Bilt Mastercard review: Earn rewards for paying rent with no fees, with options to transfer points to airline and hotel partners

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Bilt Mastercard®Table of Contents: Masthead Sticky

Review: Is the Bilt Mastercard the best credit card for you?

If you are looking for a credit card that allows you to earn rewards for your rent payments, without paying additional fees, the Bilt Mastercard® isn’t just a great choice, it’s your only choice.

The new Bilt Mastercard® offers you up to 2x points on all rental payments, up to 4,000 points per month (maximum 48,000 points per year). There’s no traditional welcome bonus, but new applicants earn Bilt Mastercard®.

Read more: You can now earn points for paying rent – without any fees – with the brand-new Bilt Rewards program and credit card

What’s unique about this card is that you can use it to pay your rent to any landlord, anywhere, with no fees. After your account’s first month, the amount you earn on rent will be based on the non-rent purchases you make with your card each month:

Status

Monthly non-rent spending requirement

Rewards on rent

Blue

$250 1 point per $2 spent

Silver

$1,000 1 point per $1 spent

Gold

$2,000 1.5 points per $1 spent

Platinum

$3,500 2 points per $1 spent

So if one month you spent $1,500 on rent on another $1,200 on non-rent payments, then you’d reach the Silver level and earn 1,500 on your rent payment and another 1,200 points on your non-rent payments, for a total of 2,700 points that month.

The Bilt Rewards program offers a number of redemption options, including point transfers to airline and hotel partners, fitness rewards, and merchandise.

However, if you’re not a renter, there are many other rewards credit cards that could earn you more points, miles, or cash back for your spending – with a broader range of ways to redeem your rewards.

Comparison: Bilt Mastercard vs other travel rewards credit cards

Bilt Mastercard

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Citi Premier® Card

Annual fee

$0

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Citi Premier® Card

Rewards rate

1x points on non-rent purchases

0.5x to 2x on rent payments, depending on monthly non-rent spending (capped at 4,000 points per month)

5x points on Lyft rides through March 2022

2x points on travel and dining

1 point per dollar on everything else

3x points on air travel, gas stations, restaurants, supermarkets, and hotels

1 point per dollar on everything else

Welcome bonus

New applicants earn 3x points on their first month’s rent, up to 10,000 points

2x points for non-rent purchases made within the first 30 days

80,000 points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening

Citi Premier® Card

Card benefits

World Elite Mastercard benefits including:

Cell phone insurance

Purchase assurance

Lyft, Doordash, and Shoprunner discounts

Mastercard Luxury Hotel & Resorts

World Elite Concierge

Up to $60 back on an eligible Peloton Digital or All-Access Membership through December 31, 2021

Complimentary year of DoorDash DashPass membership (activation required by December 31, 2021)

Primary car rental insurance

Trip interruption/cancellation

Trip delay insurance

Baggage delay insurance

Lost luggage reimbursement

Extended warranty

Purchase protection

Travel and emergency assistance services

Travel accident insurance

Roadside dispatch

$100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) booked through thankyou.com once per calendar year

Purchase protection

Extended warranty

Access to Citi Entertainment

Foreign transaction fee

No

No

No

Review

Chase Sapphire Preferred card review

Citi Premier card review

How to use points from the Bilt Mastercard

Transfer points to airline and hotel partners

What’s really exciting about the Bilt Rewards program is that you can transfer points to airline and hotel loyalty programs, and the selection of award transfer partners is comparable to more established credit card rewards programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Rewards.

All transfers are instant (except American Airlines, which can take 24 hours) and at a 1:1 ratio.

Use points for fitness classes

Bilt Rewards partners with Soul Cycle, Rumble, and Y7, and you can redeem points for group classes or subscriptions, starting at 2,500 points.

Redeem Bilt points for merchandise

Bilt members can cash in their points in the Bilt App for home decor, art, and other exclusive items through the Bilt Collection, starting at 5,000 points.

Get discounts on rent with points

If you want to reduce your monthly expenses, you can cash in your points for discounts on rent payments.

Use points toward a down payment on a mortgage

When you’re ready to transition from renting to home ownership, Bilt will offer the opportunity to put points toward a down payment on a mortgage. When you redeem this way, your points are worth up to 1.5 cents apiece.

Benefits and features

The Bilt Mastercard® is World Elite Mastercard, which comes with several valuable benefits.

Cell phone protection

When you pay your monthly wireless bill with your Bilt Mastercard®, you’re eligible for cell phone insurance of up to $800 per claim and up to $1,000 per year if your phone is stolen or damaged.

Purchase protection

Purchase Assurance Plus covers any eligible new purchase you make with the Bilt Mastercard® against accidental damage or loss for 90 days, for up to $1,000.

Merchant discounts

Bilt Mastercard® cardholders get exclusive merchant discounts with popular brands, including:

  • Doordash: Get $5 off your first two Doordash orders each month
  • Lyft: Pay for three rides in a calendar month with your card and receive a $5 Lyft credit
  • Fandango: Spend $20 at Fandango or on Fandango’s streaming service and get a $5 Fandango Reward
  • Hello Fresh: Use your card to purchase a HelloFresh meal kit delivery plan, and receive 5% back to use toward your next delivery
  • Shoprunner: Receive a complimentary one-year ShopRunner membership and get free two-day shipping and free returns at over 100 merchants

Hotel discounts

Cardholders receive access to the Mastercard Luxury Hotel & Resorts Portfolio which gives you amenities like upgrades, free breakfast, and property credits at over 3,000 hotels.

Read more: Hotel programs from Amex, Visa, and more can get you free elite benefits like room upgrades and on-property credits – here’s how

World Elite Concierge services

Bilt Mastercard® cardholders can access Mastercard’s World Elite Concierge, which can help with things like hard-to-get restaurant reservations or event tickets.

Credit protection

The BiltProtect feature allows your rent payment to be taken directly from your account, just like a debit card. This can help your credit score over the long term by lowering your utilization and preventint you from incurring debt.

Bilt Mastercard®

Fees and costs

There’s no annual fee for the Bilt Mastercard®, and there are no fees to pay your rent with it. It’s also a good choice if you’re traveling abroad, because it doesn’t add foreign transaction fees.

Read more: The best credit cards without foreign transaction fees

Like most cards, the Bilt Mastercard® charges fees for cash advances, late payments, and returned payments.

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Read the original article on Business Insider

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