When Bilt first launched a credit card that let cardholders pay rent fee-free and earn rewards on that spend, it was a novel idea that attracted many consumers. This year, the card evolved into Bilt 2.0, with a brand new issuer, three card levels and a whole bunch of program rules to decipher.
To help you decide if Bilt 2.0 is the best credit card to pay rent, here’s what you need to know about how it works, the pros and cons, and the different card options.
Can You (and Should You) Pay Rent With a Credit Card?
Before getting into the details of the Bilt Card, you may be wondering if paying rent with a credit card is even a good idea. “Rent has always been one of the largest monthly bills we have to pay, but we’ve never gotten rewarded for paying it before,” says John Taylor Garner, founder and CEO of Odynn, a loyalty and travel platform for card issuers.
That is, until the first iteration of the Bilt Card came around in 2021. Outside of that card, however, paying rent with a credit card is usually not the best idea. For starters, it typically means you’ll pay an additional 3% transaction fee. Even if your card earns cash back or points, the fee will likely offset those earnings.
The other caveat is if you end up revolving that balance. “If the cardholder does not pay the balance in full, their rent costs even more per month with transaction fees and interest,” says Mary Brimer, financial planner with Ginger Green Financial in Rhode Island. “It’s dangerous to the borrower as they may be digging themselves into a debt spiral that often takes years to repair.”
Paying Rent With the Bilt Card
If you wish to get rewarded for a fixed housing payment, the Bilt Card is likely your best option. “Bilt exists to optimize earnings potential from rent,” says Garner.
However, the card is mostly geared toward people who want to use earned rewards points toward travel, since the best redemptions are on flights and hotels. The premium versions of the cards also have travel-related benefits, including airport lounge access at the highest tier. You can also earn Bilt Cash (separate from points) on the cards, which can be redeemed with neighborhood partners in dining, ride-hailing, health and wellness.
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Bilt Card Pros
Slew of Transfer Partners
Most credit rewards experts will tell you that you can squeeze more value from rewards points by transferring them to airline or hotel loyalty programs. “The points that you earn from using this card can be transferred to airline and hotel partners,” says Garner. “Therefore, the potential for increased value through traveling is large.”
In fact, Bilt has 25 partners with nearly all of them at a 1:1 points transfer ratio. This well exceeds the number of partner options that other major rewards cards have.
Positive Impact on Credit Score
If you’re worried about what happens to your credit score when you add a large purchase like a rent payment to your card balance, you’re right to be concerned. With most cards, any time your balance increases significantly, it means your utilization goes up. Credit scoring models weigh utilization heavily in their calculations.
The Bilt card has a workaround for this. Since rent and mortgage payments are pulled from your linked bank account within 24 hours, it does not reduce your card’s available credit or push up your utilization. And you’ll still earn rewards on the spend.
In addition, Bilt reports your rent payments to the credit bureaus, which can help boost your credit score since it is an indicator of responsible payment behavior, says Brimer. However, cardholders must enroll in the Credit Boost feature to have their rent payments reported.
No Fees for Housing Payments
Rents and mortgage payments are high enough without adding on an extra cost. “When a tenant pays rent using a Bilt credit card, Bilt structures the rent payment to the landlord (or mortgage company) as an ACH payment and does not charge a transaction fee to either the landlord or the tenant,” Brimer says.
The Downside of Bilt
For all of their perks and benefits, the Bilt Cards have a lot of rules, fine print and limited-time offers to track if you want to maximize the rewards. Some former Bilt customers reported on Reddit that they chose not to transition to 2.0 because of all the program changes. However, Bilt’s annual CEO letter stated 83% of the original active cardholders did end up requesting a 2.0 card, with more than 30% of them opting for one of the premium annual fee cards.
So just how complex is the program? There are two separate types of rewards you can earn: Bilt Points and Bilt Cash. From there, cardholders have to choose the type of Bilt Cash they want to earn. They can:
— Earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday spend, in addition to points. Use Bilt Cash to unlock up to one point on housing payments or apply it dollar-for-dollar across the Bilt ecosystem for monthly credits, travel, dining and more.
— Choose “housing-only rewards,” which means you earn up to 1.25 points per dollar on rent and mortgage payments, instead of earning Bilt Cash on everyday spend.
If you choose the latter, the rate at which you earn is determined by the percentage of your monthly housing payment that you spend on everyday purchases. So if your rent is $2,000, and you spend $1,500 in nonrent categories (75% of your rent payment) you’d earn Bilt Points at a rate of 1. If you spend $2,000 or more in nonrent, then you can earn the max 1.25 points. Confused yet?
So while the Bilt Card is just about the only game in town for getting rewarded for paying rent without a fee, you can see that there is a bit of a learning curve if you want to maximize the program.
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Should You Use a Bilt Card to Pay Rent or Your Mortgage?
Making one of the Bilt cards work for you comes down to your spending habits, earnings goals and how much effort you want to put into a rewards program.
Get a Bilt card if:
— You want to earn rewards for rent/mortgage payments
— You will take the time to understand the card’s terms and conditions
— You plan to redeem rewards on travel or want premium travel benefits (if you choose one of the higher-tier cards)
— You will be diligent about paying your balance each month to avoid paying interest
Skip the Bilt cards if:
— You prefer to earn simple cash back
— You already have a solid rewards card to use for nonrent spending
— You don’t need (or already have) the higher-tier benefits of the higher-level Bilt cards
— You don’t travel often
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