Bilt Review: Earn Rewards on Your Rent or Mortgage

There aren’t many options out there for earning points on housing. You can earn points on groceries, gas, dining out, and travel — but your rent or mortgage? That's usually off the table, even though it's likely your single largest monthly expense. 

That's where Bilt Rewards comes in. It's designed specifically to fill this gap, offering a rewards program that lets you earn points on rent and mortgage payments.

Bilt also recently launched three new credit cards (replacing the previous Bilt Mastercard®) to help you maximize your rewards. While you don't need a Bilt credit card to participate in the rewards program, having one accelerates your earning potential and unlocks additional perks.

Overview of Bilt Rewards

Earning credit card rewards is great, but some of us wish we could also put our rent or mortgage payments on a credit card to earn even more points without the transaction fee. 

Enter Bilt Rewards, which offers you the opportunity to earn points on monthly housing payments. Housing is one of the biggest expenses for a lot of us, so that means you can quickly rack up Bilt Points, which you can then redeem for travel, fitness, or even student loan payments (with select servicers).

With Bilt, you pay your rent or mortgage directly through their system — either through their resident portal if your building is part of Bilt's property network or through Bilt's own BillPay.

You can connect any credit or debit card to your Bilt account, but there may be fees depending on the payment method used, which could cancel out some of the rewards you've earned.

To avoid paying those transaction fees (and to earn more rewards), you could opt for a Bilt credit card.

Overview of the Bilt Credit Cards

Bilt offers three credit cards with varying annual fees and rewards rates: the no-annual-fee Bilt Blue Card, the mid-tier Bilt Obsidian Card, and the premium Bilt Palladium Card (Rates & Fees).

These cards (collectively known as Bilt 2.0) replace the former Bilt Mastercard® (Bilt 1.0).

All three cards earn points on your everyday spending and give you the option to earn 1x points on rent and 4% back in Bilt Cash (up to $100 of Bilt Cash earned rolls over to the next year) or up to 1.25x points on your rent or mortgage payments.

They also all include Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection, Purchase Assurance, and MasterRental Coverage.*

For more perks and protections, the Obsidian comes with Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection and hotel credits, while the Palladium gets you those perks plus Baggage Delay Insurance, Priority Pass lounge access, and an annual credit of $200 in Bilt Cash.

How to Earn Bilt Rewards 

Bilt’s main selling feature is that you can use it to pay your rent or mortgage without any transaction fees.

Unlike other rewards programs, like Chase Ultimate Rewards® and American Express Membership Rewards®, you don't need a Bilt credit card to access Bilt Rewards — the program is free for anyone to sign up.

However, you'll earn rewards faster by also having a Bilt credit card.  

(Note: Your rent/mortgage payments are pulled directly from a linked bank account, rather than using your credit limit. You can still earn points on these payments, but they won’t count against your available credit line.)

But the Bilt credit card system is admittedly confusing. You'll need to choose from two options for earning rewards when you activate your card (you can also switch from one option to the other, with changes taking effect when the next billing cycle starts). 

Option 1: Housing only

With this option, the points you earn are based on how much you spend on the card each month on everyday purchases (non-housing) and what percentage that is of your rent/mortgage.

Points on housing	Minimum everyday spend as a % of monthly rent/mortgage
0.5x points	At least 25% of your monthly housing
0.75x points	At least 50% of your monthly housing
1x points	At least 75% of your monthly housing
1.25x points	The same or more than your monthly housing

For example, if your rent/mortgage is $2,000 per month, you would need to spend at least $500 each month on the card to earn 0.5x points on housing. If you wanted to earn the maximum housing points possible, you’d need to spend $2,000 on the card every month.

If you don’t spend at least 25% of your monthly housing amount, you’ll earn 250 points per month.

Note that you don’t earn Bilt Cash with this option.

