Bilt’s Latest Update: What You Actually Need to Do (and Decide) 🧾💳

Bilt’s Latest Update: What You Actually Need to Do (and Decide) 🧾💳

You’ve probably seen the recent updates from Bilt. The era of effortless rent points may be winding down—though there’s still hope it’s not entirely over 🤞.

For now, if you currently have a Bilt credit card, there’s an important action item:

⏰ Choose Your Card by January 29

You must select one of the new card options in the Bilt app or at bilt.com/card.

Each card comes with different benefits and annual fees. If you’re not excited about the paid perks, the simplest move is to choose the free Bilt Blue card.

Why keep Bilt at all?

• Bilt points still transfer to American Airlines, Alaska, United, Southwest, and more ✈️

• Hotel partners include Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton 🏨

What Happens If You Don’t Choose?

If you take no action, you’ll automatically receive the Wells Fargo Autograph card (no annual fee).

What it offers:

• ❌ Cannot be used to pay rent

• ✅ Earns 3x points on travel, dining, transit, and streaming

• ✅ Transfer points to airlines like Air France/KLM, JetBlue, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Iberia

Quick guidance:

• Want to stay in the Bilt ecosystem or use Bilt’s airline partners? → Choose Bilt Blue

• Prefer Wells Fargo’s airline partners or want something simpler? → Wells Fargo Autograph is fine

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If You Stick With Bilt: How Housing Rewards Will Work 🏠

After some initial confusion, Bilt clarified that you’ll have two reward options for rent or mortgage payments.

Option 1: Points on Housing

• Pay rent or mortgage with no transaction fee

• Earn up to 1.25x points on housing

• Your earn rate depends on how much non-housing spend you put on the card

Option 2: Bilt Cash + Points

• Pay rent or mortgage with no transaction fee

• Earn 4% back in Bilt Cash

• Earn points on everyday spending

• Use Bilt Cash to “buy” points on housing payments

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Important Things to Keep in Mind ⚠️

• You should continue paying rent via ACH, not floating rent on your credit card—no change there

• It’s still unclear whether Bilt Cash → points will be automatic or manual

• When prompted, always choose “no transaction fee”

• Paying a 3% processing fee is almost never worth it

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What This Looks Like in Practice (Examples)

Using an example from NerdWallet:

Example 1: $2,000 Mortgage

• Transaction fee to earn points: $60 (3%)

• If you have $60 in Bilt Cash → you earn 2,000 points

• If you only have $45 in Bilt Cash:

  • You earn points on $1,500

  • To earn the remaining 500 points, you’d need to pay $15 out of pocket

• You cannot use Bilt points to cover transaction fees

All Bilt cards earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on non-housing spend, so earning $60 in Bilt Cash would require about $1,500/month in other purchases—which is exactly the behavior Bilt is encouraging.

Example 2: $5,000 Rent or Mortgage

• Required Bilt Cash: $150

• That could mean $3,750/month in non-housing spending

• Possible? Sure—for some households. Worth it? That depends.

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One Easy Win: Rakuten + Bilt 🛍️✨

If you do any online shopping:

• Sign up for Rakuten

• Link it to your Bilt account

• Earn free Bilt points on purchases you’re already making

Right now:

• Spend $50 → get 5,000 Bilt points

• This partnership may end May 2026, so it’s worth setting up sooner rather than later