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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 14, 2024 | 12:27 pm
  #691  
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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, ….
​​​​​
Originally Posted by Smiley90
… 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….
Good points.

Regarding churning, I remain intensely curious. Bilt has only been around for 3 years so few (if any) reports of churning. Agreed that the limitations of the quasi-SUB make it a far less attractive candidate for churning. Counting toward 5/24 is the churning (attempt) deal breaker for me, similar to 5/24 effects precluding me from attempting a q̂* 7 year Hilton Aspire churn.

Maybe a Bilt biz version ? (Yeah, yeah, yeah please don't dash my dreams against the rocks, I know it's WAY far-fetched .)

(* “q̂” used in the medical abbreviation context of “every”)
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Old Mar 14, 2024 | 2:06 pm
  #692  
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Bilt's status program is somewhat anti-churning also. Once you get status, you maximize the miles you have saved in the program. You don't want to empty it out and start over.
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Old Mar 14, 2024 | 5:57 pm
  #693  
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Originally Posted by Scotttyd
Hello- I got the 5x bonus for first 5 days- I tried to pay a vacation rental and it was rejected for "fee protect" I am confused. Bilt says they were not charging a fee, but they block it if the person sending the charge submits a CC fee- the vacation rental agency says they are are not charging a fee.

Also, they tell me if it is rent it won't get the 5x - which I get, but this isn't really rent, but I understand it depends on how the merchant codes it. BILT can't tell me if the charge was submitted as rent or not until they approve it. If it is rent, I will use a different card that I am working on a SUB on, any thoughts?
follow up point- after some back and forth with this rep I got a courtesy 500 points - not the 10,000+ I was supposed to get ~$2500 vacation rental. I get the generic "welcome to bilt" email from the CEO - I respond to it thinking nothing will happen, within 30 minutes I get a response saying they made and error and I got the bonus points credited to my account!

I was pleasantly shocked
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Old Mar 15, 2024 | 4:43 am
  #694  
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Originally Posted by Smiley90
I wonder if AS gets added since HA is already a partner.
You saw this, right?

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alas...gests-yes.html
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Old Mar 15, 2024 | 6:07 am
  #695  
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Originally Posted by notquiteaff
That's what I was responding to when it was mentioned upthread
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Old Mar 15, 2024 | 8:16 am
  #696  
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Looks like it's real. As of today, I can link my Alaska program.
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Old Mar 15, 2024 | 9:17 am
  #697  
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Originally Posted by josephstern
Bilt's status program is somewhat anti-churning also. Once you get status, you maximize the miles you have saved in the program. You don't want to empty it out and start over.
Bingo. Plus they're handing out considerable amounts of free points over time. I regret nothing about the "damage" it's done to my 5/24.
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Old Mar 15, 2024 | 3:03 pm
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Is anyone able to download or otherwise save their Bilt statement in Safari on a Mac? I can do it in Chrome, but I get strange errors each month when I try to do it in Safari.
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Old Mar 17, 2024 | 3:14 pm
  #699  
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Originally Posted by Dr Jabadski
The implication of the Bilt Rewards screenshot (snip) below is that one can earn Bilt points for Lyft rides that paid for with a linked credit card, regardless of linking Bilt and Lyft accounts. pretty sure that a triple dip like this would be well discussed here
Asked Bilt for clarification of the above.

Replies: To start earning points for your Lyft rides you will need to link your Lyft account with your Bilt Rewards account. Please note that linking the payment method you use as default for your Lyft account to Bilt Rewards will not ensure you will earn points for Lyft Rides. and You will go to the Lyft app and select Rewards on the menu. Once there, you will scroll until you locate the Loyalty Rewards section and select Bilt Rewards as your active loyalty rewards partner.

I couldnt find the same screenshot today, maybe its gone, maybe Bilt realized it was confusing.

So, no free lunch triple dip. For Lyft rides - Bilt points OR different loyalty partner point/miles, not both.
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Old Mar 21, 2024 | 4:37 pm
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Does anyone know if it's possible to pay for rent in a foreign country (the UK) using the Bilt card? I currently live in London and pay rent here (as my current/primary residence). My landlord currently asks that I pay rent via a bank transfer from a UK bank account (which I have been doing). Does anyone know of a potential workaround here to earn Bilt points? Thanks in advance.
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Old Mar 23, 2024 | 10:08 pm
  #701  
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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."
And now I've got 2 more transactions that aren't posting. Second time this has happened in the 6 months I've had this card.
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Old Mar 24, 2024 | 12:46 pm
  #702  
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Originally Posted by LETTERBOY
And now I've got 2 more transactions that aren't posting. Second time this has happened in the 6 months I've had this card.
Complained to Bilt about the delay in points posting and was told I had to wait 7 days, as opposed to the 5 days they told me the last time this happened. At this point, I'm seriously considering cancelling the card. I don't see the point in using (or even holding) the card if I can't count on the points to post reliably.
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Old Mar 24, 2024 | 12:48 pm
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what? with most cards you dont get the points until the monthly statement closes. bilt is an outlier.
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Old Mar 24, 2024 | 8:57 pm
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Originally Posted by wiivile
what? with most cards you dont get the points until the monthly statement closes. bilt is an outlier.
Yes, but with every other card I have, I can count on those points to post reliably, even if they don't post until the statement closes. If I can't count on Bilt points to post reliably, the card isn't any good to me.
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Old Mar 24, 2024 | 9:18 pm
  #705  
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Originally Posted by LETTERBOY
Yes, but with every other card I have, I can count on those points to post reliably, even if they don't post until the statement closes. If I can't count on Bilt points to post reliably, the card isn't any good to me.
Id consider "within 7 days of purchase" fairly reliable.
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