Bilt 2.0 Overview: Pay Rent and Mortgages with a Credit Card!

Based on the updated information and usage feedback from readers, we’ve reorganized this article.

About Bilt

Bilt is an innovative financial platform whose main selling point is that it lets cardholders pay rent or even a mortgage with a credit card. There may be a fee involved (waived with the Bilt card), and you can still earn points.

Bilt Rewards directly addresses a long-standing pain point for renters: in most cases, rent cannot be paid with a credit card, or doing so incurs a hefty fee, which means this largest monthly expense earns no rewards at all. Through the Bilt App, the platform generates a dedicated bank account number for your landlord or property management company for ACH transfer, or it can mail a paper check. To the landlord, this looks no different from a normal bank payment, but you get to pay by credit card and earn Bilt points.

On top of that, Bilt points can be quite valuable. Points transfer 1:1 directly to many major airline and hotel partners, such as United, American, and Marriott. Their value is often higher than what you’d get from many cash back cards, making them especially attractive for people with regular travel needs, particularly those who like flying business or first class.

Bilt Credit Card Overview

Bilt’s cards have been upgraded from version 1.0 to version 2.0, with 3 cards in the new lineup. Their core functionality is similar, and the main differences are in earning rates and benefits. Details are below.

You can see the three cards summarized in the image. In short:

• If you want to keep things simple and put spend on the card without overthinking it, choose Blue
• If you want to hold the card for one year and grab the rewards, choose Palladium (but Bilt does not support product changes, so you’d have to close it after a year)
• If you want stronger mid-tier or premium travel value and are willing to learn how to use Bilt points and miles, choose Palladium

Paying Rent With Bilt

Option 1

After the revamp, there are now two ways to use a Bilt card to pay rent.

• No Transaction Fees mode: Paying rent or a mortgage does not require a fee. However, you can redeem Bilt Cash at the same time to earn Bilt points. For every $3 Bilt Cash redeemed, you receive 100 points. The maximum number of points you can get is capped at the dollar amount of your rent. For example, on $100 of rent, the maximum you can redeem is 100 Bilt points, which corresponds to just $3 Bilt Cash.
• Max Points mode: Paying rent or a mortgage requires a 3% fee, but using a Bilt card earns 1x points. Any Bilt Cash you have on hand will automatically be used to cover the fee. For example, if you pay $100 in rent, you earn 100 points directly, but there is an extra $3 fee. If you have enough Bilt Cash, it will cover that $3 automatically. If not, the remaining amount will be charged to your Bilt card.

In either case, there is no way to earn Bilt points in excess of the rent or mortgage amount itself. The cap is always equal to the dollar amount of the rent or mortgage payment. The real difference is just how Bilt Cash gets used, and in practice that difference is fairly small. More importantly, if you want to earn Bilt points, both methods effectively require you to pay 3%, either via Bilt Cash or via an actual 3% fee.

Option 2

Bilt has introduced yet another structure. In addition to the original 4% Bilt Cash setup, there is now a new rent-payment option based directly on the ratio between your Bilt card spend and your rent amount. Once again, it requires a bit of math. The examples below assume $2,000 in rent, and all Bilt card earning rates are based on the Palladium card earning 2x on all purchases.

• 0.5x points Spend at least 25% of monthly rent ($500): This tier has the lowest spending requirement and the highest effective return. With $2,000 in rent and $500 in Bilt card spending, you would earn 1,000 Bilt points from rent + 1,000 Bilt points from card spend, for an effective 4x total.
• 0.75x points Spend at least 50% of monthly rent ($1,000): Using the same logic, you would earn 1,500 rent points + 2,000 spending points, requiring $1,000 of Bilt card spend. That works out to an effective 3.5x return.
• 1x points Spend at least 75% of monthly rent ($1,500): Again, you would earn 2,000 rent points + 3,000 spending points, requiring $1,500 of Bilt card spend. That works out to about 3.33x effective return, which is the same as the old 4% Bilt Cash setup.
• 1.25x points Spend the same or more as your monthly rent ($2,000): In this case, you would earn 2,500 rent points + 4,000 spending points, requiring $2,000 of Bilt card spend. That works out to about 3.25x effective return.

In short, if you want the highest effective return, you only need to put spending equal to 25% of your rent on the Bilt card. In that scenario, your Bilt card is effectively a 4x-everywhere card. As you put more spend on the Bilt card, the effective return gradually falls, eventually reaching 3.25x, which still is not bad. For the no-annual-fee Bilt card, the base rate is 1x, and this new payment method effectively turns it into roughly a 3x card.

