Link: Apply for the no annual fee Bilt Mastercard®
I’ve written quite a bit about the Bilt Mastercard®, as it’s a card that I’ve applied for. I’ve covered many of the ways that you can earn points with Bilt. In this post I wanted to talk more about redeeming points with Bilt, especially with the developments that we’ve seen.
In this post:
The basic value proposition of the Bilt Mastercard
The Bilt Mastercard is a no annual fee credit card issued by Wells Fargo, which is especially compelling for renters.
The card offers 3x points on dining, 2x points on travel, and 1x points on all other purchases. On top of that, the card has valuable perks, ranging from cell phone protection, to primary rental car coverage, to trip delay reimbursement, all of which are rare for a no annual fee card.
What really sets the card apart, though, is that you can earn points for paying rent with no fee, up to a limit of 100,000 points per year. Given how many Americans rent, this is an incredible opportunity. In order to earn points for paying rent, you need to have at least five transactions per billing cycle.
As I’ve covered in other posts, the card also seems to have a secret sign-up bonus, and it might also be possible to pay your HOA and earn points for free.
Read a full review of the Bilt Mastercard.
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How to redeem points earned with the Bilt Mastercard
Earning lots of points is one thing, but how can you actually redeem points earned with the Bilt Mastercard? Bilt points are quite competitive with the other major transferable points currencies out there, so there are lots of great uses of them.
Let me go over the different ways to redeem Bilt points, ranked from most valuable to least valuable (in my opinion).
Transfer Bilt points to 17 airline & hotel partners
For those of us into miles & points, the good news is that Bilt has 17 travel transfer partners, as the program partners with 14 airline loyalty programs and three hotel loyalty programs. Specifically, you can transfer points at a 1:1 ratio to the following programs, and all transfers are typically instant:
- Aer Lingus AerClub
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- Alaska Mileage Plan
- American AAdvantage
- Avianca LifeMiles
- British Airways Executive Club
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Emirates Skywards
- Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles
- Iberia Plus
- IHG One Rewards
- Marriott Bonvoy
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- United MileagePlus
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- World of Hyatt
While all the transfers are at a 1:1 ratio, note that with Marriott Bonvoy you receive a bonus of 5,000 Bonvoy points for every 20,000 Bilt points that you transfer (so in the right increments, the transfer ratio is 1:1.25). That’s the only partner that potentially regularly has a better than 1:1 transfer ratio.
Also note that American AAdvantage will be removed as a transfer partner as of June 2024, though we don’t have an exact date yet.
There’s quite a bit of overlap here with other transferable points currencies, though I should call out three things:
- Alaska Mileage Plan is a useful program for redemptions on both oneworld partner airlines, as well as on non-oneworld partners, like Icelandair, Singapore Airlines, Starlux, and more
- The other major transferable points currencies don’t partner with American AAdvantage, so that’s a unique partner, given all the great uses of AAdvantage miles (at least until this partnership is pulled)
- World of Hyatt is otherwise only transfer partners with Chase Ultimate Rewards, and there are lots of great uses of World of Hyatt points
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Redeem Bilt points toward a home downpayment
Since Bilt is designed largely for people who rent, here’s a cool way you can redeem your Bilt points. If you buy a home, you can redeem your Bilt points toward a downpayment at the rate of 1.5 cents each, which is quite good. In other words, 10,000 points would get you $150 toward a downpayment.
To use this option, you just email Bilt with proof of a home purchase, and include how many points you’d like to redeem. That’s pretty straightforward, and a good value!
Redeem Bilt points with the Bilt Travel Portal
Bilt has a travel portal that’s powered by Expedia. You can choose to either earn or redeem points through the portal. If you’d like to redeem points, Bilt points are worth 1.25 cents each toward a travel purchase. In other words, 10,000 points would get you $125 toward a travel purchase.
The Bilt Travel Portal allows you to book flights, hotels, rental cars, and activities, so you have quite a bit of flexibility.
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Redeem Bilt points for shopping, fitness, and lifestyle
There are a variety of other ways you can redeem Bilt points, though personally I wouldn’t recommend these:
- You can redeem Bilt points through Amazon, at the rate of 0.7 cents per point
- You can redeem Bilt points toward select fitness classes, typically at the rate of somewhere around 1.0 cents per point
- You can redeem Bilt points toward the Bilt Collection (which includes apparel, art, home decor, and more), but the value is generally around 1.0 cents per point
Redeem Bilt points to pay your rent
Bilt lets you redeem your points to pay rent. However, each point will only get you 0.55 cents toward a rent payment. In other words, 10,000 points would get you $55 toward rent. This is a very poor use of points, so it’s not how I’d recommend redeeming Bilt points.
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My strategy with redeeming Bilt points
If you’re looking to maximize value (hopefully you are!), you shouldn’t redeem your Bilt points for any of the options that you get one cent of value per point or less. In other words, avoid paying rent with your Bilt points, and don’t use them for Amazon purchases, or for any of the fitness classes or lifestyle options.
Then there are two options that aren’t necessarily the best way to redeem your points, but which could still prove to be worthwhile:
- Redeeming Bilt points for 1.5 cents each toward a home downpayment could be a good deal, though admittedly this is pretty niche
- Redeeming Bilt points for 1.25 cents each toward a travel purchase could be a decent option, assuming you’re struggling to otherwise get more value with your points
My preference is to transfer Bilt points to the program’s airline and hotel partners. After all, you can get such outsized value, especially for premium travel (first and business class flights, and five star hotels).
