Bilt Rewards: How the Program Works

The Bilt Rewards program lets you earn points by paying rent, using the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card, dining out, shopping with select merchants, and even buying a home. Bilt Points can be redeemed in several ways, including transferring them to one of the best selections of hotel and airline partners of any rewards program.

These transfer partners become even more valuable on the first of each month — known as “Rent Day” — when Bilt offers transfer bonuses and additional perks with select partners. On that day, Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card holders also earn double points (excluding rent), up to 1,000 bonus points. (To earn rewards on the card, you’ll need to make at least five transactions per statement period.)

However, the program has its quirks. The Bilt app is buggy, with a confusing layout, and interacting with customer service can be frustrating since there’s no phone number and most inquiries are handled via email. Still, when used strategically, the program’s value can overcome these drawbacks.

How to earn Bilt points

To earn Bilt points, you’ll first need to sign up for a free Bilt Rewards account through the Bilt app or website. To earn Bilt rewards with partners, add any credit card to your Bilt wallet through the app or website and pay with that card.

Pay rent

Bilt separates itself from other rewards programs by allowing members to earn points on rent payments. The cheapest and most rewarding way to pay rent is with the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card, but you can also use another linked credit card, debit card or bank account.

• Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card: Earns 1 Bilt Point per $1 spent on rent payments, up to 100,000 points per calendar year with no transaction fees. You must use the card 5 times each statement period (lpurchases minus returns/credits) — otherwise, you’ll only earn a maximum of 250 Bilt points when you use your Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card to pay rent through the Bilt app or website.

• Another credit card: You can also pay with another linked credit card for a 3% transaction fee and earn credit card points and 1 Bilt Point per $2 spent on rent. However, if you use the Atmos Ascent or Atmos Summit, you’ll earn 3 Atmos Points per $1 (up to $50,000 per year) but won’t earn Bilt points.

• Bank account: Earns up to 250 Bilt points for a $1.95 processing fee.

• Debit card: Earns up to 250 Bilt points for a $9.95 processing fee.

While the 3% transaction fee for using another card is high, it might be worth it to help knock out the minimum spend requirement for a new card and earn a new sign-up bonus.

Rent payments are made through Bilt’s app or website. If you live within a Bilt Alliance property, you can pay your landlord directly through Bilt’s online payment portal. If your landlord isn’t part of the alliance, you’ll need the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card to access payments via Venmo, PayPal or check.

Use the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card

The Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card has a $0 annual fee (see terms) and earns bonus rewards in useful categories, including:

• 5 points per $1 spent on Lyft (when you link your accounts).

• 3 points per $1 spent on dining.

• 2 points per $1 spent on travel, including through Bilt’s travel portal.

• 1 point per $1 spent on rent (up to 100,000 points per calendar year).

• 1 point per $1 spent on other purchases.

Even better, those earning rates double on Rent Day (the first day of each month), for up to 1,000 bonus points (excluding rent). To earn points on the card, you’ll have to complete five transactions per statement period.

The card also comes with a slew of other perks, including no foreign transaction fees, primary rental car coverage and cell phone protection (see terms). This combination of rewards and benefits is rare for a $0-annual-fee card.

Dine or shop with a Bilt Neighborhood partner

Bilt partners with a network of restaurants, fitness studios and pharmacies to offer bonus rewards when you pay with the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card or a card linked to your Bilt account. To find a list of Bilt Neighborhood partners, navigate to the Neighborhood tab in the Bilt app.

• Dining: Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card holders earn 6 points per $1 when they pay with the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card at dining partners, and up to 3 points per $1 when they use another linked card (enrollment through the app required).

• Fitness: Earn up to 3 Bilt points per $1 spent with Bilt fitness partners, including Soulcycle, Rumble Boxing, CorePower Yoga and others. Depending on the fitness partner, booking through Bilt will also give you access to additional perks like free gear rentals or bottled water during your class.

• Pharmacy: Bilt partners with Walgreens to offer 2 points per $1 spent on Walgreens- branded products, 1 point per $1 on other purchases at Walgreens and 100 points per prescription refill (up to 26 refills per year; enrollment required).

