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Since its inception in 2021, Bilt Rewards has made waves with an intuitive credit card product and loyalty program that allow members to earn transferable points on convenience fee-free rent and everyday purchases — with no annual fee. Even though the program is tailored towards renters, anyone can join the Bilt Rewards program and apply for The Bilt Mastercard®. While there's added value to carrying the card, you're not obligated to hold it to find value in Bilt Rewards.
From earning to burning Bilt points, here's everything you need to know about the Bilt Rewards program.
How the Bilt Rewards Program Works
The Bilt Rewards program is generally straightforward and easy to navigate. Bilt members can earn points by swiping the Bilt Mastercard for rent payments, everyday purchases, and through a handful of other methods, though you should know that you need to make at least five purchases each billing cycle on the card to earn at the highest rates.
You can redeem Bilt points towards purchases and travel or transfer them to one of several airline and hotel loyalty programs. Bilt points also can be redeemed for credits toward rent payments or even a down payment toward a house.
The key to earning a lot of Bilt points is the Bilt Mastercard — issued by Wells Fargo. While you don't need to hold the card (or be a renter) to join Bilt Rewards and earn points, having the card will surely make point-earning easier. You can also enjoy paying rent with no convenience fees — one of the significant perks of keeping the no-annual-fee Bilt Mastercard in your wallet (Rates & Fees).
Bilt Rewards Rent Day
While the first day of every month is not typically known as the most exciting day of the month, the Bilt Rewards program routinely throws the kitchen sink at rent day to make it bearable and rewarding.
On the first, you can take advantage of a slew of benefits, including (but not limited to) points transfer bonuses, sweepstakes for free rent, bonus points through trivia, and a whole lot more. If you carry the Bilt Mastercard, you'll also observe that your card will feature substantially more valuable earning categories — up to 6X Bilt Rewards points per $1 spent on purchases. Cardholders are limited to 1,000 bonus points earned through the “double points” promotion on the first of each month.
Related: A Look at Bilt’s Rent Day Promotion for This Month
Bilt Rewards elite status
To make loyalty more rewarding, Bilt publishes a few elite status tiers that offer unique benefits at every level. You'll also have access to Milestone Rewards for every 25,000 points you earn and opportunities to get more from your points on Rent Day.
On January 3, 2024, Bilt made elite status harder to earn by increasing the number of points it takes to reach status — crediting the growing number of ways to earn Bilt points. At the time of writing, Bilt's elite status tiers look like this:
| Bilt Status | Earn this many points annually to qualify for status: | Or spend this much on non-rent purchases on The Bilt Mastercard® or another credit card linked to your Bilt wallet: |
|---|---|---|
| Blue | Applies to anyone enrolled in Bilt Rewards with under 50,000 Bilt Points earned | $0 |
| Silver | 50,000 | $10,000 |
| Gold | 125,000 | $25,000 |
| Platinum | 200,000 | $50,000 |
Some of the headline benefits at each tier include:
- Silver
- Earn 10% bonus points on new leases and renewals.
- Earn interest on points based on the FDIC national savings rate.
- Gold (Everything in the prior tier, plus:
- Earn 25% bonus points on new leases and renewals.
- Homeownership Concierge.
- Platinum: Everything in the prior tier, plus:
- Earn 50% bonus points on new leases and renewals.
- Receive a Bilt Collection gift, consisting of home decor or art.
You can earn Bilt status in one of two ways: earning a specific number of points annually or spending a finite amount on non-rent purchases with the Bilt Mastercard or another card linked to your Bilt wallet. The main reason it's worth chasing status is for the Rent Day extra benefits for elites, which are generally confined to lucrative transfer bonuses.
If met organically, Bilt status can be a nice pickup, but it's otherwise not worth going out of your way to spend or earn points for.
Earning Bilt Rewards Points
Outside of paying rent, there are numerous ways to earn Bilt Rewards points:
- Swiping the Bilt Mastercard
- Booking travel through the Bilt Travel portal
- Dining at restaurants in the Bilt Dining collection
- Lyft rides
- Reserving SoulCycle classes
- Referring others to the Bilt Mastercard
Let's take a detailed look at each way you can earn Bilt points.