The limitation here is that this analysis assumes you are using only a Bilt card for both spending and rent. In reality, many of us also have other cards, such as a 2x-everywhere card, or even cards that can earn 3x when used for Bilt rent payments. So is this tier system actually worth choosing? Let’s look at a concrete example and compare it directly with the most favorable first tier, the effective 4x setup. For simplicity, assume total rent of $4,000.

• option 1: $4,000 rent, $1,000 of Bilt spend, total earned = 4,000 Bilt points
• option2: $4,000 rent, redeem 120 Bilt Cash, then put $3,000 of spending on the Bilt card at 2x. Pay the rent with as summit at 3x. Total earned = 6000 Bilt points + 12,000 as miles. In other words, with $3,000 of Bilt card spend, you get 2x Bilt points + 3x AS miles

As you can see, the old 4% Bilt Cash setup, when combined with other cards for rent payments, can generate more total rewards while letting Bilt focus on everyday spending to earn Bilt Cash. That also means more spending can go onto Bilt overall, so the ceiling for boosted returns is higher. Bottom line: this new payment option has some value if Bilt is the only card you have. But if you have other strong multi-point cards, Double Cash can roughly match 4x, while Summit and ascent cards can get you 2x + 3x, with a higher cap as well. So overall, it’s not especially compelling.

Further Discussion

Should you choose Bilt Cash?

Aside from rent spending, all three cards earn an additional 4% Bilt Cash on other purchases. When redeemed against rent, it can be converted to points at a 3:1 ratio, so we can roughly think of that 4% as an idealized 1.33x in Bilt points. Combined with the relatively high value of Bilt points, around 1.6 cents each, all of the Bilt cards look fairly strong from a rewards perspective under this 4% structure.

• Blue earns 1x on everything, which is theoretically 2.33x overall, or about 3.7% back in value
• Obsidian earns 3x at grocery stores and dining, which is theoretically 4.33x total; travel becomes 3.33x; all other spend becomes 2.33x. That works out to an equivalent return of about 7% / 5.3% / 3.7%
• Palladium earns 2x on everything, which becomes 3.33x in theory, or about 5.3% back in value

That said, there is a catch. Bilt Cash can only be directly converted into Bilt points when paying rent, so your rent amount matters a lot. The break-even point depends on the ratio between your rent and your spending. For example, if your monthly rent is $1,000, then you need $30 in Bilt Cash to fully redeem against it, which corresponds to 4% back on $750 of spending. In other words, if your rent is $1,000, then only the first $750 of spending can meaningfully benefit from the 4% Bilt Cash return. Any Bilt Cash earned beyond that has no immediate value and just rolls over to the next month.

But if your rent is $10,000, then up to $7,500 of spending can earn 4% Bilt Cash, which converts into about 1.33x in Bilt points, so the cap is much higher. The same logic applies to mortgages, although there is still no definitive information yet on which mortgage payments qualify. For people with high rent or high mortgage payments, all three Bilt cards can offer good value. In particular, getting a Palladium card that effectively returns about 5.3% on all spend can be quite attractive. Of course, this does not take into account any other Bilt Cash redemption options. Generally speaking, if redemptions are unrestricted, the value is usually not very high.

Should you pay rent with the Bilt card?

This question may sound a bit strange. After all, isn’t the whole point of getting the Bilt card to pay rent with a credit card? But after the 2.0 revamp, using Bilt to pay rent is not necessarily the most efficient option anymore. That’s because if you want to earn points when paying rent with the Bilt card, you have to accept the fee by redeeming Bilt Cash, and both payment methods come with roughly a 3% fee. So if you use the Bilt card, you are effectively paying a 3% fee for 1x Bilt points. If you use another card, such as Double Cash, to pay rent, then you are effectively paying a 3% fee for 2x TYP. If you think 1x Bilt<2x TYP, then you should use Double Cash instead. The value of the Bilt card then shifts more toward bonus rewards on everyday spending, though the upside is not huge and depends on your rent amount.

Paying a mortgage

After the Bilt 2.0 revamp, there is now a dedicated mortgage payment entry point, but it only supports payment with Bilt’s own card. Just like rent payments, there are also two modes to choose from.

Some people previously tried going through the Rent entry and then using other cards to pay a mortgage, but Bilt has kept closing that bug, and at this point most mainstream mortgages can no longer be paid that way.

So we will not discuss that further here.

Paying HOA

Previously, some people successfully used the Rent entry to pay HOA and similar fees. After the revamp, this path appears to still be available, so you can give it a try. Since the rent entry allows you to choose any card, the discussion is similar to paying rent above, so we will not go into detail here.

