Bilt Review 2023: Earn Rewards when Paying Rent

One of the biggest expenses in anyone’s budget is their housing.

Experts recommend keeping housing to a maximum of 30% of your income – 30% is a big chunk! And many times we pay rent with a check or draw on your checking account, a way that earns us nothing in terms of rewards (and many times, nothing in terms of building credit).

What if I told you there’s a way to earn rewards and build credit on one of the largest expenses in your budget?

There is and it’s called Bilt.

🔁Updated April 2023 with the increase of the annual cap for rent rewards going from 50,000 points to 100,000 points.

What is Bilt?

Bilt is a no-annual fee World Elite Mastercard that offers a rare perk – you can earn 1X points on rent payments without a transaction fee (maximum of 100,000 points per calendar year). Normally, if you try to pay rent with a credit card, your landlord will add on a transaction fee that negates any rewards.

With Bilt, they will send your landlord a check or bank payment via ACH so your landlord doesn’t see a credit card transaction and charge you a fee.

The Bilt card has other perks too (once you make at least 5 posted transactions each statement period):

• 3X points on dining
• 2X points on travel
• 1X points on everything else

(one little quirk, if your rent is under $250, you earn 250 points)

On “Rent Day,” which is the 1st of each month, you earn a higher rate:

• 6X points on dining
• 4X points on travel
• 2X points on everything else

👉 Learn more about Bilt

How Bilt Builds Credit History

Not everyone who pays their rent with Bilt is able to build credit history because of how the system works. If your landlord is part of the Bilt Alliance, then your rent payment is eligible to be reported to the credit bureaus (all of them – Experian, TransUnion and Equifax).

If you aren’t, unfortunately Bilt won’t be able to help you with that aspect of the service – you are still earning rewards points though.

Bilt Travel Protections & Perks

Bilt also offers travel protections that are extremely valuable (especially during the pandemic era):

• Trip cancellation & interruption (protection) – Up to $5,000 reimbursement for a non-refundable passenger fare if your trip is interrupted or canceled for a covered reason when your passenger fare is booked with your Bilt Mastercard.
• Trip delay reimbursement – reimbursed for expenses incurred, including meals, when your trip is delayed more than six hours due to reasons like inclement weather, mechanical breakdown of the common carrier or air traffic control delays.
• Auto rental collision damage waiver – Receive auto coverage for covered damages due to collision or theft for most rental cars.
• No foreign currency conversion fee
• Lyft Credits – Take 3 rides in one calendar month, get a $5 Lyft credit.

Bilt Dining Perks

Bilt offers a couple nice dining perks too:

• World Elite Mastercard Concierge – Whether you need hard-to-find dinner reservations, the perfect last-minute gift or insider hotel recommendations, the World Elite Mastercard Concierge will work behind the scenes on your behalf – anywhere in the world.
• DoorDash Credits – Get a 3-month DashPass membership for free as a new member with your Bilt Mastercard. Plus, both new and existing members get $5 off their first order each month.

Other Bilt Perks

Finally, there are a few other perks that don’t fall under dining and travel but are hugely important, including:

• Cell phone protection – Pay your monthly cell phone bill with your Bilt Mastercard^® you’ll get up to $800 of protection (subject to $25 deductible) against covered damage or theft.
• Purchase security (Theft and damage protection) – Purchases made on the Bilt Mastercard^® can be covered for theft or damage within 90 days of the date of purchase, up to $10,000 per claim.

Bilt Rewards Tiers

The Bilt Rewards program has tiers, based on how many points you accrue each year:

• Bilt Blue – starting tier
• Bilt Silver – 25,000 points per year
• Bilt Gold – 50,000 points per year
• Bilt Platinum – 100,000 points per year

Bilt Rewards Program

What can you do with the Bilt rewards points?

• TRAVEL: transfer Bilt Points to their airline and hotel partners at a 1:1 ratio
• BILT TRAVEL PORTAL: access to Expedia’s entire travel inventory
• FITNESS: redeem Bilt Points for classes at Soul Cycle, Rumble Boxing, [solidcore] or, Y7 studios
• SHOPPING: use your Bilt Points to cover all or part of your purchases with Amazon
• LIFESTYLE: use your Bilt Points for home decor from the curated Bilt Collection
• RENT: redeem your Bilt Points for all or a portion of your next month’s rent
• HOMEOWNERSHIP: put your Bilt Points towards a portion of a future downpayment on a home purchase

Is the Bilt Card Worth it?

If you are paying rent, this seems like a great way to earn 1% (or 2% depending on when you pay rent) without much added effort. When I was renting, I had a monthly rent of $1,200 and that would’ve meant an additional $12 each month (or $144 a year) in rewards available to me.

I have to pay rent anyway so I might as well earn rewards while I’m doing it

👉 Learn more about Bilt

Bilt

No annual fee

9.5

9.5/10

Strengths

• Earn 1% paying rent
• Potential to build credit history
• Solid rewards structure
• "Rent Day" promotions are great

Weaknesses

• Not all renters can build credit

Learn more