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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 Mar 19, 2025 | 3:01 pm
  #1171  
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Originally Posted by fredc84
Got 5x for 5 days up to $10,000 spend after a credit limit increase with Bilt.

I had read about this on DoC so thought I would give it a try......
Just an update on this. The 5x is total points no matter the category. I've had some 1x and some 2x charges go through and the ones that get 2x got an additional 3x points (of course, the 1x got 4x additional).
In case anyone had any doubts about how it worked.

Another update, yesterday (the 20th) was my last day for the 5x points. I got an email in the afternoon today giving me another 30 days of 5x on groceries, gas and dining. Of course this came AFTER my weekly Trader Joe's run I did in the morning.
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Last edited by fredc84; Mar 21, 2025 at 1:09 pm
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Old Mar 25, 2025 | 3:12 pm
  #1172  
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New BillPay (not BiltPay) FAQ: https://support.biltrewards.com/hc/e...w-does-it-work

No action required at the end of March, but is required for the end of April.
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Old Mar 25, 2025 | 4:27 pm
  #1173  
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This is intriguing.

Is there a limit to the number of payments I can make via BillPay? Can I make separate payments for rent, utilities, etc.?

You can make up to three (3) BillPay payments per 30-day period. These can be separate and may include rent, HOA fees, utilities, and internet.


Originally Posted by gudugan
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Old Mar 25, 2025 | 4:29 pm
  #1174  
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Saw that too. I believe the intent is that, for example:
  • You preauthorize $3500 so they know you have the funds
  • You pay rent of $3000
  • You pay utilities of $100-200 each month, varying
  • You pay internet of $80

Last edited by gudugan; Mar 25, 2025 at 5:51 pm
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Old Mar 25, 2025 | 5:41 pm
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Originally Posted by Dr Jabadski
Color me confused. Many unanswered questions:

OTOH, if earn both Bilt Points AND your card's rewards (with no fees) turns out to be true, this might be a beneficial change.
If only this were true. Using a different credit card (not Bilt) results in earning only 250 pts plus the 3% fee, at least for me. I have no Bilt status.
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Old Mar 25, 2025 | 6:19 pm
  #1176  
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Right, but I take it to mean that now paying my electric utility, and internet service charges monthly (and separately from rent) using the ACH account is officially kosher and should earn me Bilt points?

Originally Posted by gudugan
Saw that too. I believe the intent is that, for example:
  • You preauthorize $3500 so they know you have the funds
  • You pay rent of $3000
  • You pay utilities of $100-200 each month, varying
  • You pay internet of $80
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Old Mar 25, 2025 | 6:38 pm
  #1177  
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Maybe. I would try it but 5x on utilities from the Wyndham Business card is better than 1x Bilt...
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Old Mar 25, 2025 | 7:33 pm
  #1178  
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Many utilities won't (yes, even in AD 2025) accept credit cards or otherwise remove auto-pay discounts for paying with anything other than a checking account, hence the (expanded) appeal of Bilt's ACH account.

Originally Posted by gudugan
Maybe. I would try it but 5x on utilities from the Wyndham Business card is better than 1x Bilt...
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Old Mar 25, 2025 | 8:33 pm
  #1179  
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Originally Posted by progapanda
This is intriguing.

Is there a limit to the number of payments I can make via BillPay? Can I make separate payments for rent, utilities, etc.?

You can make up to three (3) BillPay payments per 30-day period. These can be separate and may include rent, HOA fees, utilities, and internet.
This is good for those of us who have been wondering about paying HOA fees. Unfortunately, the payment processor charges a small fee for pulling the payment, which posts as a separate transaction. (I don't quite trust Bilt to send a check properly.) It won't affect my use case since I am only doing the HOA fee payment, so I'd have at most two ACH transactions.
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Old Mar 26, 2025 | 3:59 am
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Bilt has always allowed HOA fee payments.

I have been paying my HOA fees with Bilt as an "e-check" (my HOA payment portal's no-fee option, as it's technically a bank transfer) since I got my card more than two years ago.

The transactions go through fine, even though my HOA sends me two charges every month (HOA fee and my portion of the property tax), even before this bill pay switch. The merchant name even says HOA.
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Old Mar 26, 2025 | 8:22 am
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Originally Posted by progapanda
This is intriguing.

Is there a limit to the number of payments I can make via BillPay? Can I make separate payments for rent, utilities, etc.?

You can make up to three (3) BillPay payments per 30-day period. These can be separate and may include rent, HOA fees, utilities, and internet.
It's unclear to me whether those separate payments can be made to different entities. I guess we'll find out soon...
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Old Mar 26, 2025 | 8:23 am
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for apr rent day promo, bilt is offering up to 100% bonus for transfer to avios. i wonder what's everyone's take on this? is it worth the speculative transfer? i mean it is a very enticing offer and i do have some avios left that i would like to burn, meaning i would need a top up at some point. but at the same time, i have always stayed clear of transferring speculatively
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Old Mar 26, 2025 | 11:32 am
  #1183  
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Originally Posted by Caspavio
for apr rent day promo, bilt is offering up to 100% bonus for transfer to avios. i wonder what's everyone's take on this? is it worth the speculative transfer? i mean it is a very enticing offer and i do have some avios left that i would like to burn, meaning i would need a top up at some point. but at the same time, i have always stayed clear of transferring speculatively
Whenever Bilt offers a significant transfer bonus to an FFP that I use (and BA is one of them), I take advantage of it, because I just don't know for how long Bilt can continue to offer such transfer bonuses. This is the exact opposite of the strategy that I use for other transferrable currencies, which is transfer only when needed.
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Old Mar 26, 2025 | 12:39 pm
  #1184  
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I’m cashing everything to BA. Don’t want to hold Bilt points

EDIT: The transfer bonus is
100% Platinum
75% Gold
60% Silver
50% Blue

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Last edited by gudugan; Mar 26, 2025 at 2:00 pm Reason: added transfer details
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Old Mar 26, 2025 | 2:25 pm
  #1185  
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Originally Posted by Wyfind
Bilt has always allowed HOA fee payments.

I have been paying my HOA fees with Bilt as an "e-check" (my HOA payment portal's no-fee option, as it's technically a bank transfer) since I got my card more than two years ago.

The transactions go through fine, even though my HOA sends me two charges every month (HOA fee and my portion of the property tax), even before this bill pay switch. The merchant name even says HOA.
Same, though mine is just a single charge. I wish I could pay my property tax through Bilt too!
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