Oct 7, 2023, 1:25 pm
Last edit by: Dr Jabadski
Bilt Rewards Mastercard WikiPost
(10/7/23 Original author (Dr Jabadski) note: As I posted here on 9/9/23 Considering Ive been salivating about simple no-cost points-etizing (like monetizing) my condo payments for about 25 years, I see Bilt as a game changer. I should have added almost a Holy Grail (a thing that is eagerly pursued or sought after). I successfully applied for a Bilt Mastercard 1 month ago thus Im far from an expert. Both before and after approval I posted multiple questions many times on this thread and several other FTers were highly gracious and informative. Thought a WikiPost might save some others a good deal of time, effort and aggravation, at least in not repeating my questions and searching for the answers. I certainly hope the experts will edit and update this WikiPost as necessary. Im also exercising Writer's Prerogative to officially coin the term pointsetize, like monetize convert into or express in the form of currency, to earn points from payments which otherwise would not earn points.)
Bilt Rewards Mastercard (Bilt MC) was first launched in mid-2021, in good part as a no fee way to charge and pointsetize rent payments. (Perhaps the only no fee way to pointsetize rent payments.) There are multiple reports of earning Bilt points for paying condominium monthly maintenance/common charges, sometimes even when the word condo or condominium is in the transaction description.
Bilt MC is a personal credit card, WF reports credit card information to the various credit bureaus and Bilt MC will count toward Chase 5/24.
This post and this post (both from 9/7/23) describe shutdown reports perhaps related to micro transactions, fluctuating rent payment amounts or multiple rent payments. This 10/11/23 post includes several references to Reddit user quotes about shutdowns and several Reddit Bilt quotes in response.
Linksto Bilt Rewards Terms of Use and Evolve Bank & Trust (Bilt Technologies) Customer Account Agreement. The Terms state Bilt may make available to you a Bilt Rent Account (Account), which is a transaction bank account that can be used by you solely to make rent payments. The Agreement states: For the avoidance of doubt, the Account is a transaction bank account that can be used by you solely to make rent payments. For the avoidance of doubt, this is not an account that you may use to deposit or withdraw funds for any other purposes outside of rent payments.
Bilt MC is a metal card weighing ~16 grams (comparisons: AmEx biz plat 18.5 gm, AmEx Gold 15 gm, Chase Sapphire Reserve 13 gm, traditional plastic card 5 gm).
Bilt Mastercard is issued and managed by Wells Fargo. Bilt Rewards is a separate website and app (which contains some credit card information but not as much as WF website).
Most reports are of instant approvals, Wells Fargo reconsideration phone number and experiences are not well documented. Reported initial Credit Limits vary $4,000 - $30,000 with higher limits more commonly reported. This post (9/1/23) describes one instance of a Something went wrong message upon application and the steps toward approval several days later.
In March/April 2025 Bilt initiated a new and different process for paying rent and HOA fees which requires preauthorization and/or "auto-pre-authorization" within 5 days of payment.Rent payments can be made in multiple different ways. Bilt will provide a (bank) routing number and account number. ACH rent payments can be sent (deposited) by Bilt or withdrawn by a managing company.
Bilt MC is shipped via trackable no-signature-required First Class mail in a small (4.5 x 6.5) white box with unique packaging inside as pictured at the bottom of this post. As of Feb 2024 no reports of expedited shipping.
Reports on this thread starting in late November 2023 indicate this "quasi-SUB" may be offered randomly and/or only to some people, selection criteria unknown. This post may be the only report of being offered the quasi-SUB prior to Bilt Mastercard application, based on existing Bilt Rewards account. Bilt's quasi-SUB" is offered via an email and a text message notification the same day as card receipt informing of 5x/5 days/max 50K (email quoted verbatim in this post). (Quasi* due to very short duration in contrast to many traditional SUBs of 3 month duration.) Please note this quasi-SUB maxs out at $12,500 (not $10,000) and tax payments will count. No reports yet of returns and their effect on quasi-SUB. (* quasi- a combining form meaning resembling, having some, but not all of the features of, used in the formation of compound words: quasi-definition; quasi-monopoly; quasi-official; quasi-scientific.)
