Bilt Rewards Review: A Breakdown of Bilt Rewards Points Value

Bilt made waves in 2021 by rolling out a new loyalty program and credit card. Unlike most rewards cards that give you points for dining and travel, Bilt lets you rack up points just for paying your rent—with no annual fee to boot. So, you’re scoring rewards on the money you’re shelling out anyway.

You can then cash in the points for perks like travel and retail discounts and even put them toward a down payment on a house. 

Do legacy players like Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve still own the world of high-end travel rewards? Probably. But Bilt’s outside-the-box loyalty approach has carved out an exciting niche.

Read on to learn more.

This article will include:

• A detailed explanation of what the Bilt Rewards Program is.
• How to earn and use Bilt Rewards.
• Important FAQs about this rewards program.

Read more:

• Best Business Credit Cards 
• Credit Cards for Free Travel and Cash Back
• Credit Card Perks 

What is Bilt Rewards?

A first of its kind, the Bilt Rewards Program lets you pay your rent with a credit card for free while earning reward points. If you live in a Bilt Rewards Alliance Property (a network of over three million premium rentals in the US), you can sign up for the program and earn travel, dining, and retail rewards. 

Not living in one of these homes? You can still sign up for the program and pay your rent with a credit card at no extra charge. But you won’t be bagging any Bilt points. 

Don’t want to miss out on these points? You can get the card_name to pay rent at any US property and earn points (on rent and non-rent transactions).

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is my top pick for your first rewards card. Welcome bonus of 80,000 points worth at least $1,000 when used to book travel (after a $4,000 spend in 3 mo) and other great perks you can learn abouthere.

How Much are Bilt Points Worth?

I’ve done some digging, and I estimate that the Bilt points value is between 0.7 cents to 2 cents each, with the average being 1.5 cents per dollar. 

That’s mighty impressive for the loyalty program and the no-annual-fee credit card. 

It’s even comparable to the likes of American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards points—especially when you account for Bilt’s impressive lineup of transfer partners, including American Airlines AAdvantage and World of Hyatt.

How to Earn Bilt Rewards

When it comes to flexibility, Bilt is acing the game. There’s not one, not two—but seven different ways you can earn Bilt Reward points.

Earn Bilt Rewards points by paying rent

Renters rejoice! You can leverage Bilt’s app to earn Bilt Rewards points by paying your rent. There’s a catch though—this route is only available for tenants who live in one of the 3+ million Bilt Alliance Properties in the US. 

If you belong to this lucky lot, you earn 250 monthly points just for paying rent. That means you can earn up to 3,000 points per year, which I conservatively value at $45 (assuming the average value of each point is 1.5 cents).

Qualifying Bilt Rewards Alliance Properties include:

• American Landmark
• Applied Management
• AvalonBay Communities
• Berkshire Residential
• BH Management
• Blackstone
• Brookfield Properties
• Camden Property Trust
• Cushman & Wakefield
• Equity Residential
• GID-Windsor Communities
• Highmark Residential
• Lennar Multifamily
• LivCor
• LeFrak
• The Moinian Group
• Morgan Properties
• Related Companies
• SL Green Realty Corp.
• Starwood Capital Group
• Trammell Crow Residential
• Veritas Investments

Want to check if your rental address property qualifies? Enter your address into the Bilt app to see if your building is a Bilt partner. If you qualify, you’ll see a note that your building is a “Member of the Bilt Rewards Alliance.”

There’s also more than one way to earn points if you’re renting at a Bilt Rewards Alliance property. You can bag extra rewards for things like:

• Renewing a lease.
• Signing a new lease.
• Referring to a new tenant.

Earn points with the Bilt Rewards Mastercard

If you aren’t renting at a qualifying property, don’t dismiss Bilt yet. You can still earn valuable points with the card_name.

Here’s what the rewards system looks like:

• Earn 3x points on dining.
• Get 2x points on travel purchases (direct bookings with airlines, hotels, car rentals and cruises).
• Earn 1x point on rent with no transaction fees (up to 100,000 Bilt points annually).
• Bag 1x point on all other purchases.

Even if your landlord isn’t affiliated with Bilt, you’ll still reap benefits. Bilt will mail checks on your behalf when you initiate rent payments through its app. 

Recently, Bilt introduced an automated clearing house (ACH) option, giving you the necessary account details to pay landlords and earn points.

Of course, like with all good things, there’s a catch—you’ll need to make at least five purchases on your card each statement period to earn points. Plus, this card will count toward your Chase 5/24 score. 

On the bright side, there’s no annual fee, so you don’t need to earn enough rewards to offset the card’s cost.

To top things off, you can leverage other Bilt Rewards Mastercard benefits, including:

• Trip cancellation insurance.
• Rental car insurance.
• Cell phone insurance (up to $800 per claim).
• Purchase protection against damage or theft (up to $1,000 within 90 days).
• Up to $120 DoorDash credits ($5 discount on each of your first two orders each month).
• Up to $60 Lyft credits per year (when you take three rides per month).
• No foreign transaction fees.