Earn Bilt points on rent
The prime way to earn Bilt points is by paying rent through Bilt Rewards. Without the Bilt Mastercard, Bilt members can earn a maximum of 250 points on rent payments within the Bilt Alliance network.
If your landlord doesn't belong to the Bilt Alliance network, you can still earn points on rent, but only by using the Bilt Mastercard. Bilt will mail the landlord a check or make a wire transfer, depending on the information you provide in your member portal.
When using the card, you'll earn one Bilt point per $1 spent on rent as long as you make at least five transactions per statement period. In a calendar year, you can earn a maximum of 100,000 points from rent spending. More on this shortly.
Additionally, one of the Bilt Mastercard‘s main perks is that you won't incur fees when you use it to pay rent. Since convenience fees can be as high as 3% using third-party payment processors like Plastiq or paying via some landlords' credit card processors, this perk can be a significant money saver for most renters.
As an incentive to rent through a property that belongs to the Bilt Alliance network, you'll earn up to 50% bonus points for signing a new lease or renewing an old one. The specific number of points you'll earn depends on your Bilt status:
- Silver: 10% bonus
- Gold: 25% bonus
- Platinum: 50% bonus
Related: How Does Bilt Rewards Stack Up for Earning Rewards by Paying Rent?
Earn Bilt points by swiping the Bilt Mastercard
To get the most out of the Bilt Rewards program, you'll want to carry the Bilt Mastercard. If you make at least five transactions per statement period on your Bilt Mastercard, you'll earn Bilt Rewards points at the following rates:
- 1X points on rent payments made through the Bilt App — up to 100,000 points per calendar year.
- 2X points on travel.
- 3X points on dining.
- 1X on all other purchases with no cap on earnings.
For a no-annual-fee credit card, it's hard to deny that the card is a valuable wallet addition. Separately, there's no welcome bonus, but the ongoing benefit of paying rent without convenience fees will be worth the sacrifice of a welcome bonus for most renters.
Moreover, points earnings (except for the 1X on rent) are normally doubled on the first of the month for Bilt's Rent Day promotions (up to 1,000 bonus points). Earning 6X on dining and 4X on travel once per month is a valuable earning structure.
Related: Bilt Mastercard full review
Earn Bilt points by linking loyalty accounts and credit cards
Possibly one of the easiest ways to earn Bilt points, you'll earn a one-time bonus of 100 points each time you link an eligible loyalty account. Bilt partners with 21 loyalty programs, meaning you can earn 2100 points by linking your accounts.
You also can earn 100 Bilt points on each of the first three credit cards you add to your Bilt wallet — for a total of 300 points. In minutes, you can rack up nearly 2,000 Bilt points without breaking a sweat or spending a dollar.
Earn Bilt points through Bilt's travel portal
Making travel reservations through Bilt's Expedia-powered travel portal offers 2X Bilt points per $1 charged to your Bilt Mastercard. Using a separate credit card to purchase travel through the portal offers 1X points per $1 spent, but this comes in addition to the points you'll already earn for travel purchases on your other credit card.
Related: Best Credit Cards for Travel Purchases
Earn Bilt points through Bilt Dining
The Bilt Dining program offers 5 Bilt points per $1 spent at participating restaurants. There's no need to use the Bilt Mastercard (however, you'll earn 8X with it) at these restaurants; just swipe a card that you've linked to your Bilt wallet, and you'll earn the points. And like the rewards you'll earn in Bilt's travel portal, the points you earn on dining come in addition to the points you'll already earn on the credit card you swipe.
But if you use a separate credit card, Bilt will only award you bonus points if it's not linked to another dining program. You'll have an option to unlink your card from other dining rewards programs in the neighborhood section of the Bilt app.
Related: Best Cards for Dining and Restaurants
However, pairing the earning rates from Bilt Dining with the earning rates during Rent Day (when points earnings are doubled–up to 1,000 bonus points) would offer up to 11X on the first of the month. That's worth remembering.
