How to turn your housing payment into a travel points machine

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If there’s one expense nobody can escape, it’s housing. Whether you’re paying rent or a mortgage, it’s likely your biggest monthly bill — and historically, one of the hardest expenses to earn any travel rewards from. But that all changed with Bilt. With Bilt's new credit card options and unique partnerships with cards from Alaska Airlines and United, there are multiple ways to turn your housing payment into serious points — even if you can't typically pay this expense via credit card.

And while Bilt is still the leader in the space, you don’t need to be a Bilt cardholder to earn rewards. No matter which credit card you prefer, there’s now a way to turn your rent and mortgage into travel rewards. Here’s a breakdown of the main options and how each one works.

For a few years now, the Bilt credit card has been the go-to option for earning rewards on rent. And despite an overhaul of the program, that hasn’t changed — although you can now earn on your mortgage payments as well.

With the Bilt Blue, Bilt Obsidian, and Bilt Palladium, you can earn up to 1.25x points per dollar on rent and mortgage payments.

With the newly introduced Bilt 2.0 program, the process for earning the maximum amount of points has changed, but ultimately comes down to the amount you charge on your Bilt credit card or by using Bilt Cash. We detailed the full process here, but it ultimately allows you to pay your housing fee-free with no cap on the number of points you can earn and no limit to the number of housing payments you can make each month.

Let's say you have a monthly housing payment of $4,000 and are able to earn the maximum 1.25x points per dollar. This equates to 5,000 Bilt points per month. Over the course of a year, that adds up to 60,000 bonus points — a hefty amount on an expense you typically wouldn't earn points.

And remember, both rent and mortgage payments earn points with zero fees, which is unmatched in the market.

Using one of the three Bilt credit cards remains the most cost-effective way to turn your housing payments into travel points.

But if you don't have a Bilt credit card — or prefer to earn points with another travel currency — you can still pay your rent with any other credit card and earn points and miles. Note that this is only for rent, not mortgage payments.

However, the earning rate is significantly different, and you'll also be charged a 3% transaction fee for paying your rent through Bilt with a third-party card.

With any Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover card, you'll earn 1 Bilt point per $2 spent on your housing payment — or 0.5x points. That's in addition to the rewards you already earn from your card.

This isn’t the cheapest way to earn points and miles, but for large rent payments, even 1x can add up quickly. You'll just want to do the math to make sure that the points earned outweigh the fees you have to pay — which will typically only work out in your favor if you value the rewards earned at more than 3 cents per dollar. But if you're looking to reach a certain spend threshold or earn a welcome, the fee still might be worth it.

Beyond the generic earning rate you get with a non-Bilt credit card, there are two other credit card programs that offer elevated earning rates through Bilt.

With the Atmos Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® and the Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® credit cards, you can earn 3x Atmos Rewards points on your housing payment (up to $50,000 per year).

United has a similar partnership when it comes to using its co-branded credit card to pay your rent through Bilt. This includes the United Gateway℠ Card, United℠ Explorer Card, United Quest℠ Card, United Club℠ Card, and United Presidential Plus℠ Card. With these five cards, you'll earn 2x United MileagePlus miles on your housing payment (also capped at $50,000 per year).

Despite an elevated offer, you'll still be charged the same 3% transaction fee. And unlike other third-party credit cards, you will not earn Bilt points in addition to the points earned from the respective loyalty program.

For anyone already deep in the Alaska Airlines or United Airlines ecosystem, these increased earn rates can be surprisingly valuable. But again, you'll want to make sure the rewards earned are worth the fee.

Link your credit or debit card to Bilt Rewards to pay rent

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While earning points on your housing payments is great, here’s what’s arguably even better. You can earn Bilt points with any card even if you never pay rent through the platform.

With Bilt Neighborhood Benefits, you can link any credit or debit card and earn extra Bilt points just for shopping, dining, or grabbing coffee at participating local businesses. And yes — those points stack with the rewards you’re already earning from your card.

That means if you’re earning 3x points at a restaurant on your Chase Sapphire Preferred and that restaurant happens to be part of the Bilt Neighborhood network, you’ll earn 3 Chase points + Bilt points for the same purchase.

And unlike other dining programs, Bilt includes more than just restaurants. Walgreens is a partner, so you'll earn extra rewards for every purchase you make there. Plus, you’ll find gyms, coffee shops, and all kinds of places where you're already spending money.

You can even link your credit or debit card to Lyft through Bilt Neighborhood Benefits and earn extra points on every Lyft rideshare you take.

Link any credit or debit card to Bilt Neighborhood Benefits and earn extra rewards

But if you're looking to get top value for your Bilt points, you're still best off redeeming them for travel in one of two ways.

• Book travel directly through the Bilt Travel Portal, powered by Expedia. You'll get 1.25 cents per point when you redeem this way.
• Transfer to one of Bilt's 24 airline and hotel partners, which includes many popular loyalty programs such as Southwest Airlines, United, Hyatt, Air Canada, and others. This is often the most valuable way to use your points. You’ll need to do some homework and check for award availability with the program you’re transferring to, but it’s one of the best ways to unlock incredible premium travel redemptions.

Housing might be the least exciting bill we pay, but Bilt has turned it into one of the most rewarding. And thanks to Bilt Neighborhood Benefits, the earning doesn’t stop once you’ve made your rent or mortgage payment. I have every one of my cards linked, and I’m still pleasantly surprised when I get bonus points for something as routine as dinner, a Walgreens run, or a quick Lyft ride.

So if you really want to get the most out of the program, think beyond your housing payment. Earning Bilt points can happen all month long — every coffee, errand, or neighborhood purchase can help you build your next big redemption.

Earn Bilt points with any credit or debit card

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