Newly earned Bilt points will display as pending until 5 transactions per statement cycle. After 5 transactions, points will post and become available shortly after a transaction, before statement date. The Bilt Rewards website has a transaction counter which disappears upon reaching 5.
Bilt points for linking partner programs (100 points each) and for adding a credit card to Bilt Wallet (100 points each for first 3) post immediately. Original author received 500 point bonus for first rent payment.
Bilt Rewards points are transferable at 1:1 usually within a few minutes to multiple different airline and hotel programs.
Theres discussion of the long term viability of Bilt with some of those posts linked at the bottom of this post after BREAK.
Bilt Status Tiers: Blue - anyone enrolled in Bilt Rewards with under 25,000 points, Silver - 25,000 points earned, Gold - 50,000 points earned, Platinum - 100,000 points earned. Tier status earned at any point in a year remains active through the end of the following year. Earn Interest on Points (Silver, Gold, Platinum Tiers) is minimal, discussed on this post and this post.
Bilt Points Quest Trivia was discontinued as of July 2024.Bilt Points Quest Trivia on the first of each month offers up to 250 points for correctly answering, within 10 seconds, 6 (out of 15-20) questions. Must get first 5 questions (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 points) correct to see the 6th bonus 100 point question. Theres often a Reddit thread with the Q & A. (Point Quest - October 2023 Answers) The lower half of this post has comments from a highly experienced test taker regarding memory, recall and studying for Points Quest Trivia.
Bilt Rent Free may also have been discontinued in 2024 or 2025.Bilt also has various RentFree games, available a few days prior to and/or on the 1st of the month, different people get different games. Could be a Family Feud style question with enough time to Google answers or a Where's Wally? (Bilt Brick) type of game or something else. Successful completion enters to be one of 3 people for whom Bilt pays their monthly rent (up to $2500).
List of Bilts Rent Day promotions going back to October 2022 at the bottom of the page here: DEALSPOINTS.
June 2024: Bottom of this post describes one persons experience paying a significant assessment (and earning points) with Bilt MC, at this time (only 3 weeks later) no report of clawback or shutdown (based on using Bilt to pay rent more than once a month and/or for something other than rent/condo fees).
June 2024: Bottom of this post contains Bilt quotes regarding Bilt BiltProtect.
June 2024: Important post (and link) stating that WF is losing money every month on Bilt.
(10/7/23 Original author (Dr Jabadski) note: As I posted here on 9/9/23 Considering Ive been salivating about simple no-cost points-etizing (like monetizing) my condo payments for about 25 years, I see Bilt as a game changer. I should have added almost a Holy Grail (a thing that is eagerly pursued or sought after). I successfully applied for a Bilt Mastercard 1 month ago thus Im far from an expert. Both before and after approval I posted multiple questions many times on this thread and several other FTers were highly gracious and informative. Thought a WikiPost might save some others a good deal of time, effort and aggravation, at least in not repeating my questions and searching for the answers. I certainly hope the experts will edit and update this WikiPost as necessary. Im also exercising Writer's Prerogative to officially coin the term pointsetize, like monetize convert into or express in the form of currency, to earn points from payments which otherwise would not earn points.)
Bilt Rewards Mastercard (Bilt MC) was first launched in mid-2021, in good part as a no fee way to charge and pointsetize rent payments. (Perhaps the only no fee way to pointsetize rent payments.) There are multiple reports of earning Bilt points for paying condominium monthly maintenance/common charges, sometimes even when the word condo or condominium is in the transaction description.
Bilt MC is a personal credit card, WF reports credit card information to the various credit bureaus and Bilt MC will count toward Chase 5/24.