Earning Bilt points on Lyft and SoulCycle purchases
By linking your Lyft account with the Bilt app, you're geared to earn 2X Bilt points on your next Lyft ride. And when you pay for your ride with the Bilt Mastercard, you'll earn an additional 3X Bilt points.
You'll also earn Bilt points on SoulCycle rides. All you have to do is make your reservations through the Bilt app, and then you'll earn a whopping 10X points per $1 spent.
Earn Bilt points by referring others to Bilt
Finally, sharing the love is another way to earn a boatload of Bilt Rewards points. For each successful referral you make to the Bilt Mastercard, you'll receive 2,500 points — plus a 10,000-point bonus on every fifth approved referral.
As of February 1, 2024, Bilt now caps the number of successful referrals you can earn at 50. That means you can earn a maximum of 250,000 bonus Bilt points through referrals (down from the prior cap of 2 million points).
Redeeming Bilt Rewards Points
Coupled with a variety of ways to earn Bilt points is a variety of ways to redeem. Let's look at what you can do with a balance of Bilt Rewards points.
Transfer points to partner loyalty programs
One of the best ways to extract maximum value from your Bilt Rewards points is to transfer them to one of 21 airline and hotel partners. Transfers are 1:1 and start at a minimum of 2,000 points.
Bilt’s roster of transfer partners includes:
Based on recent redemptions, AwardWallet users typically redeem Bilt Rewards points for 2¢ apiece, making the currency objectively one of the most valuable. Comparatively, AwardWallet users typically redeem other leading transferable points for the following:
- Capital One miles: 2¢
- Citi ThankYou® Points: 2.18¢
- American Express Membership Rewards: 1.95¢
- Chase Ultimate Rewards: 1.94¢
Some of the most high-value redemptions with Bilt points include international business-class redemptions with American Airlines AAdvantage miles, world-class stays at World of Hyatt properties around the globe, and cheap flights to Hawaii booked with Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles.
Redeem points for purchases, fitness classes, and more
If transferring points isn't up your alley, you can redeem your stash of Bilt Rewards points for statement credits, Amazon purchases, travel, and more. Here's a snapshot of the value you'll get from your points when you redeem points this way:
- Statement credits: 0.55 cents per point
- Amazon purchases (limited to Bilt Mastercard holders): 0.7 cents per point
- Fitness classes (SoulCycle, Solidcore, Y7 Studio, etc): Roughly 1 cent per point
- Bilt Collection (art, home decor, etc): Roughly 1 cent per point
- Bilt Travel Portal: 1.25 cents per point
Value-wise, it's rather clear you'll get the most out of your Bilt points by transferring to a partner. While there's nothing wrong with redeeming points for non-travel purchases, it just won't give you the most value for your points. If using transfer partners for redemptions seems too complicated, you still can use your points for travel in the portal for more value than the remaining options.
Redeem points for rent payments
Another way to redeem your Bilt points is by putting them towards your monthly rent. While you'll offset the financial burden of rent, this is generally a poor-value use of points. Limited to those who rent at a Bilt Alliance property or pay rent via check, you'll get a paltry 0.55 cents per Bilt point applied towards rent.
Redeem points for a down payment on a house
Possibly one of the rarer uses of Bilt points is the option to use points for a down payment on a house. If you use your Bilt Rewards points this way, your points will convert to dollars at a rate of 1.5 cents per point. For example, a balance of 100,000 points becomes $1,500 when applied to a down payment.
To redeem points for a down payment, you'll need to fill out a form notifying Bilt of your decision.
Final Thoughts
For renters and non-renters, the Bilt Rewards program is worth a look. Earning points on convenience fee-free rent payments makes Bilt stand alone, and an intuitive credit card product is the icing on the cake. Various ways to redeem Bilt points at value are also a huge plus, as the program offers access to otherwise hard-to-reach programs like American Airlines AAdvantage and World of Hyatt.
There's no perfect program, but Bilt offers a lot of positives that make becoming a member and carrying the Bilt Mastercard product nothing short of compelling.
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