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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 6, 2024 | 5:54 am
  #1021  
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Originally Posted by GW McLintock
I don't pay rent either; I do however pay monthly maintenance, and it wasn't until earlier this year that my building's management company began accepting payments over the Bilt portal. With that being said, I don't use the card for anything else other than (a) maintenance, (b) anything on the 1st that will get bonus points and wouldn't get 3% or more on another card. Even if they had a SUB it would have to be pretty good for me to even try for it.

-J.
IIRC they don't require the property to participate with their portal, you can have them issue a virtual routing/checking number to pay rent. The other main advantage of this card that I can tell is that its a no annual fee World Elite Mastercard, so has those benefits. It includes cell phone insurance. And it also has primary rental car coverage. AMEX also offers primary rental car coverage, but you have to pay a fee every time you use it. In Bilt's case, this appears to be included with the card.

The main downsides as I've seen is the way they structure customer service. Anything related to financial services is handled by Wells Fargo customer service, anything related to the rewards program is handle by Bilt's own customer service. Bilt does not appear to have a phone number you can call - you have to chat them on the site/app or email them. I've found they often aren't familiar with their own programs. WF cs has been more or less fine. The two support options aren't integrated so I've on occasion gotten shuttled back and forth between the two trying to get a question answered which was weird.
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Old Oct 6, 2024 | 9:54 am
  #1022  
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Originally Posted by AMSR
And it also has primary rental car coverage. AMEX also offers primary rental car coverage, but you have to pay a fee every time you use it. In Bilt's case, this appears to be included with the card.
Its primary unless you are a New York resident. I thought I would point that out for completeness since Bilt probably has a ton of NY renters as members. Then again, those same members may not have their own car insurance due to lack of personal vehicle, maybe it doesnt matter.

I currently have two Chase cards with primary coverage. They do have an annual fee.
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Old Oct 6, 2024 | 10:19 am
  #1023  
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Originally Posted by notquiteaff
It’s primary unless you are a New York resident. I thought I would point that out for completeness since Bilt probably has a ton of NY renters as members. Then again, those same members may not have their own car insurance due to lack of personal vehicle, maybe it doesn’t matter.

I currently have two Chase cards with primary coverage. They do have an annual fee.
If I don't have collision coverage on my personal car insurance, can I then use any card with secondary insurance to rent a car and be covered?
How do they even know if I have insurance at all?
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Old Oct 6, 2024 | 11:34 am
  #1024  
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Originally Posted by yugi
If I don't have collision coverage on my personal car insurance, can I then use any card with secondary insurance to rent a car and be covered?
If you have no personal policy, or if your policy does not cover the rental car, you would be covered by a "secondary" policy. However, bear in mind that credit card CDW only covers damage to the rental car, nothing else. Any damage done to another car, other property, or any person is not covered by a CDW policy.
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Old Oct 6, 2024 | 2:46 pm
  #1025  
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Originally Posted by yugi
If I don't have collision coverage on my personal car insurance, can I then use any card with secondary insurance to rent a car and be covered?
How do they even know if I have insurance at all?
Yes, thats basically why cards with secondary domestic coverage have primary coverage outside the US - most domestic personal automobile insurance plans dont offer rental car coverage outside the US, so the card is the only coverage and hence primary.

How do they know if you have insurance at all? No personal experience (never had a rental car claim) , but I assume the card insurance carrier will simply ask you what other insurance you have. And if you lie about it, thats presumably insurance fraud or perjury or some other undesirable legal problem.

Originally Posted by mia
However, bear in mind that credit card CDW only covers damage to the rental car, nothing else. Any damage done to another car, other property, or any person is not covered by a CDW policy.
Yes, liability coverage is often ignored or forgotten and could get very expensive. Since minimal liability insurance in the US is mandatory for registering cars in all (most?) states, I dont know car rental companies would still have a $20/$25k liability insurance on the vehicle for renters without personal insurance (or from abroad) or if they truly then let vehicles go out the rental garage with zero coverage for damage to 3rd parties. My personal automobile insurance has very high liability coverage, so I never looked into that.
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Old Oct 6, 2024 | 9:08 pm
  #1026  
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Originally Posted by GW McLintock
... I don't use the card for anything else other than ...
I hope you use it for (the required) 4 or 5 other transactions per month so you’ll earn points for all transactions.

Personally, I use it for 2 or 3 swipes each (per month) at self-service grocery or gasoline check-out. For me it’s usually 2 apples - swipe (insert or tap) Bilt MC, bag of lettuce - swipe Bilt MC, rest of groceries – swipe whichever card I want to put grocery spend on. Then (at gas station) insert Bilt MC - 1 gallon or $2-3, insert Bilt MC again - 1 more gallon or another $2-3, insert whichever card I want to put gasoline on - fill it up. Occasionally I’ll charge a few more dollars to Bilt MC just to get to a 1000 increment so I can transfer points out ASAP because I’m one of those who believe Bilt may implode (soon) so my point balance is usually close to 0.
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Old Oct 9, 2024 | 2:04 pm
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Originally Posted by mia
If you have no personal policy, or if your policy does not cover the rental car, you would be covered by a "secondary" policy. However, bear in mind that credit card CDW only covers damage to the rental car, nothing else. Any damage done to another car, other property, or any person is not covered by a CDW policy.
I do have property damage to third party on my policy.
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Old Oct 9, 2024 | 2:07 pm
  #1028  
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Originally Posted by notquiteaff
Yes, thats basically why cards with secondary domestic coverage have primary coverage outside the US - most domestic personal automobile insurance plans dont offer rental car coverage outside the US, so the card is the only coverage and hence primary.