Purchase a home through eXp Realty

Bilt lets you earn 1 Bilt point for every $2 spent on the total closing price of your home when you make a house purchase through an eXp Realty agent. You can find qualifying homes through the Buy a Home tab on Bilt’s app or website. You can also simply connect with any eXp agent and mention that you’re using them to earn Bilt points. Points will be distributed 30 days after closing on your home.

Book a Lyft

Bilt members can earn 2 points per $1 spent with Lyft when you link your Lyft and Bilt accounts through the Bilt app. To optimize your rewards, use the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card to earn 5 points per $1, or add a Chase card that earns 5 points per $1 at Lyft to your Bilt wallet and pay for your Lyft with that card.

Refer a friend to the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card

Bilt members (even non-cardholders) can earn 2,500 points per friend they refer to the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card. You can also earn a 10,000-point bonus for every fifth referral that gets approved, capped at 50 successful referrals per year.

Bilt Elite Status

The Bilt Rewards elite status program provides benefits like increased transfer bonuses to travel partners on Rent Day and milestone rewards. Elite status can be earned in two ways — through the total number of points earned throughout the year (including from rent payments), or through eligible total spend on the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card and within the Bilt ecosystem with any linked card (excluding rent payments). Points earned from referrals, surveys or campaign bonus points do not count toward elite status qualification.

The status tiers, qualification requirements and benefits of each tier include:

Bilt Milestone rewards

Bilt members receive a series of milestone rewards at different intervals of points earned throughout the year, with the first reward issued after earning 25,000 points. Rewards include the ability to earn bonus rewards in certain categories like grocery stores and gas stations, fitness credits and bonus points toward elite status.

Bilt Points are worth the most when you…

Transfer to partners

Bilt points are generally most valuable when transferred at a 1:1 ratio to over 20 airline and hotel loyalty programs. The partners I use most frequently are World of Hyatt, which has the highest value points of any hotel loyalty program, and Alaska Airlines, which is an exclusive transfer partner to Bilt and great for accessing award flights with the Oneworld Alliance.

Rent Day transfer bonuses make these partners even more valuable. In the past, Bilt has offered bonuses of up to 100% to airline and hotel partners including Alaska Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Air France-KLM Flying Blue, where 1,000 Bilt points would become 2,000 airline miles. Generally, higher elite status levels with Bilt receive bigger Rent Day bonuses.

For 60,000 Atmos Rewards, I was able to use Bilt partner Alaska Airlines to book an international business class flight from Chicago to Amsterdam with a free stopover in Helsinki. Because I transferred points from Bilt to Atmos Rewards during the 100% transfer bonus to Alaska Airlines, the flight really only cost me 30,000 miles plus taxes and fees for a flight that would have cost over $5,000!

» Learn more: The guide to Bilt transfer partners

Use the Bilt Travel portal

Your Bilt points are worth 1.25 cents each when you use them to book flights, stays and other travel through Bilt’s travel portal. That means 10,000 points are worth $125; an OK value, but not as good as you can get with transfer partners. For example, NerdWallet values World of Hyatt points at 1.8 cents each, or 44% higher than the value you’ll get using Bilt’s travel portal.

Redeem for a home down payment

Bilt lets you redeem points towards a home down payment at an outstanding value of 1.5 cents per point (where 10,000 points equals $150). That’s not as good as you’ll find with some travel partners, but down payments require paying a lump sum of cash, so exchanging points to preserve cash could be a great value. You’ll need to submit lease or home purchase verification before you can redeem points.

Bilt Points are worth less when you…

Redeem toward rent or a statement credit

Bilt points can be redeemed toward rent or for a statement credit, but you’ll get a poor 0.55 cent per point in value (where 10,000 points are worth $55). That’s less than half the value you’ll get by booking travel through Bilt or transferring to partners.

Pay for Lyft rides

Once you link your Bilt and Lyft accounts, you can redeem points for Lyft rides. However, you’ll only receive 0.7 cent per point in value. That’s better than redeeming points for a statement credit, but it’s still far below what the points are worth for travel.

Shop on Amazon

You can redeem Bilt points to pay for Amazon purchases at checkout, but at a poor value of 0.7 cent per point. Again, this is significantly lower than what points are worth when redeemed for travel or transferred to a partner.