This post and this post (both from 9/7/23) describe shutdown reports perhaps related to micro transactions, fluctuating rent payment amounts or multiple rent payments. This 10/11/23 post includes several references to Reddit user quotes about shutdowns and several Reddit Bilt quotes in response.
Links
Bilt MC is a metal card weighing ~16 grams (comparisons: AmEx biz plat 18.5 gm, AmEx Gold 15 gm, Chase Sapphire Reserve 13 gm, traditional plastic card 5 gm).
Bilt Mastercard is issued and managed by Wells Fargo. Bilt Rewards is a separate website and app (which contains some credit card information but not as much as WF website).
Most reports are of instant approvals, Wells Fargo reconsideration phone number and experiences are not well documented. Reported initial Credit Limits vary $4,000 - $30,000 with higher limits more commonly reported. This post (9/1/23) describes one instance of a Something went wrong message upon application and the steps toward approval several days later.
In March/April 2025 Bilt initiated a new and different process for paying rent and HOA fees which requires preauthorization and/or "auto-pre-authorization" within 5 days of payment.
Bilt MC is shipped via trackable no-signature-required First Class mail in a small (4.5 x 6.5) white box with unique packaging inside as pictured at the bottom of this post. As of Feb 2024 no reports of expedited shipping.
Reports on this thread starting in late November 2023 indicate this "quasi-SUB" may be offered randomly and/or only to some people, selection criteria unknown. This post may be the only report of being offered the quasi-SUB prior to Bilt Mastercard application, based on existing Bilt Rewards account. Bilt's quasi-SUB" is offered via an email and a text message notification the same day as card receipt informing of 5x/5 days/max 50K (email quoted verbatim in this post). (Quasi* due to very short duration in contrast to many traditional SUBs of 3 month duration.) Please note this quasi-SUB maxs out at $12,500 (not $10,000) and tax payments will count. No reports yet of returns and their effect on quasi-SUB. (* quasi- a combining form meaning resembling, having some, but not all of the features of, used in the formation of compound words: quasi-definition; quasi-monopoly; quasi-official; quasi-scientific.)
Newly earned Bilt points will display as pending until 5 transactions per statement cycle. After 5 transactions, points will post and become available shortly after a transaction, before statement date. The Bilt Rewards website has a transaction counter which disappears upon reaching 5.
Bilt points for linking partner programs (100 points each) and for adding a credit card to Bilt Wallet (100 points each for first 3) post immediately. Original author received 500 point bonus for first rent payment.
Bilt Rewards points are transferable at 1:1 usually within a few minutes to multiple different airline and hotel programs.
Theres discussion of the long term viability of Bilt with some of those posts linked at the bottom of this post after BREAK.
Bilt Status Tiers: Blue - anyone enrolled in Bilt Rewards with under 25,000 points, Silver - 25,000 points earned, Gold - 50,000 points earned, Platinum - 100,000 points earned. Tier status earned at any point in a year remains active through the end of the following year. Earn Interest on Points (Silver, Gold, Platinum Tiers) is minimal, discussed on this post and this post.
Bilt Points Quest Trivia was discontinued as of July 2024.
Bilt Rent Free may also have been discontinued in 2024 or 2025.
List of Bilts Rent Day promotions going back to October 2022 at the bottom of the page here: DEALSPOINTS.
June 2024: Bottom of this post describes one persons experience paying a significant assessment (and earning points) with Bilt MC, at this time (only 3 weeks later) no report of clawback or shutdown (based on using Bilt to pay rent more than once a month and/or for something other than rent/condo fees).
June 2024: Bottom of this post contains Bilt quotes regarding Bilt BiltProtect.
June 2024: Important post (and link) stating that WF is losing money every month on Bilt.
Bilt Mastercard
Apr 20, 2023 | 10:03 pm
#166
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 10,682
If you have a fee, then you'd use Bilt's ACH info instead, and they would charge it to your card and give you 1x points for it.
