Bilt Mastercard review: Turn rent into rewards with no transaction fees

Paying rent with a credit card doesn't normally make sense because of the added transaction fees. The Bilt Mastercard® flips the script and not only lets users pay the rent without any added fees, but also gives them valuable rewards points in the process.

This card also earns transferable travel rewards and has a handful of valuable insurance benefits, two features you rarely find in a no-annual-fee credit card. If you're interested in learning more, CNBC Select details the benefits, welcome bonus, rewards and fees of the Bilt Mastercard® (see rates and fees).

• Welcome bonus
• Benefits and perks
• How to earn and use Bilt Rewards points
• Rates and fees
• Alternatives to the Bilt Rewards Mastercard
• Is the Bilt Rewards Mastercard right for you?
• Bottom line

The Bilt Mastercard® doesn't have a welcome bonus offer.

For a no-annual-fee card, the Bilt Rewards Mastercard comes with a surprising amount of useful purchase and travel protections, including:

• Trip delay reimbursement
• Trip cancellation and interruption protection
• Car rental collision coverage (primary)
• Cell phone protection
• Purchase security

You can also earn Lyft credit each month with your Bilt card. Through March 31, 2024, you can earn $5 in Lyft credit per month after you take three eligible rides.

To help you make the most of your points, Bilt Rewards members have complimentary access to the Point.me and Awayz award search tools through the Bilt app.

Awayz is a hotel award search tool and Bilt members receive premium account search benefits, which normally cost $11.99 per month. However, Bilt members can only search hotel award availability for Bilt's transfer partners (Hyatt and IHG) and they are limited to 50 searches per month (paid premium members get 250 searches per month).

Using Point.me through the Bilt app allows you to search for award prices across all 12 of Bilt's partner airline programs at the same time. The app displays the cost, but you'll need to transfer your Bilt points to the appropriate airline to make the booking.

Earning

To earn points with your Bilt card, you need to make five transactions each billing cycle. If you qualify, you'll earn:

• 3X points on dining
• 2X points on travel
• 1X points on other purchases.
• Up to 1X points on rent payments with no transaction fee (up to 100,000 points each calendar year)

As part of Bilt's monthly Rent Day promotion, you can also earn double points on all purchases (except for rent) on the first of each month.

One unique Bilt Rewards feature is the ability to earn elite status, which is based on how many points you earn in a year.

Here's how many Bilt points you need for each status level:

• Blue: Enroll in Bilt Rewards
• Silver: Earn 25,000 points in a year
• Gold: Earn 50,000 points in a year
• Platinum: Earn 100,000 points in a year

If you hit a status threshold between Jan. 1 and June 30, your status expires on Jan. 31 of the following year. When you earn a status tier between July 1 and Dec. 31, you'll have that status tier through the entire following year.

Elite benefits include perks such as earning interest on your points balances (in the form of more Bilt points) and a bonus for new leases or renewing your lease. However, the most valuable benefit to having Bilt status might be the bonuses it can unlock on Rent Day. Rent Day deals change each month, but in the past, Bilt offered a transfer bonus of up to 150% for its top-tier elite members, which is an unheard of deal.

Redeeming

Bilt offers a range of redemptions for its members, you can redeem Bilt points for rent, Amazon purchases, fitness classes, travel and toward a down payment on a home. When you use Bilt points to book travel through Bilt, each point is worth 1.25 cents, and points are worth 1.5 cents each when you redeem them toward a down payment on a house. The other redemption options are typically worth one cent per point or less.

You can maximize the value of Bilt points by transferring them to Bilt's travel partners. You can transfer Bilt points to these loyalty programs at a 1:1 ratio:

• Aer Lingus
• Aeroplan (Air Canada)
• American Airlines
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• Emirates
• Flying Blue (Air France and KLM)
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Hyatt
• Iberia
• IHG
• Turkish Airlines
• United Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic

With these transfer partners, you can unlock incredible value. For example, you can use your points with Flying Blue's monthly promo rewards which offer rotating deals — such as round-trip economy award flights from the U.S. to Europe that typically cost 25,000 miles or less. Bilt is also the only major flexible travel rewards program that transfers to American Airlines, making it a great option for topping off your American Airlines account.

The Bilt Mastercard has a $0 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. For your card's APR see the terms. There is a late fee of up to $40, a cash advance fee of $10 or 5% of the advance (whichever is great) and a balance transfer fee of up to 5% of the transfer ($5 minimum).

Bilt Rewards Mastercard vs. Citi Double Cash® Card

The Citi Double Cash® Card has a $0 annual fee and earns a flat 2% back on all purchases (1% when you buy and 1% when you pay). If you won't earn points on rent and don't spend heavily on travel and dining, the Citi Double Cash has the potential to be more rewarding. If you want to use Bilt points for rent or merchandise, the rewards you earn with Citi Double Cash Card are more valuable.

However, Bilt points are better if you're looking for travel rewards. The ThankYou points you earn with the Citi Double Cash only transfer to a limited number of travel partners at poor transfer ratios unless you pair it with a card like the Citi Premier® Card (see rates and fees).

Bilt Rewards Mastercard vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card may have a $95 annual fee, but its welcome bonus is worth at least $750 in travel, which is enough value to offset that fee nearly eight times over. The Capital One Venture Rewards card also earns at least 2X miles on every purchase. Capital One also has a long list of transfer partners that rivals what you get with Bilt Rewards. The Venture card also comes with a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® application fee credit worth up to $100.

For renters, the Bilt Rewards Mastercard has the potential to be an exceptionally rewarding credit card because you can turn rent into rewards without extra fees. Bilt points are also valuable and Bilt's monthly Rent Day promotion offers opportunities to dramatically boost that value and earn additional points.

However, if you own your home or otherwise don't pay rent, the value of this card drops. If you're not earning points on rent, this card is still as good as many of the best travel credit cards, but it doesn't stand out. Plus, it doesn't have a welcome bonus, which means you're missing out on the opportunity to earn hundreds of dollars in value that you'd have with many other cards in this class.

The Bilt Rewards Mastercard is an excellent $0 annual fee card with a valuable rewards program and unique benefits. With this card, you can earn rewards on rent without paying transaction fees. Bilt points transfer to many valuable airline and hotel programs, which gives the rewards you earn a potential for higher value. But it doesn't have a welcome bonus, and if you own a home or don't pay rent its appeal is diminished.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every business card review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of credit card products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics. See our methodology for more information on how we choose the best credit cards.

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