Update 3/22/26: In the last few days people are seeing this charge refunded
Update 3/12/26: Bilt has issued the following statement:
We are aware of questions about final transaction amounts for foreign transactions and are actively reviewing this issue with our card partners who manage the program. There should be no change in foreign transaction fees compared to the 1.0 card and if any fees have been added, we will ensure that our partners roll them back. We will communicate when we have more information.
Original Post: One of the touted benefits of Bilt Cardless (Bilt 2.0) cards is the absence of foreign transaction fees. Unfortunately it seems that if a 0.2% foreign transaction fee is being charged. This is because Mastercard charges card networks a 0.2% foreign transaction fee. Most (all?) card issuers eat this fee when they advertise no foreign transaction fees, but that doesn’t seem to be happening with the Bilt card.
It is unclear if this is affecting other Cardless cards such as the Qatar Airways card (this is a Visa card so will not be subject to the 0.2% FTF Mastercard fees) which also advertises no foreign transaction fees. I would be extremely surprised if this issue is not resolved and if Cardless/Bilt does not offer full refunds for any fees charged, but stranger things have happened. We’ve reached out to Cardless and Bilt for comment. If you are interested in how foreign currency transactions are calculated, you can read this definitely old article of ours here.
Hats off to him FM
