

And today, just two days after the big Bilt 2.0 launch, Bilt is back with some adjustments it is making after listening to some community feedback.

Based on the complexity of the just-announced Bilt 2.0 system, this new announcement may be information overload for some, but we’ll walk you through it. And the bottom line is that it largely just introduces new options. Aside from causing a little more “homework” for us all on the front end, optionality is generally a good thing.

The main tweaks to Bilt 2.0 are:

• You will have two options for structuring your rewards for housing each month. You can opt for the originally announced plan (4% Bilt Cash) or utilize new earning tiers based on your monthly everyday spending on a Bilt card.
• If you choose the new tiered structure option, you can earn up to 1.25 points per dollar of housing payment, an increase from before.
• You can switch between the two options at any time (with a switch taking effect the following month).

This applies to all three of the new cards in Bilt’s ecosystem: the Bilt Blue Card (see rates and fees), the Bilt Obsidian Card (see rates and fees) and the Bilt Palladium Card (see rates and fees).

Keep reading for the full breakdown of what this means for you.

Bilt announces new tiers for earning points on rent or mortgage payments

The just-announced new option within Bilt 2.0 provides Bilt cardholders with a tiered system that rewards points on housing payments based on how much everyday spending goes on the Bilt card relative to that month’s housing payment.

Here’s how those tiers work:

• If you spend at least 25% of your monthly housing payment(s) in everyday purchases on the Bilt Card, you’ll earn 0.5 points per dollar on your rent or mortgage payment that month.
• If you spend at least 50% of your monthly housing payment(s) in everyday purchases on the Bilt Card, you’ll earn 0.75 points per dollar on your rent or mortgage payment that month.
• If you spend at least 75% of your monthly housing payment(s) in everyday purchases on the Bilt Card, you’ll earn 1 point per dollar on your rent or mortgage payment that month.
• If you spend the amount of your monthly housing payment(s) or more in everyday purchases on the Bilt Card, you’ll earn 1.25 points per dollar on your rent or mortgage payment that month.

These new tiers have the potential, at some levels, to be more rewarding than the original Bilt Cash ratios — and I like to see the 1.25x option at the higher tier, which also didn’t exist in the Bilt Cash system.

For a real numbers example, here’s what this looks like for a $3,000 monthly housing payment that you pay through Bilt:

• Spend $750 (25% of your housing) in everyday purchases on your Bilt Card: You’d earn 1,500 points for that rent or mortgage payment (0.5x)
• Spend $1,500 (50% of your housing) in everyday purchases on your Bilt Card: You’d earn 2,250 points for that rent or mortgage payment (0.75x)
• Spend $2,250 (75% of your housing) in everyday purchases on your Bilt Card: You’d earn 3,000 points for that rent or mortgage payment (1x)
• Spend $3,000+ (100%+ of your housing) in everyday purchases on your Bilt Card: You’d earn 3,750 points for that rent or mortgage payment (1.25x)

If you select this tiered option, you will not earn Bilt Cash on your Bilt card’s everyday purchases. Instead, you will simply earn toward these tiers to unlock fee-free points on your housing payment.

If you don’t hit at least the 25% minimum spend requirement to earn 0.5 points on housing, you still earn 250 points per month on your housing payment (as you did in the Bilt 1.0 system).

Bilt keeps the Bilt Cash option and clarifies some redemption options

If you prefer to earn 4% in Bilt Cash on everyday purchases, as initially announced with the launch of Bilt 2.0, that option remains.

However, it is an either-or situation: either use the Bilt Cash system or the just-announced tiered option. You can change your mind each month, with the choice impacting the following month’s earning structure on your account.

If you stick with the Bilt Cash approach, here’s a refresher on those main details:

• Earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday purchases put on your Bilt Card, in addition to earning your Bilt Rewards points.
• Use as little or as much of your Bilt Cash as you want each month to unlock Bilt points on your housing payment at the previously announced rate of $30 in Bilt Cash = 1 point per dollar earnings on $1,000 of your housing payment.
• You can also use that Bilt Cash in Bilt’s ecosystem to access things like one-time status upgrades, experiences and at eligible merchants in the Bilt ecosystem, such as Lyft, dining, hotels and more (with monthly caps).

With this option, Bilt has now clarified that you can only earn points on the amount of your housing payment that you have enough Bilt Cash to cover, so you won’t have an option to pay a transaction fee to earn points on the remainder amount.

And either way — the original Bilt Cash option or the new tiered structure — you’ll continue to earn Bilt points on your everyday spending, though the earning rate varies per Bilt card.

Bottom line

If your head hurts a little, we get it. There has been a very quick pace of information from Bilt this week.

The new spending tiers option may be a good match for many new Bilt cardholders. Not much changes for those who were already planning to spend 75% of their housing payments in everyday purchases on the Bilt card. However, if you’re aiming to hit higher or lower spending tiers, the earning rates could be a bit better.

Perhaps most importantly, this removes the need to understand an entirely new currency (Bilt Cash) when it comes to earning points on your rent or mortgage if that’s your choice.