The goal of anyone that is really into the travel hacking hobby is to earn points from every single expense possible. For almost everyone that doesn’t own a home, rent is far and away their largest expense. From the start of the points hobby, there hasn’t been a way to earn points on rent. That’s a ton of points you’re not earning. Well thankfully there is now a solution: The Bilt Mastercard. Bilt is really an incredible product and it continues to get better. The founder of Bilt was born in 1990 so he was just 31 when Bilt was launched. I think this has a lot to do with how great this program is. He’s not some old guy in a board room. He developed this from the ground up to help people get the most rewards out of this program.
While there’s a lot discuss with Bilt, the big thing is the ability to pay rent via the Bilt Mastercard. Many corporate landlords are part of The Bilt Rewards Alliance. When a property is part of the Bilt Rewards Alliance, the building will include Bilt branding, and Bilt is integrated with the management system. If you’re not sure if your apartment complex is part of the BRA, ask your management team. Once you have your account set up, you can earn points on rent and avoid fees by processing your rent payments directly through the Bilt Rewards app or on the Bilt website.
Some apartment complexes accept credit cards but charge a transaction fee. You can pay rent directly through your property’s online payment portal without fees by using your Bilt Rent Account. With a Bilt Rent Account, you’ll use a unique routing and account number found in the rewards app to enter into your online portal as an ACH / e-check payment. Whenever your unique routing and account numbers are used to pay rent, Bilt will charge your Bilt Mastercard for the same amount. That way, you earn points on rent without paying the processing fees normally associated with using a credit card in an online payment portal.
Of course, many people rent from private landlords who are not going to have any type of portal let alone be part of Bilt. If you pay rent to your landlord via check, Venmo, Paypal, or any other online portal, you will be able to still use Bilt and earn points on rent. Right now, Bilt does not support Zelle. Bilt will even mail a rent check on your behalf for free! You don’t even have to pay for postage.
As if this isn’t awesome enough, Bilt does not charge an annual fee. You’ll earn 1x on rent and all other expenses, 2x on travel and 3x on dining. You can also earn points on “Rent Day” which is the first of each month. The app include games and quizzes that will help you earn free points. If you rent is $2000 a month, you’ll earn 24,000 points and probably another 1000 on the app. That’s 25,000 points.
When you’re ready to redeem your points, you can transfer them to over 150 travel partners from airlines to hotels including United Airlines, American Airlines, Hyatt Hotels and IHG Hotels.
So what’s the downside? If I had to nitpick, I’d say the problem is that there is no sign up bonus. The other issue I have personally is that I can’t use this to pay my mortgage. Maybe that’ll come one day so if you don’t have an apartment, I don’t see a reason to apply for this. However if you rent, this card is pretty much required.
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