How do they know if you have insurance at all? No personal experience (never had a rental car claim) , but I assume the card insurance carrier will simply ask you what other insurance you have. And if you lie about it, thats presumably insurance fraud or perjury or some other undesirable legal problem.



Yes, liability coverage is often ignored or forgotten and could get very expensive. Since minimal liability insurance in the US is mandatory for registering cars in all (most?) states, I dont know car rental companies would still have a $20/$25k liability insurance on the vehicle for renters without personal insurance (or from abroad) or if they truly then let vehicles go out the rental garage with zero coverage for damage to 3rd parties. My personal automobile insurance has very high liability coverage, so I never looked into that.
Exactly, they never ask if you have your own liability and property damage. So they won't ever know if I have it, and if I'm abroad, then they are out of luck.
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Old Oct 9, 2024 | 2:32 pm
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Originally Posted by yugi
How do they even know if I have insurance at all?
If you've ever requested a consumer disclosure report from NexusLexus you know that these online data brokers have records reported from the insurance companies just like the credit reporting bureaus have records reported from the credit card companies. Most likely it would be trivial for them to check the status of your insurance coverage.

You can request your own report here: https://consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com/


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Old Oct 9, 2024 | 2:58 pm
  #1030  
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Originally Posted by cjw2001
If you've ever requested a consumer disclosure report from NexusLexus you know that these online data brokers have records reported from the insurance companies just like the credit reporting bureaus have records reported from the credit card companies. Most likely it would be trivial for them to check the status of your insurance coverage.

You can request your own report here: https://consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com/
Bit more background from CFPB: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/cons...ting-exchange/
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Old Oct 10, 2024 | 10:12 am
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Bilt is adding Accor and Tap to their transfer partners...

https://thepointsguy.com/news/bilt-r...-air-portugal/
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Old Oct 10, 2024 | 2:52 pm
  #1032  
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I think CapOne is another TAP transfer partner, but I don't have a CapOne card and am not really in the market for yet transferable currency program one at the moment. Does TAP have any good long haul sweetspots? I have only ever flown them shorthaul in Europe and used UA awards or credited to UA.

Accor = meh, I think.
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Old Oct 10, 2024 | 9:36 pm
  #1033  
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Ugh, I have read and read, and am still unsure. Can someone explain like I am a moron...

I am going to send my info to the accounting clerk for our HOA for HOD payments. Am sending the routing and account number, I have all that and the bank name etc figured out. What I am not clear on, does it then come out of my regular everyday checking account with my regular bank, or can I choose to have it draw from charged to one of my credit cards? Looking at My Wallet in Bilt it shows the option to earn points on my Chase credit card. Am pretty sure it is the former, directly from my checking account, but if I can double dip, haha.
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Old Oct 10, 2024 | 9:39 pm
  #1034  
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Originally Posted by Dr Jabadski
I hope you use it for (the required) 4 or 5 other transactions per month so youll earn points for all transactions.

Personally, I use it for 2 or 3 swipes each (per month) at self-service grocery or gasoline check-out. For me its usually 2 apples - swipe (insert or tap) Bilt MC, bag of lettuce - swipe Bilt MC, rest of groceries swipe whichever card I want to put grocery spend on. Then (at gas station) insert Bilt MC - 1 gallon or $2-3, insert Bilt MC again - 1 more gallon or another $2-3, insert whichever card I want to put gasoline on - fill it up. Occasionally Ill charge a few more dollars to Bilt MC just to get to a 1000 increment so I can transfer points out ASAP because Im one of those who believe Bilt may implode (soon) so my point balance is usually close to 0.
Thank you for the reminder. I am just now setting it up after having it for 2 years sitting here collecting dust. I would totally have forgotten this requirement.
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Old Oct 10, 2024 | 9:40 pm
  #1035  
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Originally Posted by tatterdema
Ugh, I have read and read, and am still unsure. Can someone explain like I am a moron...

I am going to send my info to the accounting clerk for our HOA for HOD payments. Am sending the routing and account number, I have all that and the bank name etc figured out. What I am not clear on, does it then come out of my regular everyday checking account with my regular bank, or can I choose to have it draw from charged to one of my credit cards? Looking at My Wallet in Bilt it shows the option to earn points on my Chase credit card. Am pretty sure it is the former, directly from my checking account, but if I can double dip, haha.
if you have Bilt Protect on it comes directly from checking account and skips your Bilt credit card balance completely. You get 1x points

you can pay with a different card but you will pay a 3% fee and earn some points. Not worth it to me
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