Behind the Unraveling of Wells Fargo’s Rewards-for-Rent Credit-Card Partnership
Wells Fargo 跟 Bilt 合作的「租金回饋」信用卡怎麼搞砸的？

The partnership with Bilt had been scheduled to end in 2029, but Wells decided to exit early after it became a money-losing venture, according to people familiar with the matter. Wells warned Bilt it could change the card’s terms otherwise, including tacking on an annual fee of around $250 to $300 for cardholders.
據知情人士透露，原本跟 Bilt 的合作是排定到 2029 年才結束，但 Wells 覺得這變成了一門賠錢生意，所以決定提早收攤。Wells 還警告 Bilt 說，不然他們可能會改卡的條款，包括對持卡人加收大約 250 到 300 美元的年費。

Bilt said Thursday it is developing its Bilt Card 2.0 with fintech firm Cardless and that its valuation skyrocketed to $10.75 billion. The company said the new card will launch in February and that cardholders will be moved from Wells Fargo.
Bilt 禮拜四說，他們正在跟金融科技公司 Cardless 合作開發 Bilt Card 2.0，而且他們的估值已經飆到 107.5 億美元了。公司表示，新卡會在二月推出，屆時持卡人會從 Wells Fargo 轉移過來。

Wells’ partnership with Bilt was launched in 2022 as part of the bank’s plans to build out its co-branded credit-card business. The Bilt card quickly became a hit because of a rare perk: It lets cardholders earn rewards points for charging their rent. 
Wells 跟 Bilt 的合作是在 2022 年啟動的，這是 Wells 擴展聯名信用卡業務計畫的一部分。Bilt 卡因為一個超讚的獨家福利很快就爆紅：它可以讓持卡人刷卡付房租賺回饋點數。

It also helped to lift 35-year-old Bilt CEO Ankur Jain to billionaire status. 
這也讓 35 歲的 Bilt CEO Ankur Jain 晉升億萬富翁。

Wells had originally seen the card as a way to attract young customers who would eventually turn to it for a mortgage. But the bank has since pulled back in the mortgage space and by mid-2024, Wells was losing as much as $10 million a month on the card, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. At that time, Bilt and Wells expressed their commitment to the partnership.
Wells 一開始是把這張卡當成吸引年輕客戶的敲門磚，想說他們以後可能會來辦房貸。但後來 Wells 在房貸這塊縮手了，而且根據《華爾街日報》之前的報導，到 2024 年年中，Wells 每個月在這張卡上竟然虧損高達 1000 萬美元。當時 Bilt 和 Wells 都還說會繼續合作下去。

A money-laundering risk  洗錢風險

Wells Fargo’s internal revenue projections for the Bilt card turned out to be off the mark.
結果 Wells Fargo 自己內部對 Bilt 卡的營收預估完全失準。

Most landlords historically didn’t accept credit cards because they refuse to pay the fees for card transactions that often run between 2% and 3%. Bilt structured the card so landlords won’t incur the fees. Wells instead has been eating much of that.
以前大部分房東都不收信用卡，因為他們不想付那筆通常在 2% 到 3% 之間的刷卡手續費。Bilt 把這張卡設計成房東不用付手續費，結果大部分的費用都變成 Wells 在吞。

This has led to Wells paying Bilt a fee for each rent transaction. Interest income Wells expected from card balances didn’t materialize because many cardholders have been paying their bills in full each month. 
結果就是 Wells 每次收到房租交易，都得付一筆錢給 Bilt。而且 Wells 原本預期可以從信用卡餘額賺利息，結果也沒賺到，因為很多持卡人每個月都把帳單繳清了。

The partnership also raised concerns inside Wells about potential money-laundering risks, which the companies have worked to address.
這項合作也讓 Wells 內部擔心可能有洗錢風險，不過兩家公司都有努力想辦法解決。

When people charge rent on their cards, a third-party company sends a check for that amount to the designated landlord. That is easy for Bilt to track for a real-estate company that participates in its rewards program, but harder when it is a mom-and-pop landlord or other company. 
當大家用信用卡付房租時，會有第三方公司把那筆錢開支票寄給指定的房東。如果房東是參加 Bilt 獎勵計畫的房地產公司，Bilt 要追蹤就比較容易，但如果是那種小房東或其他公司，就比較麻煩了。

