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Bilt Rewards Full Review
Bilt Rewards has made it possible to earn points paying your rent. Not just any points – these bad boys will transfer to both United and American Airlines as well as Hyatt, IHG, Turkish, and in September they folded in British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus. The list of transfer partners is fantastic, and in 2022, I became a Bilt Rewards senior advisor and the program has continued to impress and impress.
But, you don’t have to have the credit card to earn points via Bilt Rewards, so let’s dig into the program from soup to nuts.
How do I earn points with Bilt Rewards?
You can earn Bilt Rewards via multiple avenues, one being paying rent via the Bilt Rewards Alliance, paying rent via the Bilt Rewards Mastercard, but also
Pay your rent via the Bilt Rewards App as an alliance partner
- The first, using their app to pay rent within their Bilt Alliance network. They have partnerships with over 2 million properties across the country. If your building is a part of it, it’s super easy and streamlined. You would simply onboard via the property owner’s rent portal, or via Bilt’s app. You could then have you rent processed and you’d earn points on your rent to the tune of 250 points per month.
How does paying rent with Bilt Rewards Mastercard work?
This is a gamechanger.
You can use their no annual fee Bilt Rewards Mastercard Elite to pay your rent and earn points without paying any transaction fees. I’m not talking just within the alliance, but literally any landlord, anywhere in the United States, and setting up your account is super easy. You submit your lease documents in the portal
Before you ask…I know what you’re going to say: My landlord doesn’t accept credit card.
Easy peasy! If they don’t accept credit card…
- Bilt will mail your landlord a check.
- They even set it up so that you can use the Bilt Rewards Mastercard to pay via ACH, Venmo, or PayPal
How does the Bilt Rewards Mastercard earn points?
The biggest caveat is you need to make 5 non-rent transactions every month. As long as you do that, you’ll earn your points on rent and at the following rates without any annual fee
- 0 Annual fee
- 1x on rent
- 2x on travel ( booked direct with airlines, hotels, cruises, or car rentals )
- 3x on dining ( this includes delivery like Grubhub, Uber Eats, etc )
The Bilt Rewards Mastercard is the only card that earn Points on rent without the transaction fee Terms and conditions . It’s the only 1:1 program where you can transfer points to both American and United!
A complete no brainer for renters in the USA
Welcome Offer
None
Annual Fee
$0
Points Earned
Bilt Rewards
Finally you can earn points on one of your biggest monthly expenses, RENT, without any processing fees Terms and Conditions. Just make sure you make 5 non-rent transactions every month, no minimum purchase, to earn points.
Bilt Rewards has a great list of transfer partners and will mail your landlord a check, process via ACH, Paypal, or Venmo.
Bilt “Rent Day”
- on the first of every month, all non-rent expenses earn double points.
- 0 Annual fee
- 1x on rent
- 2x on travel
- booked direct with airlines, hotels, cruises, or car rentals
- 3x on dining
- this includes delivery like Grubhub, Uber Eats, etc
- Transfer points 1:1 to over a dozen partners, including American, United, and Hyatt
- Redeem points for Rent, Mortgage Downpayment, Amazon
- Redeem at 1.25c in the Bilt Rewards Travel Center (powered by Expedia)
- Mastercard World Elite benefits
- Mobile Phone Insurance
- Primary Rental Car Coverage
Some people have received targeted 10k sign up bonuses, but those are few and far between
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
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.
How many points can I earn every year on rent? 100k
Bilt quietly increased their their yearly max from 50k to 100k in April of 2023 – you can see it noted below
Bilt Rewards “Rent Day” earns double points on everything except rent
Each month, on the 1st, Bilt Rewards will double all of the points you earn that day. So the normal 3x dining, 2x travel, and 1x everywhere else, becomes 6x, 4x, and 2x respectively. This doesn’t include rent or the limited time 3x gas promo, but it’s a darn good deal. It does max out a 10k each rent day, but if you’re planning a fancy dinner or to book plane tickets/hotels, but those tickets, or check out of a hotel on the 1st lol.