Apr 21, 2023 | 3:00 pm
#167
Join Date: Apr 2023
Posts: 1
Have Bilt card by Wells Fargo with $30k credit line.
More info if anyone is interested.
1. I pay MORTGAGE with it for last 3 months (using ACH). Getting the 1% points no problems.
2. I pay HOA similarly using ACH. Getting 1% points.
3. You can add authorized user if you want to via Wells Fargo website.
4. You CAN transfer points not just to yourself (at least I was able to add my wife's Hyatt account, while I did NOT add her as authorized user, but I haven't validated the points transfer. Just can confirm that the app allowed to link it). Bilt support told me that if you add an authorized user, then for sure you shouldn't have any problems with points transfer. For example, with Citi you cannot transfer points to authorized users.
More info if anyone is interested.
1. I pay MORTGAGE with it for last 3 months (using ACH). Getting the 1% points no problems.
2. I pay HOA similarly using ACH. Getting 1% points.
3. You can add authorized user if you want to via Wells Fargo website.
4. You CAN transfer points not just to yourself (at least I was able to add my wife's Hyatt account, while I did NOT add her as authorized user, but I haven't validated the points transfer. Just can confirm that the app allowed to link it). Bilt support told me that if you add an authorized user, then for sure you shouldn't have any problems with points transfer. For example, with Citi you cannot transfer points to authorized users.
Apr 22, 2023 | 2:25 pm
#168
Join Date: Jan 2023
Location: DCA, IAD
Programs: Hyatt Globalist; AA Plat. Pro.
Posts: 249
Transferred to Hyatt yesterday; took less than a couple of hours for the points to transfer over. Far quicker than my AA transfer from a few weeks ago.
Apr 26, 2023 | 12:53 pm
#169
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 1,871
is it possible to transfer my Bilt Reward's point to my spouse or my son's Hyatt or AA account?
or is it possible to share my Bilt Rewards points with my spouse or son's Bilt Account?
or is it possible to share my Bilt Rewards points with my spouse or son's Bilt Account?
Apr 26, 2023 | 1:01 pm
#170
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Chicago
Posts: 5,351
Apr 27, 2023 | 10:03 am
#171
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Santa Barbara, CA, Park City, UT
Programs: AA EXP, Delta Silver, Marriott Plat,Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Plat, AF plat
Posts: 998
Getting card and welcome email time frame
Wondering what the typical after approval time is to receive the card and the email with the secret spend offer. Having 5 days to spend up to $12.5k will want to time it correctly when I apply and hopefully get approved.
Also I dont see in terms and conditions what the spending can be on, would anything other than rent apply? Or does it have to be in certain categories?
Also I dont see in terms and conditions what the spending can be on, would anything other than rent apply? Or does it have to be in certain categories?
Apr 27, 2023 | 10:27 am
#172
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: NYC/SNA
Programs: AA, AF
Posts: 2,006
Wondering what the typical after approval time is to receive the card and the email with the “secret” spend offer. Having 5 days to spend up to $12.5k will want to time it correctly when I apply and hopefully get approved.
Also I don’t see in terms and conditions what the spending can be on, would anything other than rent apply? Or does it have to be in certain categories?
Also I don’t see in terms and conditions what the spending can be on, would anything other than rent apply? Or does it have to be in certain categories?
Day 1: applied/instantly approved
Day 3: card shipped UPS overnight (email/text notification with tracking number)
Day 4: card arrived (email/text including notification of 5x bonus starting day after card arrival)
Days 5-9: 5x points on all non-rent spend (including estimated taxes)
As noted, the bonus is optimized at $12,500 in spend.
