Review: Bilt Rewards Mastercard

I live in an apartment in one of the most expensive cities in the United States. I have been using the Bilt Rewards Mastercard to pay my rent for the past 2 years and managed to earn tens of thousands of points. In this post, I will discuss the benefits of this incredible no annual fee credit card.

Earn 1x on Monthly Rent

Each Bilt card comes with a "checking account" number that you can use to set up direct debit with your landlord. When rent is debited from this "checking account," most landlords charge no transaction fees, but the rent is actually charged to your Bilt card and you'll earn 1x points on the transaction. If your landlord only accepts physical checks, however, you can still pay your rent through Bilt (use their app), and Bilt will mail the rent check to your landlord each month.

Bonus Categories and Rent Day

In addition to earning 1x on rent payments, Bilt also awards 3x points on dining, 2x points on travel, and 1x points on other purchases. Something to be aware of is that you must use your card at least 5 times during each statement period to earn these points. I've found this incredibly easy to accomplish by putting all of my subscriptions on this card.

On Rent Day (1st of each month), your earning potential also doubles. Bilt will award you 6x points on dining, 4x points on travel, and 2x on everything else (excluding rent payments). If you have a favorite restaurant, it can be worthwhile to walk in and purchase a gift card on the Rent Day and earn 6x points easily.

Rent Day Fun

On Rent Day, Bilt also hosts a couple of contests giving its members a chance to earn free rent and extra points. There has been a variety of Rent Free games in the past, and for the past few months, they have been inviting celebrities on to play a "Family Feud" style game. Your objective is to also the top three answers of a series of questions. Depending on your final score, you could earn free rent or extra Bilt points.

The Point Quest game is a trivia game that gives you extra Bilt points for each correct answer given. If you get all 5 questions correctly, you will also enter the bonus round. The trivia questions do range in difficulty, and if you don't have confidence in your trivia knowledge, you can also easily find the answers other members have shared on social media before you play the game. Some might call this cheating, but some might call it studying. Hey, sometimes you have to do whatever it takes for those extra points, right?

Earn Bilt Points with Lyft

Bilt and Lyft have come together to form a partnership. After you link the accounts on the Bilt app, you will earn 3x points on Lyft rideshare, bikes, and scooters booked through the Lyft app. This is in addition to the 2x points you will already earn on the travel category if you also use your Bilt Mastercard to pay for the Lyft ride.

You can read more about the conditions and how to link the accounts on this Bilt blog post.

Bilt Transfer Partners

The best way to use your Bilt points is to transfer them to a travel partner. At the time of writing, Bilt has the following transfer partners yielding a 1-to-1 transfer ratio. You can link your accounts on the Bilt app. On some previous Rent Days, Bilt has occasionally boosted the transfer ratio for certain partners.

Airline Partners

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
American Airlines AAdvantage (partnership ending in June, 2024)
Air France KLM Flying Blue
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Air Canada Aeroplan
United Airlines United MileagePlus
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Avianca LifeMiles
Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
Iberia Plus
British Airways Executive Club
Aer Lingus AerClub
Emirates Skywards
Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles

Hotel Partners

IHG One Rewards
Marriott Bonvoy
World of Hyatt

The transfer speed to most of these programs are almost instant. Air Canada can take up to 24 hours, Marriott Bonvoy can take up to 48 hours, and Avianca LifeMiles can take up to 72 hours.

Bottom Line

The Bilt Mastercard offers a unique opportunity for apartment dwellers to earn valuable points on their biggest monthly expense. Bilt has some amazing travel partners that allow you to put your Bilt points to good use, and the monthly Rent Day promotions as well as everyday bonus earning categories also earn this card a permanent slot in my wallet.