Option 2: Flexible Bilt Cash

With this option, you earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on all purchases except rent/mortgage. This replaces the variable multiplier (0.5x to 1.25x) in the housing-only option.

Bilt Cash is a new currency that Bilt says can be thought of as “choose your own reward.” 

You can choose to redeem points within the Bilt ecosystem at fitness classes, restaurants, and other community events.

Or you can choose to redeem Bilt Cash to earn points on your rent or mortgage payments — so you’re basically cashing in one form of reward to collect another. The value is $0.03, so $30 of Bilt Cash equals 1,000 points.

To be clear, you can still pay your rent/mortgage on your Bilt card with no fee, but you won’t earn any points unless you redeem Bilt Cash. However, there’s no minimum amount required, so if you only have $15 of Bilt Cash, you could earn up to 500 points on your rent/mortgage payment.

An important note is that only $100 of Bilt Cash can roll over to the next year, so you’ll lose any unused Bilt Cash above $100 on December 31 each year.

Bilt status levels

Bilt Rewards has four status tiers based on how many qualifying points you earn in a calendar year from both housing and non-housing spending.

There’s also a “Fast Track” system based on non-housing dollars spent on your Bilt card and in the Bilt ecosystem, such as fitness classes booked through Bilt and Bilt Dining restaurants when you pay with any card linked to your Bilt account.

Status Tier	Qualifying Points	Fast Track Spending
Blue	< 50,000 points	< $10,000
Silver	50,000 points	$10,000
Gold	125,000 points	$25,000
Platinum	200,000 points	$50,000

As you move up tiers, you get access to more exclusive features and offers from Bilt. For example, once you reach Silver status, you can earn interest on your points, and once you reach Gold, you can access hotel perks like room upgrades through Bilt's booking platform.

All Bilt members also earn $50 in Bilt Cash for every 25,000 Bilt Points earned.

You don't necessarily need a Bilt card to move up tiers, but again, it's faster to earn rewards as a cardholder.

How to Redeem Bilt Rewards

Bilt has two reward currencies: Bilt Points and Bilt Cash. You can earn both just by signing up for Bilt, even if you don't opt for a Bilt credit card.

How to redeem Bilt Points

You can redeem Bilt Points in many ways, including to purchase fitness classes, book travel, and to instantly redeem for up to $10 in savings at checkout with Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, and CITGO.

Bilt Home Delivery, powered by Gopuff, lets you use Bilt Points for everyday items, with delivery in as fast as 15 minutes.

You can also redeem Bilt Points on student loans serviced by Nelnet, MOHELA, Sallie Mae, Aidvantage, and Navient. Points can be redeemed directly toward eligible student loan payments through the Bilt website or mobile app. For every 1,000 points, you'll get $10 in redemption value.

Travelers will find Bilt’s best value comes from its transfer partners. It has over 20 travel partners (more than any other credit card issuer) that you can transfer your Bilt Points to, including Air France/KLM, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways, Southwest, Turkish Airlines, United, and more.

Bilt also has its own platform for booking luxury accommodations, called Bilt Home Away from Home (only available to Gold and Platinum tiers). Bookings include privileges like:

• Room upgrade upon arrival (subject to availability)
• Daily breakfast for two
• Early check-in and late check-out (subject to availability)
• Exclusive $100 food & beverage credit (at select hotels)
• Additional benefits at select properties
• Bilt’s concierge platform, which includes access to a dedicated travel advisor

How to redeem Bilt Cash

If you have a Bilt credit card or earn at least 25,000 Bilt Points, you'll also earn Bilt Cash. Here are some ways you can redeem Bilt Cash (starting February 1, 2026; more options may be added later):

