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Old Oct 7, 2023, 1:25 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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 Jan 17, 2024 | 9:13 pm
  #571  
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Just confirming that it is not possible to use Bilt and get rent points for an EFT transfer right?
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Old Jan 17, 2024 | 11:56 pm
  #572  
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Originally Posted by fedolefan
Just confirming that it is not possible to use Bilt and get rent points for an EFT transfer right?
I'm not sure how different EFT is from ACH, but it's definitely doable for ACH transfers.
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Old Jan 17, 2024 | 11:57 pm
  #573  
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Originally Posted by wiivile
I rent at two locations. Is it possible to pay one landlord by check and another by the ACH method? Based on my reading of the terms, only the ACH method ("Bilt Rent Account") is limited to one (1) rental payment...

I could make a separate Bilt account instead but that would likely require applying for another Bilt Mastercard.
Do you have a partner? If so, they could apply for a second Bilt card.

Not sure if one person can have two.
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Old Jan 18, 2024 | 9:29 am
  #574  
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Originally Posted by josephstern
Do you have a partner? If so, they could apply for a second Bilt card.

Not sure if one person can have two.
Unfortunately not. I will try having one payment sent via check and another pulled from ACH.

If that doesnt work, could I pay two months rent to one landlord in February, then change the landlord for March and pay two months?
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Old Jan 18, 2024 | 10:27 am
  #575  
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Originally Posted by wiivile
Unfortunately not. I will try having one payment sent via check and another pulled from ACH.

If that doesnt work, could I pay two months rent to one landlord in February, then change the landlord for March and pay two months?
Sorry - I really don't know if that will work. I'm guessing they may not like the changing of the destination there, but it might not be something they care about.
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Old Jan 18, 2024 | 11:41 am
  #576  
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Does a return (credit) count as 1 of the 5 required (to earn points) statement cycle transactions?

BREAK

Originally Posted by wiivile
I rent at two locations. Is it possible to pay one landlord by check and another by the ACH method? ….
Bilt might consider that to be “biting the hand that feeds me”. I vaguely recall months ago reading something about only ONE rent payment per month. Bilt Changes Terms To Limit To One Rent Payment Per 30 Day Period.

Originally Posted by wiivile
… applying for another Bilt Mastercard.
We’ve not seen much discussion of one person having multiple open Bilt cards at the same time OR churning Bilt cards. Please let us know of any experiences or knowledge in those regards.
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Old Jan 18, 2024 | 12:25 pm
  #577  
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Originally Posted by Dr Jabadski
Does a return (credit) count as 1 of the 5 required (to earn points) statement cycle transactions?

BREAK

Bilt might consider that to be biting the hand that feeds me. I vaguely recall months ago reading something about only ONE rent payment per month. Bilt Changes Terms To Limit To One Rent Payment Per 30 Day Period.

Weve not seen much discussion of one person having multiple open Bilt cards at the same time OR churning Bilt cards. Please let us know of any experiences or knowledge in those regards.
I would very much doubt that a return counts as a transaction. I'm pretty sure it has to be a charge.
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Old Jan 20, 2024 | 10:59 am
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Originally Posted by Smiley90
How can I change my monthly payment account? I added a new bank account and made it the default, but it's still charging the old bank account. I can't delete the old.bank account because it's setup under autopsy (it says). And when I click on setup autopay, it says you can only have one active autopay and need to delete one first...but there's no option to delete!
You might have to turn off your current autopay payments and set up a new one with the updated information to do it.

1. Select the Pay Rent tab>Pay by check

2. Tap Autopay settings

3. Tap Turn off recurring payments.

You might then be able to change the account you use to make payments.
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Old Jan 23, 2024 | 6:16 am
  #579  
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Anyone noticing any problems with transactions not getting points? I've had one transaction that didn't get the points it should've gotten (posted to my Wells Fargo account, but got no Bilt points), and I've got one that I can't contact Bilt about yet (since it hasn't been the 5 business days they say it can take), but still seems like it's taking longer than it should.

For the one that never posted, customer service said they're "looking into it" and someone will get back to me "soon."
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Old Jan 23, 2024 | 8:08 am
  #580  
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Originally Posted by LETTERBOY
Anyone noticing any problems with transactions not getting points? I've had one transaction that didn't get the points it should've gotten (posted to my Wells Fargo account, but got no Bilt points), and I've got one that I can't contact Bilt about yet (since it hasn't been the 5 business days they say it can take), but still seems like it's taking longer than it should.

For the one that never posted, customer service said they're "looking into it" and someone will get back to me "soon."
Never seen that.

So on your activity screen, you see the description, date, and amount of charge, but no points? And not even "pending"?

Were these for cash-like charges or can you give us more details about the type of charge?
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Old Jan 23, 2024 | 9:45 pm
  #581  
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Originally Posted by josephstern
Never seen that.

So on your activity screen, you see the description, date, and amount of charge, but no points? And not even "pending"?

Were these for cash-like charges or can you give us more details about the type of charge?
This was a restaurant transaction. It showed as pending on my Bilt account for about a week, then dropped off completely. Totally disappeared. Date was Jan. 12, amount was $40.79.

FWIW, the other one that I was worried about has posted (although I still think it took longer than it normally does).
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Old Jan 23, 2024 | 10:02 pm
  #582  
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Originally Posted by LETTERBOY
This was a restaurant transaction. It showed as pending on my Bilt account for about a week, then dropped off completely. Totally disappeared. Date was Jan. 12, amount was $40.79.

FWIW, the other one that I was worried about has posted (although I still think it took longer than it normally does).
So you lost 122 points but didn't have to pay $40.79? Or is the charge still on the Wells Fargo side?
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Old Jan 24, 2024 | 6:21 am
  #583  
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Originally Posted by josephstern
So you lost 122 points but didn't have to pay $40.79? Or is the charge still on the Wells Fargo side?
Charge is still showing on my Wells Fargo account. I'll gladly pay the $40.79, I just want the points.
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Old Jan 24, 2024 | 9:59 am
  #584  
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Originally Posted by LETTERBOY
Charge is still showing on my Wells Fargo account. I'll gladly pay the $40.79, I just want the points.
That is a pretty strange one. I'm curious to hear what Bilt does about it.
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Old Jan 24, 2024 | 10:05 am
  #585  
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I can't read it, but if any of you have been worried like me that your points could evaporate, I think this headline, at least, should help a bit:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ns-as-chairman

If anyone sees that article without a paywall somewhere, please post.
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