On a completely separate note, Reddit and several blogs are chattering about all the different "rent-ish" categories that the Bilt Rent Account (what they call the ACH payment feature) can be used for to earn points without a CC fee, all based on chatbot responses. The T&Cs allow for exactly one landlord or property management company to be designated for rental payments. Multiple "rent" payments and/or anything that might not pass an audit by the Bilt team are at your own risk--payments may be rejected, points clawed back, account terminated, etc, etc, etc. This is a great card for free...ability to transfer to AA and Hyatt are standout features, IMHO. In addition, this card seems to be handing out generous credit limits.
Last edited by NYC Flyer; Apr 27, 2023 at 10:30 am Reason: clarif
Apr 27, 2023 | 10:39 am
#173
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 10,682
Take it with a grain of salt, but a Reddit user is claiming that the 5 days/5 x period is over:
https://www.reddit.com/r/biltrewards...tion_does_not/
But I will say that my experience was the same as NYC Flyer's. $12,500 in spend was the sweet spot.
https://www.reddit.com/r/biltrewards...tion_does_not/
But I will say that my experience was the same as NYC Flyer's. $12,500 in spend was the sweet spot.
Apr 27, 2023 | 5:00 pm
#174
Join Date: Jun 1999
Location: NYC/LA
Programs: DL DM, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium/LTP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 9,803
Take it with a grain of salt, but a Reddit user is claiming that the 5 days/5 x period is over:
https://www.reddit.com/r/biltrewards...tion_does_not/
But I will say that my experience was the same as NYC Flyer's. $12,500 in spend was the sweet spot.
https://www.reddit.com/r/biltrewards...tion_does_not/
But I will say that my experience was the same as NYC Flyer's. $12,500 in spend was the sweet spot.
Apr 27, 2023 | 5:29 pm
#175
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 10,682
I think before last summer (when few people had even heard of this card) the bonus was 10x for 5 days. Now that this card is getting a lot of coverage, I’m not surprised to see that they no longer feel the need to offer any SUB whatsoever. But there are still a lot of great promos with Rent Day, and they continue to build out their points ecosystem. I received bonus points the other day under their new dining program for a restaurant in my neighborhood, and I wasn’t even aware that the restaurant was participating in the program.
Plus the random perks like the dining you mentioned. I can't use the Hyatt match and I probably won't do the AF transfer bonus, but I wish I had been on-board with the United status match. And I hope more good things will come.
They have some really fresh ideas on how to keep me engaged. They really seem to have come at this from a new perspective.
Also: I don't rent. I do put a very small HOA fee on one card, but that's barely a blip.
Edit: the extra Lyft points. 10x on Sapphire plus 2x here. Why not? Another win for these guys.
Apr 27, 2023 | 5:31 pm
#176
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: RDU
Programs: HH Diamond, AA Gold, Marriot Plat
Posts: 286
I would use one of my 5/24 slot for this IF "grocery" was one of the earning multiplier categories and this is only because of their transfer partner with AA. You already can pay your mortgage with any credit card, but this only IF YKYK.
Last edited by rice4u; Apr 29, 2023 at 8:37 am
Apr 27, 2023 | 9:09 pm
#177
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,939
How quickly do Bilt points transfer to AA and UA. Can you transfer to AU accounts?
Apr 29, 2023 | 8:39 am
#178
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: RDU
Programs: HH Diamond, AA Gold, Marriot Plat
Posts: 286
Apr 29, 2023 | 9:06 am
#179
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: NYC/SNA
Programs: AA, AF
Posts: 2,006
Amex does not transfer to UA. For some time, Chase/UA and Citi/AA have been exclusive (as well as Chase/Hyatt). Bilt absolutely offers unique transfer flexibility across some desirable points currencies.
Last edited by NYC Flyer; Apr 29, 2023 at 9:08 am Reason: gr
Apr 29, 2023 | 9:11 am
#180
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: RDU
Programs: HH Diamond, AA Gold, Marriot Plat
Posts: 286
I was thinking about Avianca with Amex for United flights. I agreed to certain extend that Bilt has some unique transfer partners, but harder to accrue points due to no SUB.