For more rewards, check out the best cash back credit cards. 

Earn Bilt points through Bilt Dining

Bilt Dining Rewards Program is an enticing venture, currently spanning 20 markets, including cities such as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, and New York City.

I like Bilt Dining for its simplicity—link any Visa, Mastercard, or American Express credit card to the program and earn 10x points when dining at Bilt partner restaurants.

What’s even more exciting is that these points are a bonus on top of your regular Bilt Credit Card rewards. For example, if you pay with your Bilt Mastercard, you’ll earn 3 additional points per dollar spent, making for a total of up to 13 Bilt points per dollar spent.

Bag points through the Bilt Travel Portal

Powered by Expedia, Bilt’s travel portal lets you earn points on all bookings done through the portal. 

Now, if you’re a Bilt member without the Bilt Mastercard, you get one point for every dollar you spend. The perks get juicier if you’re a cardholder, with 2x reward points on every dollar you spend through Bilt’s portal.

Get Bilt points by leveraging your Lyft account

Earn extra Bilt Rewards while catching a Lyft ride. Just link your Lyft account with Bilt through the Bilt Rewards app, and you’re good to go.

As a Bilt member, you’ll start earning two Bilt points for every dollar you spend on Lyft rides. And for those holding the Bilt World Elite Mastercard, there’s a little bonus—an additional three Bilt points per dollar spent. That adds up to a total of 5 points per dollar.

Earn Bilt points with referrals

Bilt has one of the most rewarding referral programs I’ve ever come across. 

Each time a friend hops on board through your referral, you’ll bag 2,500 points. 

But here’s where it gets more rewarding—for every five friends who join, you’ll pocket an extra 10,000 bonus points. 

And you can keep referring folks, raking in bonus points, up to a total of two million points.

Access more Bilt points with SoulCycle

Take advantage of Bilt’s exclusive tie-up with SoulCycle to earn up to 10 points per dollar on fitness classes booked through the Bilt app.

Bilt Rewards Elite Status Tiers

Apart from the many ways to earn Bilt Rewards, your journey through this loyalty program comes with perks that scale up as your points accumulate. 

There are four membership tiers—Blue, Silver, Gold, and Platinum—each bringing its own set of special advantages.

As you ascend the tiers, you unlock exclusive benefits like earning interest on your points balance and bonus points for signing a new lease.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how many points you need to access new status levels and what they can fetch you:

Keep in mind: If you hit a status threshold between January 1st and June 30th, your status expires on January 31st of the following year. When you earn a status tier between July 1st and December 31st, you’ll have that status tier through the entire following year.

How to Use Bilt Rewards

Bilt backs up its flexible points-earning system with an even more flexible points redemption system. 

Here’s a table that summarizes the many ways of redeeming your Bilt Rewards:

Now, here’s a detailed explanation of each of these redemption methods:

Transferring to airline and hotel partners

Transferring loyalty points can unlock incredible travel rewards. Learn to ace this game and you’re looking at flying first class internationally or staying in luxurious hotel suites for a fraction of the cost. 

Bilt has partnered with over 15 major airlines and hotels, including an exclusive relationship with American Airlines AAdvantage. Even if you’ve never flown or stayed with these companies before, joining their rewards programs is typically free.

Once you sign up, connect your travel loyalty accounts to your Bilt account to bag a signup bonus of 100 points per program. With 15 transfer partners, that’s 1,500 extra points!

The best part is Bilt offers a simple 1:1 transfer ratio. But depending on where you transfer your points, the redemption value shoots up exponentially (over 2 cents per point in some cases).

Strategic transfers can help you book $3,000 business class tickets to Asia or week-long stays in overwater bungalows for just $600. 

My favorite hack is to transfer my points over to my World of Hyatt account. Their free night awards start at just 3,500 points. Plus, you can book all-inclusive resorts for 12,000 points per night.

Here’s a list of all the loyalty programs Bilt lets you transfer points to:

Take a look at the top travel cards with better travel and cash-back rewards.

Redeem for travel on the Bilt travel portal

Another way to redeem your Bilt points for travel is to head to Bilt’s travel portal. You can book flights, hotels, or other travel experiences at a flat rate of 1.25 cents per point. So, if you have 10,000 points, you’d get $125 to put toward your next trip.

Powered by Expedia, the Bilt travel portal works just like the former site. That means you can book just about any flight or hotel with no blackout dates.

Now, here’s my favorite part of the deal—Bilt gives its members complimentary access to award search tools like Point.me and Awayz. These sites help you search for award availability and pricing across Bilt’s airline and hotel transfer partners in one place. 

