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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 27, 2025 | 9:45 am
  #1186  
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I set up BillPay. I don't feel like this process is any different but just adds extra unnecessary steps. I don't think it tested my linked bank account's balance (I'm using BiltProtect still as I don't really want a hard pull for a credit limit increase at the moment)

I'll add an anecdote that I don't think the proportion of Platinum and Gold members in their target audience is very high. Today on March 27th you can book a free fitness at 10:50AM ET for Platinum and Gold members and 11:00AM ET for Silver and Blue members. At 10:59AM ET, only a few spots were filled in the NYC classes and maybe one spot here and there in other locations. The app experiences a large slowdown then when everyone tries to book at once - popular classes fill up almost immediately at 11:00AM ET while the rest fill up in the next 45 minutes (at 11:41 ET there are still a handful of spots left).

Obviously not everyone cares about fitness classes, but I'd assume Platinum and Gold members in the target Bilt demographic of "rich NYC millenial" would want to sign up. However, it is possible that this demographic already pays for classes so the Bilt benefit is worthless to them. Or many Platinum/Gold members made it through MS and aren't interested in fitness classes.
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Old Mar 27, 2025 | 5:35 pm
  #1187  
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Bilt's integration with Plaid (software that connects bank accounts to other services) has been killed. I'm trying to add the new BillPay routing/checking numbers to my housing portal (you have to do the manual deposit way because Plaid is broken) and nothing is working. I'm going to try using the old numbers since they claimed this doesn't start until the end of April, but a quick heads up for anyone trying to do this.



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Old Mar 27, 2025 | 9:01 pm
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Originally Posted by gudugan
I set up BillPay. I don't feel like this process is any different but just adds extra unnecessary steps. I don't think it tested my linked bank account's balance (I'm using BiltProtect still as I don't really want a hard pull for a credit limit increase at the moment)

I'll add an anecdote that I don't think the proportion of Platinum and Gold members in their target audience is very high. Today on March 27th you can book a free fitness at 10:50AM ET for Platinum and Gold members and 11:00AM ET for Silver and Blue members. At 10:59AM ET, only a few spots were filled in the NYC classes and maybe one spot here and there in other locations. The app experiences a large slowdown then when everyone tries to book at once - popular classes fill up almost immediately at 11:00AM ET while the rest fill up in the next 45 minutes (at 11:41 ET there are still a handful of spots left).

Obviously not everyone cares about fitness classes, but I'd assume Platinum and Gold members in the target Bilt demographic of "rich NYC millenial" would want to sign up. However, it is possible that this demographic already pays for classes so the Bilt benefit is worthless to them. Or many Platinum/Gold members made it through MS and aren't interested in fitness classes.
I'm a platinum member and have only once tried to book a fitness class through Bilt. Most rent days fall in the middle of the week and I assume most people have jobs. It's great for folks who are able to get away to do a fitness class in the middle of a weekday though!
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Old Mar 30, 2025 | 12:39 pm
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when setting autopay with billpay, what should i put for name on account? thanks
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Old Apr 1, 2025 | 9:11 am
  #1190  
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Originally Posted by gudugan
Bilt's integration with Plaid (software that connects bank accounts to other services) has been killed. I'm trying to add the new BillPay routing/checking numbers to my housing portal (you have to do the manual deposit way because Plaid is broken) and nothing is working. I'm going to try using the old numbers since they claimed this doesn't start until the end of April, but a quick heads up for anyone trying to do this.
Transferred all my points to BA.
I relinked the BillPay today and it has been fixed with Plaid. Shows up as a checking account with $50,000 balance. COLUMN N.A.: Checking Account Ending in XXXX

Originally Posted by Caspavio
when setting autopay with billpay, what should i put for name on account? thanks
Believe it should be your own name?
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Old Apr 1, 2025 | 9:27 am
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Originally Posted by gudugan
Believe it should be your own name?
im not sure as the account and routing number is from bilt? i didnt need this info for my rent payment, so idk. i guess i will enter my name and in the worst case scenario it just dont work
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Old Apr 14, 2025 | 4:19 pm
  #1192  
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What's the turnaround time on applications these days?
Just applied in-app and all I got was an email saying they would get back to me with a decision.
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Old Apr 16, 2025 | 12:40 pm
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Applied around 230pm on April 14th, received an email from WF a few minutes later that my application was under review.
Hard pulls didn't hit my credit file for about an hour (got notifications/emails from several credit apps/services).

Just got an email response today, the 16th, that I've been approved for $20k CL.
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Old Apr 16, 2025 | 3:24 pm
  #1194  
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We're updating how you pay rent through Bilt .... Your current Rent Rewards account will expire on April 29, ... your rewards aren't changing, just how you submit your monthly payment at non-Bilt properties.

Our revamped BillPay by Bilt system is designed for members who don't live at Bilt partner properties ...

The Bilt Team
Has anyone done the new process? Does it really have to be done within 5 days of paying rent?

For those of us who have previously paid rent or condo fees for a non-partner property with no online management portal via a hard copy ACH (pull) form, anyone willing and able to write a step-by-step procedure (“like I’m a 6 year old”) for the new process? (Yes, I’m aware that I’m asking to be spoon fed which some people are loath to do* for any number of reasons including time commitment. Please note that I spent a great deal of time writing the comprehensive original WikiPost for this thread.)

Thank you.

(* The correct phrase is "loath to do". "Loath" is an adjective meaning reluctant or unwilling, while "loathe" is a verb meaning to dislike intensely. The phrase "loath to do" means unwilling to do something.)

BREAK

I’ve spent wasted a fair amount of time on this. Seems like all these emails and notifications are simply an extraordinarily long and confusing way of stating “as of May 1st you’ll need to use new account and routing numbers”.

Last edited by Dr Jabadski; Apr 16, 2025 at 4:10 pm Reason: after BREAK added, avoid consecutive posts
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Old Apr 17, 2025 | 6:42 pm
  #1195  
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FWIW I just got an email that they're finally supporting rent payments on Zillows renter hub... for the past 2.5 years I've had to manually email Bilt each month with a screen shot of the rent payment I made WITHOUT using BIlt since their system wasn't compatible, and they'd manually credit the points each month.

Allegedly it'll work now, though only with that "you have to authorize the specific amount 5 days in advance each time" thing or it'll be rejected. Won't know for sure for another 9 days when I get within 5 days of due date though.
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Old Apr 20, 2025 | 8:00 am
  #1196  
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A technical error apparently revealed JAL as an upcoming transfer partner. Will be interesting if that actually happens.
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Old Apr 25, 2025 | 11:27 am
  #1197  
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LOL, I'm not interested in Southwest points. No way.
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Old Apr 25, 2025 | 3:01 pm
  #1198  
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Originally Posted by gudugan
LOL, I'm not interested in Southwest points. No way.
Others will be interested. Here is the announcement: https://www.biltrewards.com/p/southwest
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Old Apr 26, 2025 | 11:03 am
  #1199  
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The number of partners being added is very impressive. How do they manage to do these when others cannot?
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Old Apr 26, 2025 | 11:34 am
  #1200  
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Originally Posted by UA Fan
The number of partners being added is very impressive. How do they manage to do these when others cannot?
What I've seen from interviews with both loyalty program folks and Bilt folks is that Bilt is able to offer access to a very different consumer demographic from the other programs you're getting very young, typically urban affluent, consumers that are a premium to reach
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