2for1 Soul Cycle
Book a “Rent Day” class and get a 2nd bike free – you’ll also get 10x points.
Bilt Dining earns an additional 5x on points
In April of 2023, Bilt introduced a Bilt Dining Program that earns an additional 5x points if you eat at restaurants participating in the program. This works in a similar way to any other dining portal, except you’re earning 5x Bilt Rewards instead of AA, United, Alaska, etc. You can pay with any card, but if you currently have the Bilt Rewards Mastercard, it’ll be automatically added. Everything works behind the scenes, so you don’t pay with the app, you just use your credit card as your normally would, and you’ll receive your 5x points in 7 or so days. This is incredible and if you have the Bilt Rewards Mastercard you’ll earn your 3x dining on top of the 3x, and on Rent Days, earn 6x bonus…that’s 11x on Rent Day at participating restaurants
It’s first rollout was in NYC, Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, and Chicago – when you select a city, as shown below, you’ll see a bunch of restaurants that are included. When you dine at them, you’ll get credited for not only the points on your credit card, but also the 5x Bilt Rewards via Bilt Dining.
How do I load my card?
Under the dining section in the Bilt Rewards App…you’ll see the Bilt Wallet. If you have the Bilt Rewards Mastercard you’ll find your card already loaded. If you don’t, you can load any credit or debit card and then when you use it at a participating restaurants, you’ll earn your credit card points + 5x Bilt Rewards. It’s that simple.
Bilt Rewards Referral program – you don’t need the Bilt Rewards Mastercard to refer
As long as you have a Bilt Rewards account, you don’t need the credit card to refer people to the credit, you can refer bonuses. It’s pretty easy: just go to Invite in the top right corner of the homepage on the app, create a link, and you can refer. Just note that you will receive a 1099 on the points you earn.
- 2500 per referral
- 10k bonus after 5 referrals
- Capped at 2,025,000 points ( 450 referrals )
Extra benefits of the Bilt Rewards Mastercard: free mobile phone insurance + Primary car rental insurance
Cell phone protection
- $800 benefit with a $25 deductible
- 2 claims in any 12 month rolling period
- doesn’t cover phones that are lost, I.e. disappear without explanation
- bill must be paid by the Bilt Rewards Mastercard
Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver reimburses You for damages caused by theft or collision — up to the Actual Cash Value of most rented cars. Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver covers no other type of loss. For example, in the event of a collision involving Your rented vehicle, damage to any other driver’s car or the injury of anyone or anything is not covered. Rental periods of thirty-one (31) consecutive days are covered. (Longer rental periods, however, are not covered.)
- Go here to see exclusions and more details
Earn more points with BILT Status via interest on points
BILT established 3 tiers of status that is based off of how many points you earn in a year. Additionally, you’ll earn interest in the form of points, based on your point balance. This is akin to the Chase Sapphire Preferred giving out a 10% bonus on points earned each year, but this is based on your total balance and will yield a rate akin to the national savings rate. A very nominal rate of return, but something is better than nothing.
- Blue – anyone enrolled in Bilt Rewards with under 25,000 points
- Silver – 25,000 points earned
- Gold – 50,000 points earned
- Platinum – 100,000 points earned
How can I use my Bilt Rewards?
There are multiple ways you can actually redeem your Bilt Rewards, but my favorite is transferring them to partners. Bilt has an incredible list of transfer partners and is the only program with both American and United as 1:1 transfer partners. Add in Hyatt and Bilt Rewards are arguably one of the most valuable point currencies out there.
Bilt Rewards Transfer Partners – Only program with 1:1 transfer with American and United
BILT has a great list of transfer partners, and the IHG addition is nice, but honestly I’d never transfer to IHG from BILT. The partners like American or Hyatt are FAR, FAR, more valuable especially with IHG points often being on sale for 1/2 a penny a point.