• Use Bilt to pay HOA fees (belongs to First Citizen Bank)

Introduction to Bilt points

Elite status tiers

Bilt announced that in January 2024 it would launch a points-based status system, with some changes compared with before. The status tiers will be as follows:

• Blue: Base level, automatic;
• Silver: Requires 50,000 points (previously 25,000 points), or $10,000 in non-rent spending on eligible cards (Bilt Mastercard, or linked Mastercard, American Express, Visa card;
• Gold: Requires 125,000 points (previously 50,000 points), or $25,000 in non-rent spending on eligible cards (Bilt Mastercard, or linked Mastercard, American Express, Visa card);
• Platinum: Requires 200,000 points (previously 100,000 points), or $50,000 in non-rent spending on eligible cards (Bilt Mastercard, or linked Mastercard, American Express, Visa card)

Bilt has added a new Bilt Cash benefit: for every 25,000 Bilt points earned, you can also receive an extra $50 in Bilt Cash. This extra benefit is pretty good and encourages people to accumulate more Bilt points. If mortgage payments become publicly available in the future, earning some extra Bilt Cash over the course of a year would be nice as well.

• Official announcement

This Cash can be used for:

• At local Bilt partner merchants, it can be used directly like cash, fixed value at local merchants in our network (such as cash off when you use Mobile Checkout, hotels in Bilt’s Travel Portal, fitness classes, and Home Delivery orders)
• You can also boost your Bilt tier to get better benefits on Bilt Rental Day. one-time access to elite status benefits (such as upgraded status for Rent Day transfer bonuses, early access to experiences, and Home Away from Home access for Blue and Silver Members) .

Transfer partners

Bilt points can be transferred 1:1 to multiple airlines and hotel programs, and you get 100 points for each account you link, for a current total of up to 1000 bonus points. Transfers require a minimum of 2000 points, which means that even if your card application is not approved, you can still get 2000 points and transfer them out. Bilt’s current transfer partners include:

• Everything except Accor transfers at 1:1
• The more noteworthy partners include Alaska, Hyatt, Japan Airlines, and United Airline, all of which are relatively hard to come by

Bilt added Etihad as a new transfer partner at a 1:1 ratio. However, since Etihad is also a transfer partner of AMEX, Capital One, and ThankYou Points, the impact here is not especially large. Still, it shows that Bilt’s usefulness continues to expand.

• Official page

Bilt has also added Spirit as a transfer partner at 1:1. It is not especially useful, but having another supplementary option is still nice.

• Official page

Other redemption options

• Bilt added a Travel Portal powered by Expedia, with a redemption value of about 1.25 cents/point. Overall it is not highly recommended, though it may be worth considering for occasional cheap flights.
• Bilt now supports Amazon shop with points, with a redemption value of 0.7c/p. Remember to redeem only 1 point at a time whenever possible (1 cent). Bilt launched a linking promotion (500 points total). Link your Amazon account and earn 250 points (click through)
• Bilt also added a cash-out option for points at 0.55cpp. Not recommended, but at least it is a useful feature, and there may be extra promo opportunities in the future.

About Bilt Cash

Bilt Cash is different from Bilt Points. It cannot be redeemed for cash and cannot be transferred. According to the official information, current redemption options include:

• Redeem toward rent or mortgage payment fees. For every $30 in fees redeemed, you receive 1000 Bilt points. For example, if you pay $1,000 in rent and incur a $30 fee, you can use $30 in Bilt Cash to cover it and then receive 1,000 Bilt points back. Only Bilt cardholders can redeem this.
• Upgrade your Bilt membership tier so you can get better benefits on rental day

Bilt has added other uses for Bilt Cash. In short, although $1 Bilt Cash = $1, these redemptions are mostly mediocre, and there are monthly limits. In most cases, you still have to pay part of the cost out of pocket plus use Bilt Cash. My recommendation is still to redeem it for Bilt points when paying rent, since that gives the highest value. These miscellaneous options mostly just encourage you to spend more. Monthly-limited redemption benefits include:

• Food delivery (Grubhub): $10 per month.
• Express delivery (Bilt/Gopuff): up to $5 per month.
• Dining at partner restaurants: once per month, up to $25 each time.
• Dining experience bookings: up to $50 per month (available starting March 1, 2026).
• Hotel statement credits: monthly limits vary by membership tier.
  • Blue & Silver members: up to $50 per month
  • Gold & Platinum members: up to $100 per month
• Lyft rides: $10 per month.
• Parking: $5 per month (available starting March 1, 2026).
• Fitness classes: up to $40 per month.
• Walgreens purchases: $10 per month.
• Comedy experience bookings: up to $50 per month (available starting March 1, 2026).
• Bilt-designed merchandise: up to $10 per month.
• Priority Pass guest fee (Palladium only): up to $64 in statement credits per month ($32 per guest, up to two guests, available starting March 1, 2026).