There’s value to be had with most of Bilt’s transfer partners, though personally here’s my strategy with these points:
- Under normal circumstances, I’d probably transfer my Bilt points to World of Hyatt, given all the amazing uses of these points, and also given that the only other partner for World of Hyatt is Chase Ultimate Rewards
- I also think there’s a lot of value to be had with Alaska Mileage Plan and American AAdvantage, but that’s probably not how I’ll use my Bilt points, as I have a sizable balance with both programs
- We see a monthly Bilt Rent Day promotion, and we’ve seen some amazing transfer bonuses, especially for those who have Bilt elite status; in the past, we’ve seen transfer bonuses of 75-150% to Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Emirates Skywards, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, and those are deals that are worth a speculative transfer, in my opinion
Up until now, I’ve exclusively used my Bilt points for situations where there are transfer bonuses. I hope these offers continue, as that’s how I’ll continue to use my points.
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Bottom line
The Bilt Mastercard has its own rewards currency, and you can rack up points for both your everyday spending and for paying rent. For all practical purposes, Bilt has a transferable points currency, and you can transfer your points to 17 different partners. I think that Alaska Mileage Plan and World of Hyatt are the two standout partners.
You can also redeem your Bilt points for 1.5 cents each toward a downpayment for a home, or for 1.25 cents each through the Bilt Travel Portal. While there are further lower value redemptions, I wouldn’t recommend redeeming your points that way.
What’s your favorite use of Bilt points?
Not sure I understand all the hate toward BILT in the comments. I’ve had my card for a while and get a ton of value from it. The “rent day” double points on every purchase is a great deal as are the redemption bonuses on partners.
My biggest concern is that the BILT business model may be unsustainable and I could be left with a ton of worthless points if they go under. (So I take advantage of the partner transfers even if I’m not planning a trip.)
Nice to see another reasonable post about BILT. I agree about their business model being unsustainable. For every 1 person who is using BILT as their primary spend card, surely there are 20+ who are using it solely for rent plus 4 nominal transactions per month.
So… what’s their game plan? Try to make the card as alluring as possible to make it a primary spend card? That seems like a *big* stretch when...
Nice to see another reasonable post about BILT. I agree about their business model being unsustainable. For every 1 person who is using BILT as their primary spend card, surely there are 20+ who are using it solely for rent plus 4 nominal transactions per month.
So… what’s their game plan? Try to make the card as alluring as possible to make it a primary spend card? That seems like a *big* stretch when there are decent 1.5-2% cards out there with no annual fee.
Or… sign up as many people as possible and hope they don’t recognize the five transaction per month requirement. OK, that might save points for one month, but surely those people will get the hint and then start buying four sticks of gum.
It’s truly baffling. But I intend to take advantage of it for as long as it lasts since rent payment is by far my largest transaction per month and it would otherwise earn me nada.
And to those who simply say “pay rent with a SUB card!!” Yeah, sure I could do that…maybe once per year. That’s not sustainable.
Unlike Ben, I don't have a big stash of AA points, and I fly American regularly with points redemptions that are much better than Southwest's. Since you get 3x points on dining, I put all my dining on it. I was hoping there will be a bonus on AA transfers, but since the partnership is ending, I doubt that will happen.
So Bilt loses its most valuable partner and gets rewarded with a promotional blitz on here, TPG (asshole), and all the other points blogs. I asked this in another post but they've got to be paying ya'll a higher commission than the other cards do...
Many of us would consider AS more valuable of a transfer partner than AA.
I like this card. I dont expect to set the world on fire with it, but it's useful for me.
Most overrated credit card ever. Not sure why these blogs like it so much. Does nothing for us with a mortgage who don’t pay rent. Venture X is much better even with the annual fee.
What a weird comparison. A fairly expensive credit card with relatively low approval rate vs a no-annual-fee card with a big perk for many people (earning points on something that is otherwise usually an ACH payment).
Hardly an apples to apples comparison. But, yes, obviously if you don’t pay rent then this card would make hardly any sense.
@ Jacob -- Oh I agree, if you have a mortgage and don't pay an HOA, and if you're happy paying an annual fee for a card, there are better options out there. I wasn't interested in the card until I learned that HOAs (unofficially) earn points in the same way as rent payments.
But that doesn't really make the card overrated, does it? Like every other product out there, it's not for everyone, and that's fair enough.
Waiting for the inevitable “OMG another BILT post!! How much do they pay you guys??” comment… any second now.
More seriously though, yes the bonus transfers are nice. And since most people are probably spending very little beyond rent plus four small purchases per month, bonuses are a great way to turn a relatively small poor of points into a decent redemption opportunity.
Alas, my days with BILT may be coming to an...
Waiting for the inevitable “OMG another BILT post!! How much do they pay you guys??” comment… any second now.
More seriously though, yes the bonus transfers are nice. And since most people are probably spending very little beyond rent plus four small purchases per month, bonuses are a great way to turn a relatively small poor of points into a decent redemption opportunity.
Alas, my days with BILT may be coming to an end, since my new rental portal is requiring Plaid authentication for checking accounts.
But you can send the payment via check. It still works the same way. Unless of course if the landlord or management company doesn’t accept checks.
Holding out for an AA bonus before the partnership ends in June!