8 Things to Know About the Bilt Rewards Mastercard

Posted: 2/8/2023 | February eighth, 2023

Since popping out in 2021, the Bilt Rewards Mastercard has been an absolute game-changer for renters that like to journey. It’s the one bank card that lets you earn factors in your month-to-month hire fee — as much as 50,000 factors per 12 months, (which may pay for a round-trip flight to Hawaii, for instance).

You can use these factors like another journey rewards factors (comparable to these from Chase, American Express, or Capital One), transferring them to airline or lodge companions or paying for journey instantly via a particular portal.

But whereas the points-for-rent perk will get all the eye (and rightfully so), the Bilt Rewards Mastercard is greater than a one-trick pony.

To really get essentially the most out of this precious card (one which I feel each renter ought to have of their pockets), listed here are some key issues to know concerning the Bilt Mastercard:

1. There’s no annual price

One of an important issues to think about when opening a brand new bank card is whether or not there’s an annual price, and if that’s the case, whether or not paying it is sensible in line with your spending habits and targets.

Most of the finest journey bank cards have annual charges, and for frequent vacationers, they’re normally value it. You can get way more worth out of a card than its annual price for those who’re an avid flier who enjoys lounge entry, precedence boarding, checking further baggage, or different frequent perks.

But you don’t have to fret about that with Bilt, as the cardboard presently has no price. You can earn factors in your hire fully totally free!

2. There’s additionally no welcome provide

However, the flip facet of there being no annual price is that there’s additionally no welcome provide on the Bilt Rewards Mastercard.

Welcome presents (also referred to as sign-up bonuses) are the factors you earn by spending a certain quantity inside a specified timeframe after opening a bank card. For instance, you would possibly be capable to earn 60,000 factors for those who spend $3,000 USD inside the first three months of opening a selected card.

These presents jump-start your factors “fund” and may usually quantity to a free round-trip flight proper off the bat. Welcome presents are so important to any good journey hacking technique that I normally advise in opposition to signing up for a card until there’s a sizable one. The proven fact that I wholeheartedly advocate the Bilt card, even with no welcome provide, ought to present you simply how nice I feel this card is.

3. There is a minimal transaction requirement to earn factors

After opening the Bilt Mastercard, maybe an important factor to know is that you will need to make a minimal of 5 transactions every assertion interval to earn factors. That goes for all factors, together with the factors you’ll obtain for paying your hire.

That means for those who don’t make 5 purchases in your card that interval, you received’t earn any factors in any respect — even for those who’ve paid hire via Bilt.

The excellent news is that there’s no minimal buy requirement, solely a minimal transaction requirement. As lengthy as you make 5 purchases — of any dimension — in your Bilt card every month, you’ll get your factors.

4. You can earn factors on extra than simply hire

While incomes factors on hire is the principle promoting level, the cardboard presents extra methods to earn factors too:

• 2x factors on journey
• 3x factors on eating
• 1x factors on all different purchases

(These incomes classes are the identical as fan-favorite Chase Sapphire Preferred, for which there’s an annual price of $95 USD).

So, for instance, for those who use your Bilt card in the course of the month on journey or eating purchases, you’ll not solely get 2-3 instances the factors, however you’ll additionally hit your minimal five-purchase requirement.

5. You can max out on factors earned for hire

It’s additionally value utilizing your card for purchases apart from hire due to the truth that you’ll be able to max out on the variety of factors earned for hire (factors for hire are capped at 50,000 per 12 months). After that, you received’t earn any extra factors on hire for that 12 months.

However, contemplating you earn at a price of 1 Bilt level per $1 spent on hire, you’ll solely attain the restrict for those who spend over $4,166/month in hire. If your rental fee is beneath that, you don’t have to fret about hitting the restrict.

6. You can earn much more factors on hire day

On the primary day of the month, your factors incomes energy is doubled, which means that you just’ll earn 6x factors on eating, 4x factors on journey, and 2x on different purchases (besides hire) made on the primary of the month.

If you get into the behavior of utilizing your Bilt card for all the things you purchase on the primary day of the month, you’ll already be that a lot nearer to hitting your 5 minimal transactions, all whereas getting much more factors to your purchases.

And whereas nobody needs extra apps on their telephones, you’ll want to obtain the Bilt app for probabilities to earn much more factors. Every hire day, there are new methods to simply earn factors within the app. These change each month, however previously have included enjoying Point Quest, through which you earn factors for proper solutions to trivia questions.

There’s additionally the Rent Day Challenge, in which you’ll be able to enter to win a free month’s hire by accurately finishing a fill-in-the-blank phrase in the course of the day.

While a few of these alternatives don’t provide many factors, they take little or no time to finish, and so they all add up!

7. Bilt factors = American Airlines factors

Another cause to amass factors is as a result of Bilt has American Airlines as a switch companion — and it’s the one card that does. Since no different card presents factors that switch to American, Bilt is the one method to get AA factors with out having an AA card.

This is nice information for American Airlines loyalists or vacationers with particular journeys in thoughts for which they wish to use AA factors. For instance, I’m presently prioritizing my Bilt card as a substitute of my Chase Sapphire, as a result of I need these AA factors for a visit I’m planning to Japan this 12 months (AA is a companion with Japan Airlines).

In addition to American Airlines, you’ll be able to switch your Bilt factors on a 1:1 foundation to many different journey companions, together with:

• Air Canada
• Air France
• Cathay Pacific
• Emirates
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Hyatt
• IHG
• Turkish Airlines
• United
• Virgin Atlantic

You may redeem factors for health courses, like SoulCycle, Solidcore, Rumble, and Y7, and for objects within the Bilt Collection, a curated collection of artisan residence décor objects. However, I’d advise in opposition to this, as redeeming factors for health courses comes out to round one level per cent — and you will get a significantly better redemption on journey purchases.

8. Bilt presents nice journey safety

Beyond its points-earning capabilities, Bilt presents strong journey safety, particularly for a no-fee card. Just remember the fact that you will need to ebook journey utilizing the Bilt card so as to obtain these advantages. The protections are much like that of different “starter” journey bank cards, just like the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Here are the journey protections that Bilt presently presents:

• Trip cancellation safety and interruption protection
• Trip delay reimbursement (for delays of six hours or extra)
• Car rental collision protection
• Cell cellphone safety (as much as $800 USD)
• No overseas transaction charges

Click right here for a full breakdown of rewards and advantages and charges and charges.

While these protections — like that of any card — aren’t an alternative choice to journey insurance coverage (which it’s best to at all times get!), they’re nice perks, and also you get them at no further price.

All in all, getting the Bilt card is a no brainer for anybody who pays hire within the US, because it’s presently the one method to earn factors totally free on this obligatory month-to-month expense.

But, whereas it’s value getting for simply that profit alone, the Bilt card presents a number of different superior options that make it much more precious. The capacity to switch to American Airlines, double factors on Rent Day, new methods to earn extra factors, and a well-rounded roster of journey advantages and protections make the Bilt card greater than worthy of area in your pockets. It’s turn out to be one among my favourite playing cards and I discover myself reaching for it lots!