Annual-limited redemption benefits include:

• Gopuff Fam membership fee: up to $100 in statement credits per year, which can be used toward monthly or annual membership fees (available starting March 1, 2026).
• Blacklane chauffeur service: the total annual credit depends on your elite status tier.
  • Blue & Silver members: $50 per year
  • Gold members: $100 per year
  • Platinum members: $150 per year
• BLADE flights: up to $700 in total credits per year ($350 per seat, up to 2 seats per year, available starting March 1, 2026).
• Bonus earning multipliers on everyday spending: each activation requires paying $200 in Bilt Cash, and can be activated up to 5 times per year.
• Unlock the “Home Away From Home” hotel benefit: Blue & Silver members can unlock it with a one-time payment of $95 in Bilt Cash (available starting March 1, 2026).
• Upgrade transfer bonuses: use Bilt Cash to pay for one-time upgrades (for example, a Gold member can pay $75 to increase the bonus from 75% to 100%).

But Bilt Cash expires every year, and only up to $100 can roll over, which is still a pretty bad deal.

• Bilt Cash earned during 2026 will expire at the end of the year, except that up to $100 of Bilt Cash will roll over to the following year.

You can check the official FAQ here:

• Bilt Cash overview

Paying Rent with Other Cards

Bilt has introduced new rules for rent payments. You can now pay rent with non-Bilt cards, but there is a 3% fee. Visa, Master, and Discover cards earn 1 Bilt point per dollar spent, while AMEX cards earn 1 Bilt point per $2 spent. On one hand, you earn Bilt points, worth at least 1%; on the other hand, you can also earn credit card cash back, at least 1%. That means the effective fee is less than 1%.

Bilt also announced on its official site that if you use a personal UA co-branded card for purchases through Bilt, you can earn 2x UA miles. Combined with Bilt’s own 1x on rent payments, that becomes 3x total. Since the fee is only 3%, this is basically like buying UA/Bilt points at 1 cent each. Note that even if you do not have a Bilt credit card, you can still pay rent directly with a UA card.

• Official announcement

The cards eligible for extra rewards are listed below. The biggest highlight is the UA Gateway. It has no annual fee, and with this setup it still earns an extra 1x UA, which is quite decent. So in the future, downgrading a UA card to the Gateway and keeping it just for rent payments could make sense.

• The United Gateway℠ Card
• The United℠ Explorer Card
• The United Quest℠ Card
• The United Club℠ Card
• The United Presidential Plus℠ Card (discontinued)

Bilt Monthly Promotions (Rental Day)

Bilt runs a Rental Day promotion on the 1st of every month, with different rewards each time. For example, there may be transfer bonuses to airline miles or opportunities to earn elite status with airline or hotel programs. Here are some of the promotions we have covered:

• October 2025 Bilt Day: up to a 50% bonus when redeeming Bilt points for Amazon, a terrible deal
• Bilt Rental Day: transfer points to Accor at up to 1:2, worth going all in (June 1 only)
• May 2025 Bilt Rental Day: up to a 100% Southwest transfer bonus (1: 2)
• April 2025 Bilt Rent Day: 100% Avios transfer bonus and more perks! (effective 4/1)
• Bilt Rental Day: Hilton transfer bonus, free coffee, and bonus points (March 1)

Partners

Lyft

Bilt announced a partnership with the ride service Lyft, a competitor to Uber, and the two accounts can be linked together.

• For non-Bilt credit card users, Lyft purchases earn an extra 2x Bilt points
• For Bilt credit card users, Lyft purchases earn an extra 5x Bilt points

A nice improvement. One thing to note: after linking, you can only choose one frequent traveler account for earning points. I recommend choosing Bilt since it is such a great transfer currency. [2023.2 update] Bilt also announced a partnership that lets you compare award pricing when searching flights through Bilt (one small downside: it only shows airlines/hotels that Bilt transfers to), and then transfer points through Bilt accordingly. Very nice feature from Bilt.

Gopuff

Bilt also partnered with Gopuff. Purchases can earn points, and points can be redeemed toward purchases, though at 0.7c/p it is not a good value.

• News link

Searching Award Flights

Bilt recently added an award flight search tool to user accounts. Travelers can now view cash fares, the number of Bilt points needed to book, and the miles required through airline transfer partners, making one-click comparisons possible. Right now, this feature only supports one-way nonstop flights on British Airways (BA) and Iberia, with expansion to more partners expected in 2026. This tool can help users use Bilt points more efficiently across its 23 transfer partners. If it really works as a one-stop search tool, that would be incredibly convenient.

• For example, on the same PVG-LAX route, the miles required through AS, or the equivalent number of Bilt points, may be lower than through BA, or the equivalent number of Bilt points. With this search tool, you can quickly see that you should transfer Bilt points to AS to book instead of BA.