Reading Time: 6 minYou may already know Bilt Rewards as the credit card that lets you earn travel points from paying your rent, without having to pay any transaction fees. But the company just dropped two major updates to their program, and together they’re a big win for anyone looking to earn more travel rewards.
First, there's a new way to pay rent with any credit card, not just the Bilt card, and earn both Bilt points and rewards. And second, you can now redeem those Bilt points to pay off your student loans.
On top of all that, even if you don't use Bilt to pay rent, you can still earn Bilt points with any credit (or even debit) card and use them for travel, or transfer them to Bilt's 19 airline and hotel partners. With so many options, let’s take a closer look at each and how to make the most of them.
For most people, housing — whether it’s rent or a mortgage — is your biggest monthly expense. And it’s usually tough to earn travel rewards on it.
Until now, the best way to earn points on rent was by using the Bilt Mastercard, a no-annual-fee credit card that earns 1 point per dollar on rent with no transaction fees, so long as you make at least 5 other transactions each statement period with the card.
But Bilt just rolled out a huge upgrade: you can now earn Bilt Points when paying rent with nearly any major credit card. Here's how it works:
Now, when it comes to paying rent with a credit card, you're probably wondering about fees. And yes, there is a 3% transaction fee for paying rent through Bilt with any of the above third-party cards.
The one exception is if you use the Bilt Mastercard — you’ll continue to get the best deal that way with 1x points on rent without any transaction fees.
But, if you're also wondering about any additional fees your landlord might charge for using a credit card, that's where the magic of Bilt comes in. When you pay rent with Bilt. you don't submit your credit card to your landlord. Instead, you make the payment through Bilt, and Bilt then provides a payment method for your landlord.
The easiest payment method is a Bilt ACH account number, just like you'd normally have for your own checking account, except this one is from Bilt. You can use it for your landlord's rent portal, or to pay your rent via PayPal or Venmo. But if your landlord only takes a paper check, Bilt will write one and mail it to your landlord.
Because you're using one of these other payment methods, you won't have to pay your landlord extra for paying rent with a card this way. In fact, you can pay this way even if your landlord doesn't normally accept rent via credit card at all.
But is it worth paying a 3% fee to Bilt to pay your rent with a credit card? Well, that's where you have to do the math.
If you've got a card like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, which earns 2 miles for every dollar you spend on every purchase, and you're also getting 1 Bilt point per dollar on top of that for your rent, that's 3 points per dollar on your rent.
As long as those points are worth more than 1 cent each (and I would value them at significantly more if you're transferring them to travel partners), you're going to come out ahead by paying your rent this way, even with the fee.
While the new rent points are 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.
So what do you do with all those Bilt points? Well, on the redemption side, Bilt just launched a first-of-its-kind feature that allows you to use your points to pay off your student loans.
If your loans are with Nelnet, MOHELA, Sallie Mae, Aidvantage, or Navient, you can now apply your Bilt Points directly to your loan balance (and Bilt says more loan servicers are being added soon). You'll get $10 off your loan for every 1,000 Bilt points you redeem, so they're worth 1 cent each when redeeming this way.
This can be a useful way for some folks to whittle down their student loans and save some cash. 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.
Whether you’re paying rent, dining out, or knocking out a student loan payment, Bilt continues to expand how you can earn and use points in meaningful ways. I've personally got all my credit cards tied into Bilt, and it's amazing when I get bonus points just for dining, shopping at Walgreens, or taking a Lyft.
But with these new updates, Bilt points are now even easier to earn. So if you want to make the most of it, make sure you’re earning Bilt points not just on rent, but every time you step out in your neighborhood.
