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Old Oct 7, 2023, 1:25 pm
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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.

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.

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.
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Old Oct 7, 2023 | 4:29 pm
  #391  
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Originally Posted by Dr Jabadski
Wondering what's considered appropriate (to BILT and to the cardholder) usage of this card for those who only have the card to points-etize rent or condo payments?

I've only had the card for 1 month, first statement included significant number and amounts of charges due to meeting the quasi-SUB, my plan going forward has been 4-5 charges per month, probably gasoline or grocery store, for $4 - $10. Thinking about more frequent higher charges to avoid charges* (no pun intended) of "micro transactions". Thank you.

(* charges: 1. demand (an amount) as a price from someone for a service rendered or goods supplied "he charged me 2 euros for the postcard". 2. accuse (someone) of something, especially an offense under law "they were charged with assault".)
Why not use it for a few restaurants? 3x
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Old Oct 7, 2023 | 6:23 pm
  #392  
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Originally Posted by josephstern
Why not use it for a few restaurants? 3x
Thank you, excellent suggestion. I use one of multiple quasi-sock drawered AmEx biz golds for dining, gets 4x since I only use those cards for dining and gasoline, (hopefully) avoids charges of inactivity and ideally Id like to charge as little as possible (other than rent) to Bilt card. Id sock drawer my Bilt MC if it was productive and prudent.
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Old Oct 8, 2023 | 7:34 am
  #393  
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Paid for a cruise on the 1st of the month posted as travel.
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Old Oct 11, 2023 | 6:49 am
  #394  
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Originally Posted by dw
… reports this week on Reddit of Bilt accounts with the credit card being shut down for very odd reasons. Data points are not clear but for some reason the accounts (who all claim they were legitimately paying rent via ACH) are being flagged and being asked to provided copies of leases for verification. One poster claims she moved recently and is no longer paying rent via Bilt, another claims her two year lease was rejected because it was not signed within the past year; both accounts were shut down. Another account was shut down because the user was only using the credit card for small charges to meet the 5 transaction minimum per month, and Bilt claimed the “micro transactions” were against the T&Cs. All very odd.
Originally Posted by dw
... Reddit data point… Apparently this month, Bilt sent out their rent check, then flagged the account due to the monthly variations in rent payment and stopped payment on the check, and never told the user. It was only when the check bounced with the landlord that the user contacted Bilt, found out their account had been suspended, …
Originally Posted by Dr Jabadski
Wondering what's considered appropriate (to BILT and to the cardholder) usage of this card for those who only have the card to points-etize rent or condo payments? … Thinking about more frequent higher charges to avoid charges* (no pun intended) of "micro transactions". Thank you. …
Upon research of these concerns I found what I believe to be the reddit threads referred to above along with 2 or 3 other reddit threads on the subject of “Bilt shutdown”, all within the past 1-3 months, including the following quote.
(reddit poster) ... Other than rent, my bilt card became a microtransaction card to meet the transaction requirements. I've been using it for buying stamps at the post office, amazon auto reloads, and laundry. These transactions range from 51 cents to $1.75. No other transactions are made on this card...
On every reddit thread I found and reviewed there's one or more posts from BiltRewards as quoted below.
(biltrewards) Hey there! Please send us a private message with your account information, we will be happy to look into this for you. Bilt does not close accounts for the reasons stated above.

And, for broader community, we continue to reach out to folks who post this and they never follow up which makes it impossible to investigate.
(biltrewards) Hey there! Can you please send us a private message with your Bilt account information? I will be happy to look into this for you.
(biltrewards) Hey there! Please send us a private message with your account information, we will be happy to look into this for you. Bilt does not close accounts for reasons such as moving or changes to your lease and accounts are not cancelled or suspended unless there is indication of potential fraud.
(biltrewards) We are aware of these reddit posts. To be 100% clear, Bilt business and customer usage is totally business as usual and there are no account closures happening (unless there is clear fraud).

