Bilt Points

How to earn Bilt points

The core earn is rent. Pay rent through Bilt and earn points on it with no transaction fee on the standard rent flow, even at properties that normally only take checks. Rent earning has an annual points cap, and the card requires five transactions per statement period to earn points at all, so keep a few small purchases on it every month.

Beyond rent, the Bilt card earns bonused points on dining and travel and a base rate elsewhere. Bilt Dining, built on the Rewards Network, layers extra points on top at participating restaurants. Link the card once and the dining bonus stacks automatically.

Bilt has been expanding what counts as housing spend, including programs around mortgage payments and partnerships with payment platforms. The earning surface keeps growing. Check the app for what your specific housing situation qualifies for, because the program iterates fast.

• ▸Rent paid through Bilt: points on rent with no fee on the standard flow
• ▸Five transactions per statement period required to earn points
• ▸Bonused earning on dining and travel
• ▸Bilt Dining: stacked bonus points at Rewards Network restaurants
• ▸Rent Day: doubled earning on non-rent spend on the 1st of each month

How to redeem: transfer first, everything else second

Bilt points redeem through the Bilt travel portal at around 1.25 cents, toward rent at a lower rate, and toward fitness and other lifestyle redemptions. All of those are fallbacks. The 2.0 cent valuation comes from one place: the transfer list.

Using points toward rent feels poetic and pays poorly. The portal is fine for cheap domestic flights. But a currency that reaches Hyatt, American, Alaska, and United at 1:1 should almost always exit through a transfer partner.

Same discipline as every program: price the award in partner points, compare against the portal, take the bigger number, and never transfer before the award space is confirmed.

Transfer partners and ratios

Bilt transfers at 1:1 to a list that has no business being attached to a no-annual-fee card. Hyatt plus American plus Alaska plus United in one program is a combination no other bank currency offers at any price. Most transfers post quickly.

• ▸World of Hyatt: 1:1, usually fast
• ▸American Airlines AAdvantage: 1:1
• ▸United MileagePlus: 1:1
• ▸Alaska Mileage Plan: 1:1
• ▸Air France/KLM Flying Blue: 1:1
• ▸Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: 1:1
• ▸Avianca LifeMiles: 1:1
• ▸Marriott Bonvoy: 1:1, rarely worth it
• ▸IHG One Rewards: 1:1, rarely worth it

Best transfer partners explained

Hyatt does the same work here it does for Chase: chart-priced rooms where 2.5 to 3 cents per point is routine. For a renter earning points on rent and transferring to Hyatt, the effective rebate on housing is real money.

Alaska Mileage Plan is the partner the big banks mostly cannot give you. Alaska's oneworld partner awards, especially Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific premium cabins, are some of the best published values flying. Bilt is one of the only transferable currencies that feeds it.

American matters for web specials and oneworld partners, and United covers Star Alliance with instant-ish access and no surcharges on its own metal. Between AA, Alaska, and United, Bilt points reach all three US legacy networks, which no other bank currency can claim.

Program quirks: Rent Day and the five-swipe rule

Rent Day is the monthly event: on the 1st, non-rent spending earns double points, with a cap. A planned large purchase moved to the 1st is the easiest points multiplier in the hobby. Rent Day also brings rotating promotions, transfer bonuses, and status offers, so open the app on the 1st even if you buy nothing.

The five-transactions-per-statement rule is the trap that catches casual users. Miss it and the month's spend, including rent, earns nothing. Set a recurring small subscription or buy five coffees and never think about it again.

Bilt's loyalty tiers reward total earning with perks and better point values on some redemptions, and the program has run elite status partnerships with hotels and airlines. The details rotate. The constant is that engaged users keep getting handed extra value.

Our strategy: rent on Bilt, transfers to Hyatt and Alaska

If you rent, the baseline is simple: pay rent through Bilt, satisfy the five-transaction rule, and put dining on the card unless you hold a 4x dining earner. Everything else can live on your other cards. Rent alone builds a five-figure balance every year for doing nothing new.

Save the balance for Hyatt nights and Alaska partner awards. Those two exits alone justify the 2.0 cent valuation, and both are exclusive enough that even people with Chase and Amex setups keep Bilt purely as the side door.

On the 1st of each month, shift any planned spending onto the card for Rent Day. Over a year, that habit quietly adds a bonus worth a free flight.