You can also redeem for 1.25c in the Bilt Rewards Travel Portal powered by Expedia
If you don’t want to transfer them to their transfer partners, you can redeem at 1.25c in the Bilt Rewards Travel Portal, powered by Expedia.
- Airlines
- Hotels
- Cruises
- Theme Parks
A quick example
Redeem on a mortgage with Bilt Homes:
See what you could afford mortgage wise + use points for a down payment
Bilt Homes takes a member’s monthly rent payment and instantly shows them homes they can own for an equal monthly mortgage payment. The feature automatically factors in real-time interest rates, taxes, income, credit profile, and other personal data to determine mortgage qualification. Members can then use their Bilt points to help cover any downpayment and closing costs required to switch from renting to home ownership.
Bilt’s Homeownership Concierge (Gold, Platinum)
This is a service that Gold and Platinum members can use when redeeming Bilt Rewards for a downpayment. A concierge will walk people through the process.
Bonus Points on New Leases or Renewals (Silver, Gold, Platinum)
Depending on your member status, you can get up to 50% bonus when you sign a new lease or renew
Complimentary Bilt Collection Gift (Platinum)
If you hit Platinum status Bilt will send you a piece of art, home decor, etc.
What are some great ways to use Bilt Rewards?
Bilt Rewards has a fantastic list of transfer partners that you can access whether you have the credit card or not. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
Hyatt
I’ve used points to stay at the feature image the Alila Villas Uluwatu for 30k points per night. It’s base room is a large villa with a private pool overlooking the cliffs of Bali. I mean can we say aspirational?
British Airways Avios
As I mentioned, you can link your account to Qatar Airways Avios. By doing this, your BA Avios populate in both your BA account and your Qatar Airways account and you can take advantage of some better pricing. For instance, you can book most routes from the US through Doha to the Maldives for just 85k Avios. That’s an outrageously good deal – a little tip for finding award avail is to look 10 months into the future, or within a couple weeks of departure for a last minute trip
United
Fly business class from the US to Europe or South America for 60k miles. You could make that if you maxed out your rent and renewed your lease. Pretty awesome.
Turkish
One of the blogger favorites, you could use this program to fly to Europe in business class for just 45k miles.
American Airlines
One of the suite spots of AA is flying to Japan. You can fly in business class for 60k and first class for 85k. Japan Airlines has a phenomenal first class that would be well worth a redemption. Just don’t do this…but you can read our review.
Does the Bilt Rewards Mastercard make sense for you?
If you’re a renter…I think BILT is a no brainer.
Most people don’t earn any points on one of their biggest expenses…rent.
If you’re not a renter…perhaps it won’t be as intriguing a proposition if you’re already in the Chase, Amex, Citi, Cap1 ecosystem.
However…I just moved from LA where rent is astronomical and let’s just use it as an example. I know, it’s a high end market so the points will be inflated, but I think it shows how many points are being left on the table for big city renters.
- Los Angeles with $2000 a month rent, $1000 a month on food, and $1000 a year on travel with 5 transactions a month
- $2k x 12 = 24k points a year
- $1k x 12 x 3 = 36k points a year
- $1k x 2 = 2k points a year
- In total you’d be earning 62k points per year and paying no annual fee
You’d end the year with Gold status, meaning if you renewed or signed a lease you’d get a 25% bonus, or another 15k points, ending the year with somewhere around 77k points. Now…if you had a Chase Sapphire Preferred, you’d earn 3x on the dining and let’s just say you booked all your travel via Chase Travel you’d earn 5x on that $1k. You’d earn 41k Chase Ultimate Rewards vs 77k Bilt Rewards. Could you keep both cards? Of course, but for a renter in a big city, this could end up being a really powerful card to keep in your wallet for the rental earn alone.
If you rent…this is a complete no brainer.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
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.
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