Overview
Bilt is something of a trailblazer in the points and miles world. Constantly playing by its own rules and settling itself into a highly niche market, the only way is up for the credit card issuer.
By now, you may know that the company’s current credit card is the only product designed to earn points on our biggest expense, rent. Earning anything from that once untouchable outgoing figure would have been great, but Bilt’s remarkable Rewards program has quickly turned into an immensely valuable tool that can be wrangled into tons of free travel. The Bilt Rewards program is free to join and allows you to earn points on rent payments, even without the Bilt credit card, making it accessible to anyone.
Let’s take a look at the ins and outs of Bilt Rewards and why you need it in your life.
The Bottom Line:
Bilt Rewards is, arguably, the most valuable rewards program on the market. With a growing list of indispensable transfer partners, unique redemption options, and even more ways to earn on the way, it’s a program you should be taking notice of.
- Best for: Renters
- Annual Fee: $0
- Reward Rate: 1X - 3X
- Recommended Credit: 670-850
Bilt Mastercard®
Link a credit or debit card to start stacking Bilt Points with your usual card rewards
Why we like it
The no annual fee Bilt Mastercard® is a very unique product that can turn points earned from one of your largest monthly expenses into a heap of travel rewards and other redemption options. It’s the only card that allows you to pay your rent with no transaction fees—you’ll earn 1X points on rent, up to 100,000 points a year. Many landlords don’t accept credit cards or they charge a convenience fee to use a credit card to pay rent—making it an intriguing option for renters across the US. Plus, you can link a credit or debit card to stack Bilt Points with your usual rewards.
Reward details
3x points on dining
2x points on travel
1x points on other purchases
1x points on rent without the transaction fee, up to 100,000 points in a calendar year. When you use the card 5 times each statement period using your Bilt Mastercard, you’ll earn points on rent and qualifying net purchases.
Pros & Cons
Pros
The greatest benefit is obvious: redeeming points earned from rent into travel rewards with no transaction fees attached.
Bilt has some excellent and unique transfer partners, like United Airlines and Hyatt.
Decent points-earning potential in other categories like 2X points on travel, 3X points on dining, and 1X points on rent (up to 100,000 points in a calendar year) and other purchases.
You can earn interest on Bilt Points when you reach Silver status.
A few other nice benefits are included, such as Cellular Telephone Protection.
Cons
No sign-up bonus
Use the card 5 times each statement period to earn points. So you can’t use it solely for rent. I’d advise putting some restaurant bills on it, as you’ll grab 3X points on those transactions.
Terms Apply
What Is Bilt Rewards
Bilt Rewards is Bilt’s loyalty program, allowing customers to earn points for spending with the company in a number of different ways. Bilt’s setup is unconventional compared to many other credit card issuers, but its rewards system operates in a similar manner and boasts a number of unique quirks, too.
Widely regarded as the most valuable points system in the market, Bilt’s growing presence is making its (current) only credit card indispensable for some customers.
What Are Bilt Points?
Bilt Points are the rewards currency attached to Bilt’s loyalty program. Customers earn these points in a number of ways, depending on their specific relationship with the company. While the company has multiple new avenues arriving in the next year, it’s currently possible to earn Bilt Points by using Bilt to pay rent, using the Bilt Mastercard, and using Bilt Dining. We’ll go into each of these in more depth later in the article.
Points can be redeemed in a number of different ways, including statement credits for purchases, booking travel, and transferring to a travel partner. It also has some unique methods that some people will find value in, like home-purchase deposits.
How Much is a Bilt Point Worth?
The value of a Bilt point varies depending on how it’s used. Generally speaking, the best value method is transferring to one of its strong airline and hotel partners. It’s easy to get as much as 2 cents per point this way. At the lower end, redeeming points to pay for rent or to use on Amazon can get as little as 0.55 cents per point. With that said, real value will differ depending on the customer. Extra help with rent, regardless of the point valuation, may be worth it for some.
Why Choose to Earn Bilt Points?
Earning points on rent is amazing, regardless of how valuable they are. It’s an untapped resource in the world of points and miles, so having a way to earn anything is spectacular. But Bilt Points aren’t just any old currency. They’re widely viewed as the most valuable points around, thanks to the outstanding list of airline and hotel transfer partners Bilt’s curated. Anyone prioritizing Bilt points is setting themselves up for success in this space.