• $10 credit each month for grocery or restaurant delivery (via GrubHub) (available 3/1/26)
• $5 credit each month for Bilt 15-minute home delivery on groceries, alcohol, and essentials (via Gopuff)
• Up to $100 credit annually for Gopuff FAM membership (available 3/1/26)
• Up to $300/year of restaurant credits at select Bilt Dining partners (one visit per month up to $25)
• Up to $50 credit per month for Bilt dining experiences (available 3/1/26)
• Up to $1,200 hotel credit/year in the Bilt Travel Portal (two-night minimum; up to $50/month for Blue and Silver members and $100/month for Gold and Platinum members)
• $10 credit per month for Lyft rides
• Up to $150/year credit toward a Blacklane ride
• Up to $700 BLADE airport flight credit per year (up to $350 per booking; up to two bookings per year; available 3/1/26)
• Blue and Silver members can unlock luxury hotel booking benefits usually reserved only for Gold and Platinum members for $95 Bilt Cash, such as room upgrades, hotel credits, and early check-in/late checkout (available 3/1/26)
• Up to $64 credit per month for a Priority Pass extra guest (up to two guest fees per month; $32 per guest)
• $5 credit per month at participating Bilt Neighborhood Parking locations (available 3/1/26)
• Up to $40 credit per month for one group fitness class in the Bilt app (including SoulCycle, Barry’s, and others)
• $10 credit per month for Walgreens
• Up to $50 credit per month for exclusive Bilt comedy experiences (available 3/1/26)
• Up to $10 credit per month for Bilt Design Collection purchases
• Points Accelerator (only available when your card’s earning option is set to 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday spend, which is option 2 above): Redeem $200 Bilt Cash to enable +1x bonus points on all everyday spend for the next $5,000 following activation. Exclusively available to Obsidian and Palladium cardholders; up to 5 activations annually; expires after $5,000 everyday spend or calendar year-end.

If you still have leftover Bilt Cash, another interesting redemption is the ability to upgrade your Rent Day transfer bonus to the next status tier — for example, a Gold member can upgrade from 75% to 100% for $75 Bilt Cash (pricing and availability subject to change).

What We Like About Bilt Rewards 

Bilt is truly unlike any other rewards program out there. You can earn points on housing and even redeem points towards a credit on your next rent statement or towards a down payment on a home. With rent/mortgage payments possibly being your highest recurring expense, earning points on them is a huge deal. 

And since your payments are pulled directly from a linked bank account, you don’t have to worry about using your credit limit. 

Plus, the ability to use your points to help repay your student loans is a huge benefit. If your housing is $1,000 per month, that's $10 each month you could put towards your student debt.

We also love the number of travel transfer partners that Bilt offers — more than any of the other credit card issuers.

What We Don’t Like About Bilt Rewards  

The rewards-earning structure of the Bilt credit cards is extremely complicated. The two options have sent credit card enthusiasts into an online frenzy, trying to calculate which option is better, based on how much you spend in relation to your housing. 

Option 1 requires you to forecast your spending each month with a decent level of accuracy. But option 2 involves calculating two different reward currencies (Bilt Cash and points).

While the rewards are certainly valuable, there are other cards with great earning potential on dining and travel.

COMPARE: Best Rewards Credit Cards

FAQs

TL;DR: Is Bilt Rewards Worth It?

Bilt Rewards is really the only way to directly earn points on your rent or mortgage payments, and the rewards you can earn are pretty valuable. 

Bilt also has more travel transfer partners than any other credit card issuer, and there are other impressive redemption options you won’t see elsewhere, like paying down your student loan or putting a down payment on a home.  

But the rewards system on its credit cards is complicated. If you can easily spend 75% of your rent/mortgage amount on the card, you’ll get value from a Bilt card. But if you have high rent compared to your other spending, or value simplicity, you may benefit from a more straightforward rewards card.

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* A maximum benefit amount and certain restrictions and limitations apply. Please review the Mastercard Guide to Benefits for details:

https://www.biltrewards.com/terms/blue-card-guide-to-benefits
https://www.biltrewards.com/terms/obsidian-card-guide-to-benefits
https://www.biltrewards.com/terms/palladium-card-guide-to-benefits