Save up for home ownership

Working on becoming a homeowner soon? This bit might excite you. 

Bilt Rewards lets members redeem points toward something most programs don’t offer—a down payment on a home mortgage financed through Bilt. 

This exclusive redemption option provides exceptional value at a boosted rate of up to 1.5 cents per point.

Pay rent with your points

Put your loyalty points directly toward your monthly rent payment. Note that the exact value per point depends on the rates set by your rental property. 

Thankfully, the Bilt Rewards app lets you confirm the value before finalizing any rent redemptions.

Redeem for fitness classes

Choose to redeem your Bilt points for group fitness classes or subscriptions with SoulCycle, Rumble Boxing, and Y7 Studio. 

Fitness redemptions start at 2,400 points and the redemption rate is pretty decent (around 1 cent per point).

Shop the Bilt Collection

For the artsy folks reading this, you may be interested in checking out the Bilt Collection—a curated list of limited-edition decor, apparel pieces, and artwork available for purchase with your Bilt loyalty points. 

A quick scan tells me that most items on here start at around 2,500 points. The redemption rate depends on what you’re purchasing, but in no scenario does it cross 1 cent per point.

Use points for Amazon purchases

Select your Bilt Mastercard on Amazon as a payment method and redeem your points to cover all or a portion of your purchase at checkout. 

Quick heads up though—when redeeming for Amazon purchases, you’re looking at a value of just 0.7 cents per point. 

Crunching the numbers, a $100 Amazon haul might set you back around 14,300 Bilt points—considering the other high-value redemption options, this isn’t a route I’d recommend. 

Bilt Rewards Important links

• Apply for the Bilt Credit Card.
• Contact Bilt Credit Card’s customer service.
• Access the Bilt Rewards login page.
• Check your Bilt Credit Card application status.
• Read more about the Bilt Card benefits.
• Check out the full list of Bilt Rewards transfer partners.
• Check out the Bilt Rewards Crunchbase and Instagram pages.
• Go through the list of Bilt Rewards Alliance Properties.

Check out the Bilt Rewards referral program.

Is Bilt Worth It?

For renters, the Bilt Rewards program and card are a no-brainer to earn points on rent. By charging rent to this card, you can rack up points to offset future rent costs or redeem them for other rewards like travel.

If dropping a big rent payment on a card makes you nervous, BiltProtect allows you to set a credit limit alert specifically for rent, so you don’t overutilize your overall limit. This feature provides both rewards and responsible spending control.

Apply for the Bilt Mastercard here.

But for spending other than housing, some premium travel cards can get you higher earnings. The card_name for example, gives 5x points on Lyft rides, 5x points on Chase travel purchases, 3x points on dining, and 2x points on other travel. It also currently offers a generous sign-up bonus.

FAQ

Is Bilt Rewards legit?

The Bilt Mastercard is offered by Wells Fargo and is completely legit. Bilt Alliance, the rental housing giant which the card is named after, owns and operates over two million rental units nationwide.

By leveraging Bilt’s massive presence in the rental market, the Bilt card gives you an easy way to earn reward points on your monthly housing payments.

Does paying the rent with Bilt build your credit?

Renting from Bilt Alliance comes with the convenient option of getting your monthly rent payments automatically reported to credit bureaus. This can help build your credit history by reflecting on-time payments each month.

The Bilt Mastercard also offers a useful feature called BiltProtect to separate rent charges from your overall credit limit. When enabled, this feature links to your bank account automatically to pay off any rent charges within 48 hours, similar to a debit card. 

So, you earn reward points on rent without reducing available credit for other expenses.

How much is 1000 Bilt points worth?

Based on my research, each Bilt point is worth anywhere between 0.7 cents to 2 cents per dollar spent. The average value is about 1.5 cents per dollar. Based on this calculation, 1000 Bilt points are approximately worth $1.71.

What is the Bilt Mastercard credit limit?

The Bilt Mastercard doesn’t publicly specify a maximum or minimum credit limit. But cardholders online have claimed to have limits anywhere between $1,000 to $30,000. 

Bilt, like other credit cards, will take your credit score, credit history, income, and other factors into account while approving you for a credit limit.

Does Bilt do a hard pull?

Yes, applying for the Bilt World Elite Mastercard does involve a hard credit check. As stated on their website, Bilt will pull your credit report to evaluate your application, which counts as a hard inquiry. Like with any credit application, this could have a temporary effect on your credit score.

Does Bilt have foreign transaction fees?

No, Bilt does not levy any foreign transaction fee.

How does Bilt Rewards make money?

Bilt Rewards generates revenue through interchange fees from card transactions, as well as referral payouts from affiliated property managers and partners.

Since Bilt Rewards was founded in 2019, it has experienced tremendous growth in a short timeframe. This rampant user adoption and innovative rent-based rewards model has propelled the firm’s valuation to a striking $1.5 billion.

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