Bilt Faces Questions From Sen. Elizabeth Warren Over System Errors

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is seeking answers from Bilt on recent payment problems, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Thursday (May 28).

Bilt, known for its rent rewards program, introduced new cards in February after the end of its partnership with Wells Fargo, the report said. Cardholders soon began to complain on social media about issues such as delayed rent payments and difficulty contacting customer service.

“Bilt’s systems appear to have failed many customers attempting to make rent and mortgage payments,” Warren of Massachusetts wrote in a letter to Bilt Rewards CEO Ankur Jain, according to the report.

Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, asked Jain for data on how many customers’ rent or mortgage payments were impacted by the transition, the report said. She also sought information about the use of an artificial intelligence customer service chatbot.

Even before complaints about customer service issues, Bilt cardholders said the rewards structure on the new cards was too complicated, according to the report.

While card members can still accrue points on housing payments, it is through a more complex rewards system connected to their spending, the report said. Two of Bilt’s three cards now feature annual fees, something earlier cards did not.

“Our members have been our priority since day one,” a Bilt spokesperson said in a statment to PYMNTS. “While the transition to the Bilt Card 2.0 in February represents an even more exciting future that offers our membership richer rewards and greater flexibility, the transition also attracted unexpectedly high demand, and some of our members experienced gaps in service that are simply unacceptable to us.”

In response, the company said, Bilt has upped its customer service capabilities and reached out to affected members. Bolt added that all “outstanding issues relating to the card transition in February have been addressed and resolved,” but invited members to get in touch if problems arise.

Bilt and Wells Fargo launched their collaboration in March 2022, but within two years, Wells Fargo was losing as much as $10 million per month on the partnership, although both companies denied their relationship was in trouble.

Last summer saw the news that Wells Fargo was winding down the partnership, which had been slated to run until 2029.

In other credit-related news, legacy credit systems are having an increasingly tough time offering the flexibility consumers now expect from lending products.

“Instead, issuers are moving toward unified, cloud-first platforms designed to support real-time configuration, automated credit management and faster product launches,” PYMNTS reported May 15.

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