Oct 7, 2023, 1:25 pm
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 I’ve 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 I’m 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. I’m 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.
Linksto 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.
There’s 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. There’s 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 Bilt’s Rent Day promotions going back to October 2022 at the bottom of the page here: DEALSPOINTS.
June 2024: Bottom of this post describes one person’s 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.
(10/7/23 Original author (Dr Jabadski) note: As I posted here on 9/9/23 “Considering I’ve 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 I’m 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. I’m 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
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.
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.
There’s 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 Rent Free may also have been discontinued in 2024 or 2025.
List of Bilt’s Rent Day promotions going back to October 2022 at the bottom of the page here: DEALSPOINTS.
June 2024: Bottom of this post describes one person’s 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.
Bilt Mastercard
Apr 26, 2025 | 11:48 am
#1201
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 10,682
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
Two other possible reasons:
-They aren't exactly a bank, so programs that have a relationship with one bank exclusively might still be able to partner with Bilt
-Bilt is willing to pay more for the points
Apr 27, 2025 | 10:34 am
#1203
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 10,682
I know they claim to be profitable, but I personally don't believe it. So if you're in the red, maybe you go a little further in the red to look better short- and medium-term? Then you're a better acquisition target?
Apr 27, 2025 | 11:08 am
#1204
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,365
HA, AF, VS, EK, AC, AS, AV, BA (and WN next month)
It'd be highly costly to Bilt if it paid more than market to acquire those miles. The only airlines that we haven't seen transfer bonuses from Bilt are UA, TK and TP. Not sure about TK or TP, but it's possible that Bilt has to pay more for UA miles (and for AA miles when AA was a transfer partner). For hotel partners, I'm sure Hyatt is the costliest and we'll never see a transfer bonus to Hyatt.
I'm not sure Bilt is setting itself up as an acquisition target. Wells would be a natural acquirer, but knowing what it knows now, it's hard to imagine it'd contemplate an acquisition.
May 1, 2025 | 8:46 pm
#1205
Join Date: Jan 2020
Programs: SQ Gold, Marriott Lifetime Platinum, Caesars Diamond, Hilton Diamond, Atmos Silver, IHG Platinum
Posts: 2,228
The new rent authorization system is completely broken. It says the bank accounts linked through BiltProtect are "coming soon" and the payment failed. I can't use the card (even though it says BiltProtect) because the credit limit is less than my rent.
The AI chatbot is extremely unhelpful.
The AI chatbot is extremely unhelpful.
May 2, 2025 | 6:23 am
#1206
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 10,682
My Southwest points still haven't arrived . . .
May 4, 2025 | 11:43 am
#1207
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 94
Bilt changed our apartment portal payment number. I made a mistake
with the small deposit amount so I got locked out of the apartment
complex ACH system. You need to wait for about 3 or 4 days to get a text message
of the amount from BILT - no deposit. Apartment complex says they can not unlock. It was
the last payment before we move so not a big deal. There was a 21 cent deposit
in our account from Schwab that I did not look at the source of. It was a months interest.
with the small deposit amount so I got locked out of the apartment
complex ACH system. You need to wait for about 3 or 4 days to get a text message
of the amount from BILT - no deposit. Apartment complex says they can not unlock. It was
the last payment before we move so not a big deal. There was a 21 cent deposit
in our account from Schwab that I did not look at the source of. It was a months interest.
May 4, 2025 | 11:55 am
#1208
Join Date: Jan 2020
Programs: SQ Gold, Marriott Lifetime Platinum, Caesars Diamond, Hilton Diamond, Atmos Silver, IHG Platinum
Posts: 2,228
The new rent authorization system is completely broken. It says the bank accounts linked through BiltProtect are "coming soon" and the payment failed. I can't use the card (even though it says BiltProtect) because the credit limit is less than my rent.
The AI chatbot is extremely unhelpful.
The AI chatbot is extremely unhelpful.
We have confirmed that your Bank Account has been verified. The message indicating that Bank Account is coming soon is displayed when you are unable to use a bank account for Routing and Account Number payments. This was also the reason the Bilt Protect feature did not automatically process the transaction previously. Now that this issue has been resolved, you should be able to utilize his [sic] account for payments.
Idk if this is actually fixed. I just paid manually. We'll see at the end of this month...
