Have you ever wished that you could earn credit card rewards for monthly rent payments? Let's take a look at the Bilt Rewards Mastercard, including how it benefits renters like myself.

Rent is often of the largest monthly expenses that many Americans have, yet it’s a category that nearly all rewards credit cards ignore. That is until the Bilt Rewards credit card came along. So what exactly is the Bilt credit card and how does it work? Let’s look at a few things to know as well as my thoughts as a cardholder.

The first things to know about the Bilt Rewards Mastercard are how you can use it to pay rent and earn rewards from doing so

Not only does the Bilt credit card allow you to earn 1 point per dollar spent on rent but also allows you to avoid the fees that are typically charged for credit card payments. If your landlord or apartment management company uses a payment portal, you can log into your Bilt account and set up an ACH account. This will provide you with an account and routing number, allowing it to function like a checking account instead of a credit card. One minor issue I ran into was that I needed to confirm the micro-deposits the platform made to my account but I didn’t receive an email from Bilt when those came through, Luckily, I was able to send a support email and got a prompt response with the numbers I needed. By the way, if your landlord only accepts checks, Bilt says it can send one on your behalf, although I haven’t tried this method myself.

Something else to note in regards to paying rent with your Bilt Rewards Mastercard is Bilt ProtectDebit. With this option toggled on, once your rent payment hits your account, it will pull the money from your linked checking account. This will help keep your credit limit utilization low, which in turn could help your credit scores. Of course, this feature is optional so you can also elect just to leave rent on your account and pay it when your statement is due.

Next, in addition to earning 1x on rent, the card also includes a couple of other useful multipliers - although there’s also a small catch to note

With the Bilt Mastercard, you’ll also be able to earn 3x points on dining purchasing, which is pretty solid. Additionally, the 2x category includes select travel purchases such as those made using Bilt’s Travel portal, flights and hotel rooms booked directly with the brands, and more.

Lest you plan on opening the Bilt card and only using it to pay rent, now’s when I should point out that the card requires users to make 5 purchases per statement in order to earn any points for that month. I was initially worried about this aspect of the card but I actually haven’t had any trouble meeting that requirement. Thanks in part to the 3x dining category, I can hit that 5 transaction limit without sacrificing too much in opportunity cost. Still, it’s something to keep in mind as a cardholder.

As for what to do with those points, Bilt offers a number of redemption options, although some are a better value than others.

One of the most-advertised ways to redeem your Bilt Rewards points is to transfer them to partner travel brand. The list of option currently includes American Airlines, Air Canada, United, Hyatt, and many others.. Each of these options allows you to transfer points at a 1:1 ratio. However, basic users will need to transfer points in denominations of 2,000 points.

Meanwhile, a few months back, Bilt unveiled its own travel portal powered by Expedia. Not only might this be a simpler option for those who don’t want to navivgate the world of award travel but it also allows customers to redeem points for 1.25¢ each.

Unfortunately, while Bilt has a few other redemption options, not all of them offer the same value. For example, although it’s possible to redeem your points toward rent payments, this seems to value the points at just 0.55¢ each. Like some other credit cards, you can also link an Amazon account and use your points at checkout, but this isn’t much better, amounting to 0.7¢ per point. Then there’s the Bilt Collection as well as fitness class redemptions, which are harder to put a value on since the cash prices aren’t listed.

Finally, for those looking to buy a home, Bilt does also allow customers to redeem their points toward a down payment. According to Bilt’s new home buying tool, this is actually among the best redemption value as it’s currently 1.5¢ per point. Thus, this may be worth looking into its homeownership is in your future.

For more credit card reviews make sure to visit [ Ссылка ] and for all my credit card review videos [ Ссылка ]

#Bilt #creditcards #FioneyMoney

свернуть