Bilt Rewards has quietly become one of the more interesting loyalty programmes for renters in the US, and a common assumption about it turns out to be wrong: you don't need the Bilt credit card to use it. The Points Guy's latest explainer walks through how cardless members can still rack up transferable points and cash in on some genuinely good redemptions.
The core trick applies if your apartment building participates in Bilt and accepts cards beyond Bilt's own. Link any rewards credit card to a free Bilt account, set up autopay, and you'll earn 1 Bilt point per $2 of rent — stacked on top of whatever your card already pays. The catch is a 3% transaction fee: a $2,000 rent payment costs $60 extra. Whether that's worth it depends on your card. The author often routes rent through cards with pending welcome bonuses or spending thresholds, which makes the fee easy to justify. For instance, the Air France KLM Visa Signature currently earns 3 miles per dollar on rent via Bilt, up to $50,000 spent annually.
There are other ways to accumulate without the card. Linking Bilt to Lyft earns 2 points per dollar, stacking with credit card rewards — the author pairs it with the Chase Sapphire Reserve for 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar through September 2027. Linked cards also earn bonus points at Bilt Neighborhood fitness locations, Walgreens and Bilt-affiliated restaurants. Renting isn't the only path either, though mortgage payments through Bilt currently require the card.
The real payoff comes at redemption. Bilt doesn't gate its airline and hotel transfer partners behind its credit cards, so even free members can move points to Air Canada Aeroplan, Southwest, Virgin Atlantic, Amtrak Guest Rewards and Atmos Rewards — a partner that's hard to top up any other way. The author recently moved 4,000 points to Atmos and booked a one-way Alaska Airlines flight from Portland to Spokane that would have cost $184 in cash, netting roughly 3.6 cents per point including taxes. Note that base-level members must transfer at least 2,000 points per move, and transfers are irreversible.
The maths is modest but real: the author earns just over 800 points a month from rent, enough after a few months for a short-haul domestic flight. When does the card make sense? If you want 1.25 points per dollar on rent instead of 0.5, want to dodge the transaction fee entirely, your building only accepts Bilt cards, or you're paying a mortgage. Bilt currently offers three cards — Palladium (50,000 bonus points plus Gold status after $4,000 spend in 90 days, plus $300 Bilt Cash), Obsidian ($200 Bilt Cash) and Blue ($100 Bilt Cash).
For travellers already juggling rewards cards, the takeaway is simple: check whether your landlord works with Bilt before dismissing it. It's not a points machine, but rent is money you're spending anyway — and if a welcome bonus or transfer partner sweetens the deal, the 3% fee can pay for itself several times over.
Story via The Points Guy.