May 5, 2025 | 5:15 pm
#1209
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: PacNW (SEA)
Programs: AS, IHG and post-loyal
Posts: 614
Bilt comms and support FAQs are fantastically confusing -- I pay by check and regularly get messages that the way I pay is changing, and similarly see FAQs that nothing is changing for those that pay by check. Can't be both 
May 6, 2025 | 11:46 pm
#1210
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 94
Before my mistake on the BILT PC login, I needed to tell them I think within 10%
of the expected rent payment since our BILT credit card imit is lower than our rent.
I did that. I am interested becaue we will need to set up our BILT portal in our
new place. I wish BILT allowed transfering points to Jet Blue.
of the expected rent payment since our BILT credit card imit is lower than our rent.
I did that. I am interested becaue we will need to set up our BILT portal in our
new place. I wish BILT allowed transfering points to Jet Blue.
May 12, 2025 | 6:18 am
#1211
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NYC suburbs
Programs: UA LT Gold 1.2MM (BIS), AA LT Plat (SUBs, BD/Bask), Hilton Dia (CC), Hyatt Glob (BIB), et. al.
Posts: 4,589
” This is America in 2025, of course it can be both, or even all 
. As some Marine Corps Naval Aviators (? used to) like to say “I’d rather be lucky than (be) good.” Turns out that coincidentally with new Bilt rent/HOA procedures my condominium managing agent a few months ago started an online payment portal.
Thus it was a non-event to do the new Bilt payment procedures (10 days ago); authorize payment on Bilt website or app, input routing and account numbers to online payment portal, 3 days later payment posted to my Bilt MC.
But, I’d like to do Bilt “auto-authorization” (for the foreseeable future) and today I cannot see the routing and account numbers anywhere on Bilt website or app. I did copy, paste and save those numbers 10 days ago.
Do we think Bilt will use the same routing and account numbers for future “auto-authorization” or use different numbers each month?
With the new procedures allegedly allowing for ACH pull WITHIN 5 DAYS, do we think that Bilt will ACTUALLY decline an ACH pull 6 or 8 or 9 days AFTER (manual or auto) authorization date?
Thank you.
May 18, 2025 | 6:31 pm
#1212
Join Date: Jan 2020
Programs: SQ Gold, Marriott Lifetime Platinum, Caesars Diamond, Hilton Diamond, Atmos Silver, IHG Platinum
Posts: 2,228
The support says
We have confirmed that your Bank Account has been verified. The message indicating that Bank Account is coming soon is displayed when you are unable to use a bank account for Routing and Account Number payments. This was also the reason the Bilt Protect feature did not automatically process the transaction previously. Now that this issue has been resolved, you should be able to utilize his [sic] account for payments.
Idk if this is actually fixed. I just paid manually. We'll see at the end of this month...
We have confirmed that your Bank Account has been verified. The message indicating that Bank Account is coming soon is displayed when you are unable to use a bank account for Routing and Account Number payments. This was also the reason the Bilt Protect feature did not automatically process the transaction previously. Now that this issue has been resolved, you should be able to utilize his [sic] account for payments.
Idk if this is actually fixed. I just paid manually. We'll see at the end of this month...
The best way to get in contact with them is to bug them on Apple Messages (aka iMessage for Business). In the iPhone app, click your profile at the top right, then "Chat with Us", then "Chat using iMessage". Send a bunch of messages, no one will respond, and then someone will reach out to you over email. The website has an AI support agent which is useless.
If you respond to that email (will show up as Bilt Rewards <[email protected]>), it will open a new ticket in Zendesk.
May 19, 2025 | 9:30 am
#1213
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 786
Fake Rent
no rent nor mortgages. Can I use the card to pay a family member via ACH for a fake rent each month? Is it too risky?
May 19, 2025 | 9:47 am
#1214
Join Date: Jul 2019
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, B6 Mosaic 2, AA Platinum Pro
Posts: 870
May 19, 2025 | 12:15 pm
#1215
Join Date: Jan 2020
Programs: SQ Gold, Marriott Lifetime Platinum, Caesars Diamond, Hilton Diamond, Atmos Silver, IHG Platinum
Posts: 2,228
I didn't want to bother with BiltProtect any more so I called and requested a credit limit increase with the number on the back of the card. They asked for income and monthly housing payment and the call took about 25 mins. I requested a moderate increase from my original limit (less than $5k, also less than my rent amount) to around double. They called back a few hours later and it was approved without a hard pull on my credit as all my lines were frozen the whole time. Success!