We do not see any reports of customer issues in our regular support inbox. And, none of the posters in the reddit threads have actually replied to us and provided us their info to investigate their accounts. It is hard for us to do anything if we users post and then don't actually engage with us to get help (if there is an issue).
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Old Oct 24, 2023 | 4:10 pm
  #395  
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New Benefit just announced - in ten US cities at select restaurants, earn up to 10x extra points if you use a linked card (doesn't have to be the Bilt card).

Checked a couple restaurants near me, not bad..a hotpot plade we go to is +8. So... 11 points per dollar using the Bilt card? That's basically a 20% discount. Near.
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Old Oct 26, 2023 | 10:07 am
  #396  
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Nov 1 rent day transfer bonus: Emirates
  • Blue: 75% (1,000 Bilt Points=1,750 Skywards Miles)
  • Silver: 100% (1,000 Bilt Points=2,000 Skywards Miles)
  • Gold: 125% (1,000 Bilt Points=2,250 Skywards Miles)
  • Platinum: 150% (1,000 Bilt Points=2,500 Skywards Miles)
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Old Oct 26, 2023 | 1:52 pm
  #397  
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Originally Posted by notquiteaff
Nov 1 rent day transfer bonus: Emirates
  • Blue: 75% (1,000 Bilt Points=1,750 Skywards Miles)
  • Silver: 100% (1,000 Bilt Points=2,000 Skywards Miles)
  • Gold: 125% (1,000 Bilt Points=2,250 Skywards Miles)
  • Platinum: 150% (1,000 Bilt Points=2,500 Skywards Miles)
Come on UA or BA!
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Old Oct 26, 2023 | 4:28 pm
  #398  
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Originally Posted by tattikat2
Come on UA or BA!

Come on, in a few months, when I have enough points from the quizzes to actually be eligible to transfer anything

With the uncertainty of whether everyone gets the 5 day spend bonus offer I have so fa4 not bothered with getting the card. And I am not a renter.
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Old Oct 29, 2023 | 5:12 pm
  #399  
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WikiPost updated, added links to:
- Bilt Terms of Use
- Evolve/Bilt Customer Account Agreement
- 10/11/23 post which includes several references to Reddit reports about shutdowns and several Reddit Bilt quotes in response.
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Old Nov 1, 2023 | 5:38 am
  #400  
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11/1/23 Rent Day Challenge, “Find the Three Hidden Bilt Bricks”: side of ice cream truck, green surfboard, building upper left corner.

Links to Reddit threads for November Points Quest answers: Point Quest - November 2023 Point Quest. Just spent 15-20 minutes finding and reading (twice) these Reddit threads, did Bilt Points Quest, 250 (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 150) points posted immediately.

Link to Reddit thread for Rent Free Answers: Rent Free Answers.

Last edited by Dr Jabadski; Nov 1, 2023 at 6:09 am Reason: additional link added
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Old Nov 1, 2023 | 1:11 pm
  #401  
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I decided to pull the trigger and take advantage of the Emirates 150% bonus. I didn't put much stock into the people here who suggested that Bilt won't last, until I saw the jacket the CEO was wearing in the O'Leary interview. That convinced me.
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Old Nov 1, 2023 | 1:36 pm
  #402  
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Originally Posted by aviators99
... the jacket the CEO was wearing in the O'Leary interview. ....
The jacket below? What's significant about it?


Last edited by Dr Jabadski; Nov 1, 2023 at 1:42 pm Reason: photo added
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Old Nov 1, 2023 | 1:51 pm
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Originally Posted by Dr Jabadski
The jacket below? What's significant about it?

I find it embarassing.
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Old Nov 6, 2023 | 9:32 am
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Any one know what the "personalized Bilt gift"is upon reaching Plat status?
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Old Nov 6, 2023 | 10:05 pm
  #405  
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Originally Posted by tattikat2
Any one know what the "personalized Bilt gift"is upon reaching Plat status?
I don't. Searching bilt platinum personalized gift reddit reveals several Reddit threads, all of which indicate essentially all Bilt elite status levels offer little of value.
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