Why Wouldn’t You Choose to Earn Bilt Points?
The primary reason for not bothering with Bilt would be the inability to earn. While opening the Bilt Mastercard means you can earn rewards on every purchase, other cards can earn more in the same categories. With that in mind, someone who doesn’t pay rent may find it beneficial to use a combination of other cards to maximize their spending.
With that said, Bilt has big plans to release new features that cater to a far wider range of customers, so that could all change soon.
How to Earn Bilt Points
Bilt offers a number of ways to earn points. Let’s take a look at each option, as well as a high-level overview of things to come.
Earn on rent
The most impressive way to earn Bilt Points is through its trademark niche — rent. Customers will earn 1 point per dollar of rent paid up to 100,000 points annually when using the Bilt Mastercard. Keeping things ridiculously simple, you can pay rent through the Bilt app, earning as you go. Don’t worry if your landlord only accepts physical checks; Bilt will send a check to them on your behalf, allowing you to keep earning.
It’s now possible to use any applicable credit card via the Bilt app and earn both the Bilt earning rate and the other card’s rate. In theory, this is great, but you’ll need to anticipate the fees involved. Generally, most credit cards will be charged an extra 2-3% on rent payments. With a basic rent of $1000 a month, you’d be looking at an extra $360 a year. Do the math to ensure you don’t shortchange yourself.
Earn using the Bilt Mastercard
The Bilt Mastercard can be used for more than just rent. In fact, it can be used anywhere that accepts Mastercard. The card, like other traditional rewards cards, boasts some strong bonus earning rates. Everything outside of these categories earns 1 point per dollar spent. It’s important to note that the card must be used at least five times in any billing period for the bonus rates to kick in. For a card with no annual fee, these are amazing rates.
5x points per dollar on Bilt Dining and Lyft after linking accounts
3x points per dollar on dining
2x points per dollar on Bilt Travel
2x points per dollar on Walgreens purchases (including prescriptions)
These rates are all doubled on the first day of the month, for up to 1,000 bonus points. After that threshold is crossed, the rate goes back down again.
Earn with Bilt Dining
By linking any credit card, preferably a high-earning one, like the American Express® Gold Card, which earns 4x points per dollar on dining, with Bilt Dining, Bilt’s restaurant-centric program, it’s possible to earn a ton of extra points. In that scenario, you’d be pulling 4x points from Amex and 3x points from Bilt, for a whopping 7x points per dollar on your dinner. That’s incredible.
Simply link the card and use it to pay for food at any of the other 20,000 restaurants that support it. Depending on the card you use, it’s possible to score as much as 10x points per dollar.
Other ways to earn
It’s also possible to earn in the following ways:
Homebuying — while more niche, customers can earn one point for every $2 of a home purchase, provided they use eXp Realty. It’s important that customers do what’s best for their home search, in this case, and don’t choose eXp solely because of the earning potential.
Rent free game — every Rent Day (the first of the month), customers can log into the Bilt App and play a family-feud style game for the chance to win bonus points. A few lucky members will also be selected to have their rent paid for, too.
Earn on fitness classes — While more specific and dependent on the city you’re in, it’s possible to book and earn up to 10x points per dollar on fitness classes. Just book through the Bilt app to ensure you earn the points.
How to Redeem Bilt Points
This is where Bilt Points really come into their own. With some of the best partners in the space and some other unique alternatives, customers have more flexibility and potential value than in most programs. Here are all the ways you can redeem Bilt Points.
Transferring to a travel partner
By far the best way to redeem Bilt Points is by transferring them to a travel partner. Bilt has curated an incredible list of high-value airline and hotel programs, which is generally regarded as the strongest on the market. By moving points to one of these partners, it’s easy to give Bilt Points an average valuation of over 2 cents each. In reality, it’s possible to score much higher rates, especially if you find an excellent business class sweet spot.
Airline transfer partners
As well as being the only direct transfer partner for Alaska Airlines, Bilt also partners with Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic, Air Canada, Turkish Airlines, Southwest, United, Avianca, and British Airways — all outstanding programs. Many cards only boast one or two of these. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for Rent Day. Bilt often launches 24-hour transfer bonuses to some of these airlines, allowing you to take things even further.