What’s News  最新消息

Inside Wall Street’s Recruitment Wars
華爾街的搶人大戰內幕

P.M. Edition for July 10. Private-equity firms are using increasingly aggressive recruitment tactics to hire recent college graduates working at big banks. WSJ reporter AnnaMaria Andriotis discusses why the recruits are being wooed away and what banks are doing about it. Plus, investors are down on Google parent Alphabet as it faces threats to its business. Heard on the Street writer Asa Fitch walks us through those challenges and what they mean for the company’s future prospects. And a federal judge issues a new block on the Trump administration’s birthright-citizenship order. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter.Read Transcript

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The deal led to a weak internal audit rating within its consumer lending unit last year, one of the people said.
其中一位知情人士透露，這筆交易導致他們去年在消費貸款部門的內部稽核評級不太理想。

A Wells spokesperson said last year the bank hadn’t experienced “any meaningful money laundering issues with Bilt.”
Wells 的發言人去年說，這家銀行跟 Bilt 之間「沒有發生任何重大的洗錢問題」。

Wells’ financial losses triggered a renegotiation of the program that began in 2023.
Wells 的財務損失引發了這個計畫的重新談判，這件事從 2023 年就開始了。

By the second half of last year, Wells was pushing for big changes, including lowering the fee it pays Bilt and scaling back the points cardholders earn for rent payments. One scenario involved cardholders having to spend on non-rent purchases to be able to earn points on their rent charges. 
到了去年下半年，Wells 就開始大力推動一些大改動，像是想降低付給 Bilt 的費用，還有縮減持卡人繳房租能賺到的點數。其中一個方案就是，持卡人必須在非房租的消費上花錢，才能賺到繳房租的點數。

Early this year, Wells told Bilt the card’s terms will have to be totally redone or the bank would look to exit the program. 
今年年初，Wells 就跟 Bilt 說，這張卡的條款得全部重談，不然他們銀行就要考慮退出這個計畫了。

A fraying relationship  關係開始變調

Kleber Santos, CEO of consumer lending at Wells, said on an internal call last year that Bilt had become a reputational risk for the bank, according to people familiar with the matter. 
據知情人士透露，Wells 負責消費性貸款的執行長 Kleber Santos 去年在一次內部會議上說，Bilt 對銀行來說已經變成一個名譽風險了。

Wells has tightened underwriting standards in the past year, making it harder for new applicants to be approved, according to people familiar with the matter. The bank indicated it would further tighten standards if the card doesn’t change issuers, one of them said.
據知情人士透露，Wells 在過去一年收緊了核貸標準，讓新申請者更難通過。其中一位人士表示，如果這張卡不換發卡銀行，Wells 還會進一步收緊標準。

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In its search for a replacement, Bilt held talks with Synchrony Financial and other issuers.
為了找新的合作夥伴，Bilt 有跟 Synchrony Financial 還有其他發卡機構談過。

This spring, it appeared Bilt might strike a deal with Barclays before a roadblock emerged: Barclays wanted a discount of more than 20% on the sale of the roughly $1.4 billion of outstanding Bilt card balances, according to people familiar with the matter. Wells was willing to accept a big discount but wouldn’t agree to the price Barclays was offering. 
今年春天，Bilt 看起來好像快要跟 Barclays 談成合作了，結果半路殺出個程咬金：據知情人士透露，Barclays 想用超過兩成的折扣，買下 Bilt 大約 14 億美元的未償還卡債。Wells 雖然願意給很大的折扣，但就是不肯接受 Barclays 開的價錢。

In recent weeks, Wells laid out to Bilt the potential consequences if it failed to have a new issuer by June of next year, including the annual fee for cardholders that Wells would pocket. Another possible scenario Wells laid out to Bilt: the bank will stop accepting new applications and eventually move existing Bilt card balances to general-purpose Wells cards. 
最近這幾個禮拜，Wells 就跟 Bilt 攤牌了，說如果明年六月前找不到新的發卡銀行，會有什麼後果，其中就包括 Wells 會把持卡人的年費給收走。Wells 還跟 Bilt 說了另一種可能：銀行會停止接受新的申請，最後把現有的 Bilt 卡餘額轉到 Wells 的一般信用卡上。

Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com and Gina Heeb at gina.heeb@wsj.com
可以寫信給 AnnaMaria Andriotis (annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com) 和 Gina Heeb (gina.heeb@wsj.com)。