In the app, go to Wallet -> Bilt card

There should be a "Recent transactions" heading just below the black "Make a payment" bar.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f0ac51f6e.jpeg

Interesting, after "Recent Transactions" it says "Start earning points this statement period by using your Bilt Mastercard." then no bar, then "Statement period ending 01/12/24"

Maybe you need one to get the bar started, like I have? Not sure.

Need one what? If you mean "need a charge," last month the bar was there before I made my first charge.

Excellent advice. Bilt T&C and their bank’s Agreement are repetitively specific that it’s only “rent payments”.

As per the Wiki: Links to 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.”

Fortunately for many of us, condo fees are close enough for government work that Bilt recognizes them as rent. When my condo fees were ACHed from my bank account prior to my Bilt account, the bank listed the transaction as “ABC Condo Rent”, so maybe in some unique financial accounting systems categorizations condo fees ARE rent.

Regardless, at the most basic level, paying a mortgage via Bilt (in the expectation of points) would truly be “looking a gift horse in the mouth” and “biting the hand that feeds you” at the same time. My advice is the same as that of the esteemed authors' replies quoted above, it’s a bad idea.

(Sorry if out of true chronological order, I was composing it while the posts immediately above posted.)

Me too. I saw it once, a month or 2 ago and then not again.

I just paid my WF MC bill, currently at 0 transactions. I did find the screenshot snip below: “Wallet” tab of main page, about halfway down. Perhaps that’s the counter?

FWIW, it was relatively simple to change my Bilt MC statement date, a 3-5 minute call to WF. The agent could only discuss “payment due date” so I did the calculation, just added 10 days to my original due date.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f6f330bbba.jpg

I guess it's just sloppy programing? Good to know it doesn't matter.

They've explicitly said that condo fees are allowed, doesn't sound sloppy but very much intentional to me.

Condo fees? I'm talking about RENT...the thing they say it's for. And I'm ONLY talking about not having the bar that tracks the 5 required payments with the credit card on the app. Nothing else.

I thought you were talking about the first half of the post you quoted, my bad.

Who is “they”? Please provide a link or reference for this statement.

Bilt has a product rep on reddit, of all places:

https://www.reddit.com/r/biltrewards/s/yd0l2VrmiH
https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/s/xVP9mVCajT
https://www.reddit.com/r/biltrewards/s/yAGv3jaOVk

OMAAT has a screenshot of the chat bot saying it's okay and has themselves done it, too: https://onemileatatime.com/insights/...lt-mastercard/

as long as you keep it to one ACH payment per month, HOA fees will be just fine. I've been doing it for the last year.

Thank you. I’ve previously seen some of those links. Please note that the Reddit posts by “biltrewards” which state that HOA fees can be paid by Bilt and earn Bilt points are 8-12 months old.

Also noted are (other Reddit posts): “biltrewards • 1 mo ago: Bilt is just for renters, but you can still use the card to earn points on everything else!” and “biltrewards • 16 days ago: Right now, Bilt Rewards is just for renters. We hope to potentially offer points on mortgage payments in the future!”

Regardless, it’s imprudent to consider Reddit posts to have the same degree of authority and enforcement as Terms of Use and Customer Account Agreement.

Immediately below that screen shot is the OMAAT quote “In fairness, this has since been updated to the following:” with a second screenshot ”Great question! You can only use our Pay Rent Online feature for rent and rent-related charges. These charges may include rent or additional charges from your landlord, like utilities or maintenance. Our internal team validates these charges and ensures compliance with Bilt’s Terms & Conditions. Each rental statement can be a bit different, so our internal team reviews each payment.”

Agreed. Many people have been earning Bilt points for condo HOA fees since the card was introduced and I have myself for a few months. But I still consider it a serendipitous gift rather than an explicit reward benefit and as such could end at any time for any or no reason. Or hopefully continued and codified in future revisions of the Terms of Use and Customer Account Agreement.