Alaska Airlines -1:1
Avianca Lifemiles -1:1
United MileagePlus® -1:1
Air France/KLM Flying Blue® -1:1
Virgin Red® -1:1
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club -1:1
Emirates Skywards® -1:1
British Airways Executive Club -1:1
Cathay Pacific -1:1
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles -1:1
Aer Lingus AerClub -1:1
Iberia Plus -1:1
Air Canada Aeroplan® -1:1
TAP Miles&Go -1:1
Southwest Airlines -1:1
Japan Airlines -1:1
Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios -1:1
Hotel transfer partners
With all of the biggest hotel programs, including the uber-valuable World of Hyatt, there’s a lot of scope here, too.
Hilton Honors -1:1
Marriott Bonvoy™ -1:1
World of Hyatt® -1:1
IHG® One Rewards -1:1
Accor Live Limitless -3:2
Put points towards a home down payment
It may take a while to earn enough points to make a real dent, but Bilt allows customers to redeem their rewards as part of a down payment on a house. Redeeming in this manner will give you a value of 1.5 cents per point. So you’d need to earn 100,000 points to get $1,500 for your payment. Not shabby at all, but the savings you could make from travel redemptions could leave you more cash to put towards it anyway.
Redeem points on the Bilt travel portal
Bilt’s travel portal works similarly to typical travel aggregators: search for the flight or hotel you want, pay, and start packing. It’s possible to redeem points on the portal for 1.25 cents each. Again, this isn’t terrible and has the added benefit of being simpler than a transfer, but we’d still recommend looking at airline and hotel partners first.
Poor redemption options
Bilt also allows customers to redeem points for rent payments, Amazon purchases, and fitness classes, but generally speaking, these are poor value. Using them for rent, for example, gets you just 0.55 cents per point. Of course, if helping pay rent can relieve some pressure, it can be a good thing, but it’s unlikely to yield much in the long run.
The Future of Bilt
Bilt has a lot of plans for the future. It recently broke away from its partnership with Wells Fargo (which supported the card) and announced plans to release three more products. While details are slim at the time of writing, we can expect more variation when it comes to earnings, as well as the introduction of more premium offerings. It’s also trying to kick off earning on mortgages, which would open Bilt Points up to almost anyone eligible for the card.
When these changes kick in, things might look different, but for now, everything you’ve read is what you get.
The Point
Bilt Rewards is a remarkable loyalty program that offers customers the ability to earn tons of points on previously unreachable expenses. Better yet, its points represent amazing value and can be transferred to some of the best airline and hotel programs around.
- Best for: Renters
- Annual Fee: $0
- Reward Rate: 1X - 3X
- Recommended Credit: 670-850
Bilt Mastercard®
Link a credit or debit card to start stacking Bilt Points with your usual card rewards
Why we like it
The no annual fee Bilt Mastercard® is a very unique product that can turn points earned from one of your largest monthly expenses into a heap of travel rewards and other redemption options. It’s the only card that allows you to pay your rent with no transaction fees—you’ll earn 1X points on rent, up to 100,000 points a year. Many landlords don’t accept credit cards or they charge a convenience fee to use a credit card to pay rent—making it an intriguing option for renters across the US. Plus, you can link a credit or debit card to stack Bilt Points with your usual rewards.
Reward details
3x points on dining
2x points on travel
1x points on other purchases
1x points on rent without the transaction fee, up to 100,000 points in a calendar year. When you use the card 5 times each statement period using your Bilt Mastercard, you’ll earn points on rent and qualifying net purchases.
Pros & Cons
Pros
The greatest benefit is obvious: redeeming points earned from rent into travel rewards with no transaction fees attached.
Bilt has some excellent and unique transfer partners, like United Airlines and Hyatt.
Decent points-earning potential in other categories like 2X points on travel, 3X points on dining, and 1X points on rent (up to 100,000 points in a calendar year) and other purchases.
You can earn interest on Bilt Points when you reach Silver status.
A few other nice benefits are included, such as Cellular Telephone Protection.
Cons
No sign-up bonus
Use the card 5 times each statement period to earn points. So you can’t use it solely for rent. I’d advise putting some restaurant bills on it, as you’ll grab 3X points on those transactions.
by your friends at The Daily Navigator
