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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 Mar 9, 2024 | 8:31 pm
  #676  
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I have capital one card I use all the time - if I link that in my Bilt profile, will I get the status on Bilt? - I don't care about double and triple dip for now
Originally Posted by CaptJOB
My understanding is that you won't get the 2x Bilt points if you have Hilton as your preferred partner but that the spend SHOULD count towards the fast track to Bilt status. I feel like I've seen the dollar counter move up on my Fast Track when paying with the CSR(added to Bilt wallet) but I also have Bilt as my preferred partner in Lyft so no way of knowing if that is a requirement or not without doing more testing than I feel like(sorry).
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Old Mar 13, 2024 | 8:42 am
  #677  
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Gary Leff reports that the AA relationship with Bilt will end in June. However, there was a report on reddit earlier this week that for a brief time, AS showed up as a transfer partner, which sounded like an addition that was rolled out to the app too early. So hopefully there will be an announcement on that soon.
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Old Mar 13, 2024 | 9:28 am
  #678  
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Originally Posted by dw
So hopefully there will be an announcement on that soon.
Announcement accompanied by a Rent Day transfer bonus?
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Old Mar 13, 2024 | 9:45 am
  #679  
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Just to be sure, transfers to AA don't generate Loyalty Points, correct?
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Old Mar 13, 2024 | 11:39 am
  #680  
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Originally Posted by dw
Gary Leff reports that the AA relationship with Bilt will end in June. However, there was a report on reddit earlier this week that for a brief time, AS showed up as a transfer partner, which sounded like an addition that was rolled out to the app too early. So hopefully there will be an announcement on that soon.
I wonder if AS gets added since HA is already a partner.
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Old Mar 13, 2024 | 12:56 pm
  #681  
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Cost cutting??

Bilt Rewards and American AAdvantage partnership terminates in June
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Old Mar 13, 2024 | 1:02 pm
  #682  
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Originally Posted by Dr Jabadski
Cost cutting??
Scroll back to 677 to read earlier report and discussion. I think we will see more of this as the airlines come to see Bilt as a "credit card" partner rather than as a "rent rewards" program. I imagine that Barclays and Citi complained, and I expect that Chase is also complaining.
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Old Mar 13, 2024 | 1:22 pm
  #683  
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Not at all my area of expertise (if there is any) and I didn’t stay … never mind.

Originally Posted by mia
… as the airlines come to see Bilt as a "credit card" partner rather than as a "rent rewards" program …
Please expound upon the practical differences.

Originally Posted by mia
… I imagine that Barclays and Citi complained, and I expect that Chase is also complaining.
Complained about who to whom?

I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

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Old Mar 13, 2024 | 1:45 pm
  #684  
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Originally Posted by Dr Jabadski
Complained about who to whom?
Citi and Barclays share the right to issue co-branded cards for American Airlines in the USA, and now Wells Fargo is issuing a card which allows the cardholder to earn AAdvantage miles. Citi and Barclays may see this as diminishing the value of their relationship with AA. I imagine that if Bilt is seen as a "rent rewards" program, which happens to have its own co-branded credit card, this is not a breach of contract, but Citi and Barclays may nonetheless see it as a problem because Wells Fargo has a massive retail presence.
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Old Mar 13, 2024 | 2:04 pm
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Thank you, I hadn’t thought of it that way.

Regardless of the reason, loss of AA is a decrease (some might write devaluation) of Bilt’s perks which supports some people’s contention that Bilt is not sustainable, albeit not for the reasons I originally embraced the Bilt unsustainable theory.
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Old Mar 13, 2024 | 3:20 pm
  #686  
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Originally Posted by mia
Scroll back to 677 to read earlier report and discussion. I think we will see more of this as the airlines come to see Bilt as a "credit card" partner rather than as a "rent rewards" program. I imagine that Barclays and Citi complained, and I expect that Chase is also complaining.
Yes, I think everyone will be keeping an eye on Hyatt after this, and to a more limited extent, United.

Bilt is far more known now compared to when the AA partnership launched three years ago; much of that undoubtedly is due to them moving the cobrand card from an unknown issuer to WF.

AA is also allegedly in the process of renegotiating their contacts with Citi and Barclays, so there are a lot of moving parts on their end right now. AA of course has made it clear they want to increase their cobrand card spend, so they have an incentive to force people onto their cobrand cards. And eliminating a competitor to Citi and Barclays may also help AA extract more value for themselves from the upcoming renewal agreements.
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Old Mar 13, 2024 | 3:51 pm
  #687  
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Given that for most people, Bilt has essentially no sign-up bonus and churning it is useless, I'd presume the impact on transfer bonuses to AA and other transfer partners is vastly lower than other cards in circulation.
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Old Mar 13, 2024 | 6:52 pm
  #688  
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Originally Posted by Dr Jabadski
Thank you, I hadn’t thought of it that way.

Regardless of the reason, loss of AA is a decrease (some might write devaluation) of Bilt’s perks which supports some people’s contention that Bilt is not sustainable, albeit not for the reasons I originally embraced the Bilt unsustainable theory.
It may not be that AA is raising the cost of their miles to Bilt, it may be that they simply are ending the program, for the reasons MIA listed.

That wouldn't support the idea that Bilt is unsustainable.

And whether you believe it or not, Bilt has claimed that they are already profitable (not really sure I believe it, at least without some accounting sleight of hand).
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Old Mar 13, 2024 | 10:08 pm
  #689  
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Originally Posted by Smiley90
Given that for most people, Bilt has essentially no sign-up bonus and churning it is useless, ….
(My medical career spanned the time from “it makes sense and that’s the way we’ve always done it” to “evidence based medicine”, I now view many things that same new way.) Agree that absent a SUB, churning is pointless.

There’s a dearth of evidence and/or statistics regarding the number or percentage of new Bilt cardmembers who get the quasi-SUB and regarding churning Bilt MC. Based on following this thread very carefully for the past year and my extensive research for an accurate and thorough Wikipost, my estimation at this time is that most people do receive the quasi-SUB offer.

Please refer us to available datapoints regarding Bilt quasi-SUB and churning Bilt MC.
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Old Mar 14, 2024 | 7:18 am
  #690  
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Originally Posted by Dr Jabadski
(My medical career spanned the time from it makes sense and thats the way weve always done it to evidence based medicine, I now view many things that same new way.) Agree that absent a SUB, churning is pointless.

Theres a dearth of evidence and/or statistics regarding the number or percentage of new Bilt cardmembers who get the quasi-SUB and regarding churning Bilt MC. Based on following this thread very carefully for the past year and my extensive research for an accurate and thorough Wikipost, my estimation at this time is that most people do receive the quasi-SUB offer.

Please refer us to available datapoints regarding Bilt quasi-SUB and churning Bilt MC.
Im not saying most people dont get the bonus. Im saying most people won't actively max or even USE the bonus, given the short term it's valid for and how little it's advertised. I'd estimate most people get the card for what it's advertised for - paying rent.
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