I agree with this position, and I'd like to see an official clarification beyond some social media posts, even if those posts are coming from a representative of the company (or their chatbot).

As with many things in this arena, such as credit card churning, manufactured spending, or multiple ACH payments that might award points with Bilt, it's usually a matter of individual risk tolerance and being comfortable with the possibility of the card issuer taking adverse action.

Seems Avianca at 1:1 is a new transfer partner of Bilt's.

They definitely may in the future change this, but until then I'll go by what was originally stated. And they haven't outright stated that it's NOT allowed. There's an argument that condo fees ARE "utilities and maintenance". My condo fees pay for water, trash, landscaping, snow removal and waste, for example.

Something like multiple ACH payments are explicitly called put as NOT allowed, so I'm not doing it.

Yes, that argument does exist but it’s a weak argument. The quote it’s based on is from a (as you wrote) “screenshot of the chat bot” and that quote was subsequently clarified to “… rent or additional charges from your landlord, like utilities or maintenance.” The T&C most likely prevail over any of that.

The T&C include: “Rent” shall mean the regular payment made to a landlord for the use of residential property or land, …” The (part of the) argument that a condominium owner has a landlord is even weaker.

Most importantly, the T&C state “10. How You Could Lose Your Points/Point Expiration … you will immediately lose all your Points … or your Account is closed, for any of the following reasons: … • we believe that you’ve engaged in fraudulent activity related to your Account or the Program; • we believe that you’ve misused the Program in any way, for example: …” Based on the current existing T&C, it would be quite simple for Bilt to claim that condo fee payment is (Bilt related) fraud and/or misuse.

I too will continue to use Bilt for my sole monthly ACH condo fee payment, I too will not tempt fate with a 2nd or 3rd monthly ACH. I too will most definitely keep my Bilt point balance below 1000. Between my opinion that their business model is not sustainable and my opinion that their first cost cutting step could be to prohibit (claiming fraud or misuse) condo payments at any time, I’ll continue to speculatively transfer (anywhere*) as soon as my Bilt balance goes over 1000.

* Don't Stop Believin' Song by Journey

Lyrics “…going anywhere…”

Looks like I spoke too fast. I made a charge this morning and the bar is there with one highlighted out of five. Mea Culpa.
At the same time, the payment for the statement also processed...not sure if that had anything to do with it, either.

You beat me to it (par for the course for a Naval Aviator and a Flight Surgeon :eek:). Yesterday early evening I made 4 charges (tapped the card 4 different times during 1 grocery store self-checkout), the bar didn’t update until this morning showing 4 of the 5 segments filled in and stating “Recent transactions: You will earn 33 points after making at least 5 transactions that post this statement period”. I’ll do my 5th charge later today to see what happens with the bar (and to have 6 transactions during the statement period once my condo fees post in a couple of weeks, pilots aren’t the only people who always do more than the minimum :)).

I don’t think it has anything to do with payment dates, I paid my last statement balance in full a day or 2 prior to statement date of 12/12/23. (I had changed statement dates, didn’t want Bilt reporting a high balance, which included 2 months condo fees, to the credit score agencies.)

Yea, I had paid mine a couple days earlier but it wasn't until this morning that the it stopped being 'pending'. At least we know it works!

Some changes to the Bilt program:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bilt-...yalty-program/

From what I can tell only to their "elite status" program, which honestly is a joke nobody cares about anyway lol.

I don't understand how the spending on a linked card works. If I put my main spender in the wallet and spend X amount on it, I get the status through Bilt even though they didn't participate at all in those interchange fees?

I don’t think it is any spend on any linked card:

https://www.biltrewards.com/editoria...status-program

Agreed, but: Writing as significant Bilt sustainability skeptic, suffice it to say, it will be interesting to see if this is the first step on the road to ruins or just an insignificant speed bump. Doesn’t change basic Bilt strategy one iota*: Bilt point balance always below 1000, speculatively transfer (anywhere) as soon as Bilt balance goes over 1000.

