Why Not Having This Card Is Costing You Hundreds On Rent
Discover the money-saving benefits of the Bilt Mastercard.
If you pay rent, you need to get this credit card.
For most people, rent is their highest monthly expense. And yet, it’s one of the few areas where you can’t use your credit card — most places charge at least 3% extra if you pay using a credit card.
That is until the Bilt Mastercard was introduced.
What is the Selling Point of This Card?
This card is issued by Wells Fargo and gives you 1x points for every dollar spent on rent.
For example, using a reasonable conversion of 1 point = 1 cent. If you paid the median rent price in New York City, which was $3,350 in March 2023, you would earn around $33.5 each month for paying rent.
In a year, you would earn $33.5 × 12 = $402.
Remember, this is in terms of points, so you could realistically derive even more value from them through transfer partners, such as Hyatt.
I’m usually cautious about recommending credit cards to friends, as sometimes people exceed their usual spending habits to “make the most” out of a card.
However, in the case of Bilt, you get points for a monthly expense you’re going to spend anyways.
It’s not just rent where you get this 1x back — other major rent-related expenses that fall under this include:
- Security deposits
- Application fees
- Utility bills (heat, electricity, gas, water, etc.)
- Wifi
- Cable
Many of these expenses can’t be paid with other credit cards without additional fees, making Bilt incredibly advantageous.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the maximum amount of points you can earn from rent-related expenses is 50,000 points per year. This is equivalent to spending an average of roughly $4170 a month on rent-related expenses.
Most of us won’t exceed that and, even if you do, you’re not losing out on money.
Other Benefits of the Bilt Mastercard
Competitive Points Returns
Apart from rent-related expenses, you will earn:
- 2x back on travel purchases
- 3x back on dining purchases
- 1x back on all other purchases
These reward categories and percentages are comparable to other credit cards, making this a versatile card to carry around.
Credit Building
Given that the card has no annual fee, you can likely keep it forever, boosting your average credit age.
There is also a BiltProtect program that you can opt into that ensures paying rent doesn’t reflect in your credit utilization.
Both length of credit and credit utilization contribute to your overall credit score.
Competitive Travel Benefits
If you’re looking to travel and don’t have a dedicated travel card, Bilt can serve that purpose. Its travel benefits include:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Trip cancellation & interruption protection
- Trip delay reimbursement
- Auto rental collision damage waiver
Other Great Perks
Finally, there are some “miscellaneous” benefits that don’t fit in any of the above groups, but I think are worth mentioning:
- Free, 3-month DoorDash’s DashPass membership
- Monthly Lyft credits
- Cell phone protection
- Purchase security
For a comprehensive list of benefits and rewards, check out the Bilt website.
Disadvantages of the Bilt Mastercard
With all that said, I believe it’s important to call out some of the less appealing aspects of the card.
No Welcome / Sign-Up Bonus
Most credit cards you come across will have some sort of sign-up bonus.
These bonuses usually give you some amount of points after you spend above a threshold within a limited time — oftentimes this will be quite a significant amount of points.
Unfortunately, Bilt is currently not offering any such bonuses.
5 Required Transactions per Month
Bilt has a rule that, in order to earn points, you must make a minimum of 5 transactions per month on your Bilt card.
This means that other than rent, you must use this card 4 times.
This isn’t difficult to achieve but may be difficult to remember if you use other credit cards as your daily driver.
Recent String of Fraud Charges
Recently, a number of customers of Bilt Mastercards reported fraud charges showing up on their accounts, including friends of mine.
The exact data on this is unclear but if you do encounter these charges, as long as you report them, then they should be removed from your account.
It’s worth noting though that Bilt is not the only card that has been a target for these fraudulent attacks. I recommend doing your own research on this and determining if this is a reason to not get this card.
For more information on this, check out this article by The Points Guy.
How To Maximize This Card
Finally, here are some personal tips to maximize the rewards of this card.
Pay for Your Entire Apartment’s Rent With This Card
If you have roommates, ask them if you can pay for the entire monthly rent and have them pay you back.
This way, you are able to maximize the points you earn from rent-related expenses.
However, I advise that you only do this if you can trust your roommates with paying you on time, as you run the risk of carrying a balance.
Create a System To Hit Your 5 Transactions per Month
If you don’t use this card 5 times a month, you don’t get any points. That’s why I recommend creating a system to ensure this.
Example ideas include:
- Using this card to pay for recurring monthly subscriptions
- Exclusively using this card to buy a certain item that you buy often (i.e. coffee)
- Setting a reminder to buy Amazon Gift Card reloads every month
Refer Friends and Earn Points
This card is still relatively new as of the time when writing this article.
Chances are, a lot of your friends are paying rent and don’t own this card. Referring them helps both of you. If they are approved, they get the benefits that I’ve outlined. In return, you get 25,000 points.
It’s a win-win!
Now, if you are interested in applying for this card, I would like to ask you to consider using my referral link, especially if you found this article helpful.
No pressure though! You can also apply here without my referral.
Either way, I hope this article has been straightforward in explaining the value of this card!
Thank you for reading!
Feel free to reach out to me at yyw.writing@gmail.com — I would love to hear from you! Also, be sure to follow my newsletter!
