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Bilt is now offering a new way to earn extra points, hit minimum spend requirements, and double up on points through the Bilt app. Simply load your existing credit cards into the app, fill in your rent information, and you can begin to earn not only Bilt points on your rent, but also the points your credit card normally earns. The only catch? You’ll pay a 3% transaction fee. Is it worth it? Let’s find out
Bilt has updated their earn structure – see below ( all cards will earn 1 Bilt points for every $2 spent similar to Amex now – effective July 21st )
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What’s new?
- As you can see below, Visa,MC, and Discover will no longer earn 1x Bilt points in addition to the points the card earns and instead will earn 1 Bilt point for every $2 on rent.
- We’ve been told that Bilt is negotiating new cobrand partners that will earn points similar to the Alaska Visa Signature
Amex/Visa/Mastercard/Discover
-
- Earn 1X Bilt Points for every $2 spent on rent a. In addition to your Amex rewards
Visa:
Now earn 1X Bilt Points on rent in addition to your Visa card rewards
Mastercard
Now earn 1X Bilt Points on rent in addition to your Mastercard reward
Discover
Now earn 1X Bilt Points on rent in addition to your Discover card rewards
Staying the same:
- The Bilt card will be the only card that earns Bilt points without a transaction fee
- ACH and other payment methods will only earn 250 points
- The Alaska Visa Signature continues to earn 3X Alaska miles (in lieu of Bilt Points)
Is it worth it?
Totally depends. If you’re hitting a minimum spend requirement? It definitely could be. Let’s say your rent is $1700 a month and you want the new 100k offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. It requires $5k spend in 3 months. You could just add this card to the Bilt app, pay your rent for 3 months, or $5100 + 3% processing fee of $153, and you’d have hit your min spend without even trying. Sure, you’d spend an extra $153, but you’d probably not earned any points on that $5k and now you’re getting 100k Chase Ultimate Rewards + 5k Bilt Points. That’s a no brainer imo.
Another example could be that you want to pay with your Capital One Venture Rewards or Venture X which earn 2x points on all purchases. The same situation would net you 10,200 Cap1 Points and 5k Bilt Points. I value Cap1 around 1.7cents per points and Bilt at 2 cents per point. Meaning, you’d earn about $340 in Cap1 points and $200 in Bilt Points all the while paying a 3% fee of $153.
Yet another example. Let’s say you have a 2% cashback card. You could pay your rent, earn $102 cashback and 5k Bilt Points all for a 3% transaction fee of $153. That means you’re buying Bilt Points for about a penny a piece and they can be redeemed in the portal for 1.25c a piece for travel. That’s a no brainer as well.
Does it always make sense? Probably not.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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