(* “iota”, i·o·ta, noun, 1. the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet ( Ι, ι ), transliterated as ‘i.’., 2. an extremely small amount.)

Agreed! The real decision is, AA or Hyatt?

Agreed :tu:. Although for us BankDirect/Bask Bank aficionados that decision is a little easier.

I've been transferring to Hyatt myself.

Mhmm, never heard of it. with, say, 50'000 USD, the tradeoff is 125'000 AA Miles / year vs. 2'500 USD, roughly? That's... actually an interesting proposition.

I hope these Milestone Rewards are as good as the Platinum gifts!

Ditto. I'm not overly concerned about the program, but better safe than sorry. I don't think these elite status (lol) changes are an augur of bad news; they're likely intended to drum up spending, which seems perfectly healthy.

Heard of but never looked into enough to dig into the math. I'm not sure it's that interesting but could work out if there's a guaranteed redemption ahead. Note the tax implications here - your marginal rates could have an impact on this: "For tax purposes, miles are considered to have a value of 0.42 cents. At our current rate of 2.5 miles per dollar saved annually, this represents a taxable APY of 1.05%." Just to make my brain feel better at at around a 35% marginal rate with $50k in for a year you'd net 125k miles - $183.75 ($525 * 35% marginal tax rate). A bank account at 5% effective APY for the same tax rate would yield $1625 ($2500 * $875 at 35% marginal tax rate).

Effectively "buying" 125k AA miles for $1808.75 (opportunity cost $1625 + tax cost $183.75) or 1.45 cpm. I'm not too up on AA miles, but possible to buy them more cheaply than that? That said if there's a guaranteed high value redemption then seems easy enough to have a bit more fun with an emergency fund.

To bring things back on topic - but still related to this tangent - is Bilt issuing 1099s for points earned as interest on Bilt points balances?

That's a J RT to Japan, which I'd value way above 1800 USD. But anyway, beside the topic!

Given how tiny the interest is, I doubt it.

Thanks for bringing back on topic - my post definitely belonged in a diff. thread :)

Anything below $10 is generally considered de minimis and I think it would be difficult to get above the points granted in interest to go above that valuation. I'm at 15-20 pts/mo, and have been bad about transferring out my balance. No way my grand total of 240 pts max is valued enough for a 1099.

There have been some financial institutions issuing fantastical valuations of points earned in interest.

Regarding Bask Bank and cash interest and AA miles, this is the long thread (currently 176 pages, 2639 posts) with the never-ending, immense, ad nauseum, endless, seemingly infinite debate which may or may not have ever changed anyone’s mind :D.

December 27 Rent Free Family Feud style Q&A(s):

Animated movie made for children that adults like also:


(I was only able to guess one from memory, fortunately the first hit on a Google search was “20 animated films for kids but appeal to adults” 👍. Also, I submitted 3 incorrect answers, which would have been disqualifying on Family Feud, but I was able to continue indicating that Bilt is not strictly adhering to all Family Feud procedures.)

Doing some year-end finances and realizing that I've earned only the 250 points on my Bilt card for the entire year apparently due to not having 5 transactions per month. I started using it in Jul 2022 and received full rent points for 5 months, so didn't do any further checking, and assumed that anything mentioning needing to use it multiple times was only relevant for points on non-rent payments since for the first 5 months of using it I had only 1 transaction per month and got it in full.

Anything I can do at this point?

Maybe we can do these in spoilers-format from now on? Especially with this game, since you can't really lose, no reason to lose out on the fun.

You can put your answers in white:

Spoilers: Shrek, Toy Story, Frozen, The Lion King, Finding Nemo, Inside Out.

And then if someone wants to reveal them, they highlight that line.

There is actually a real “spoiler” feature in phpBB. Just enclose the “secret” in {spoiler} …{/spoiler} tags (replace {} with standard square brackets). Advantage: it works better - highlighting doesn’t seem to work on iOS.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e4642e490.jpeg