Should you pay rent on second-tier? We correct the numbers

tPG founder Brian Kelly is a BILT consultant and investor.

Bilt Rewards is a points program that helps tenants build credit and earn points on rent payments (and plans to expand the rewards for mortgage payments soon). The plan also has a shared credit card.

The concept of paying rent with a credit card is nothing new. However, it usually involves a 2%-3% fee, which can swallow the value of any reward you may receive in the process.

If you have a BiltMastercard®even if your landlord does not accept credit cards, or resides in a participating property and pays with ACH.

Additionally, you can earn transferable points on these payments (up to 100,000 per calendar year) and other purchases through the BILT MasterCard issued by Wells Fargo, and there is no annual fee (see rates and fees). You must use five cards during each statement to earn points.

Here are your thoughts on how you can earn and cash in on Bilt Rewards points, and consider whether using Bilt MasterCard is worth it.

How much did you earn with bilt

When you pay rent on the second tier, earn 1 point per dollar of rent regardless of your Bilt status tier (more on that later). For example, if you pay $3,000 in rent payments per month, you earn 3,000 points per month, without transaction fees when you pay through the plan (see rates and fees).

You can only earn up to 100,000 rent per year, but you have to spend more than $8,000 in monthly rent to reach this limit. Therefore, it will not affect most renters.

Also, when you swipe your Mastercard, there is no upper limit on the number of points you can earn in your daily purchases (use five cards during each statement to earn points).

If your landlord is part of the Bilt Rewards Alliance, you don’t need BILT Mastercard, which currently includes over four million units, including some of the top U.S. real estate companies such as Brookfield Real Estate, Equity Residential, Starwood Capital Group, and Greystar.

You can also use any visa, Mastercard or Discovery Credit Card to pay rent, and earn BILT points in addition to credit card points. However, you get 1 BILT point for just $2 per piece, and you will charge a 3% transaction fee on these third-party cards.

However, if your landlord is not a member, you will need Bilt Mastercard Use the app to send monthly rent checks or direct deposits through the landlord’s online portal.

Win points for daily purchases with Bilt MasterCard

Not only rented Bilt Mastercard Spend 5 points bonus per dollar on Lyft (once you have linked your BILT and LYFT accounts), spend 3 points per dollar on dining, 2 points per dollar on travel, and 1 point per dollar on other purchases.

This is a supplement, with 1 point income per dollar on rental payments, but the limit obtained from rental payments is 100,000 points per year. You can read the terms of BILT rewards and benefits here.

It is also possible to earn points twice on the first day of a month through BILT’s “Rent Day” promotion. This applies to non-rental expenses, with a daily rent of 1,000 points limit.

These income categories sound simple on paper, but there are some regulations.

First, you must use Bilt Mastercard at least five times a month to earn purchase points. If you don’t do this, the points you’re tired of will be removed from your account at the end of your declaration period. It is important to note that when a transaction is published, the points are immediately credited to your account, not when your statement is closed.

Next, travel is defined as an airline, hotel, cruise, car rental company and purchases made through BILT Travel Portal. This specifically excludes rides, taxis, public transport and other regular travel expenses Chase Sapphire Priority® Card (See rates and fees) or another card that earns bonus points in a wider range of travel expense options.

Of course, you don’t have to put all the fees on your BILT Mastercard to keep your point of view. You might consider pairing it with a card that you buy every day, such as the Capital One Venture Rewards credit card.

Venture Rewards makes at least 2 miles per dollar on all purchases, so you can use Bilt Mastercard for dining and rental payments without transaction fees (see interest rates and fees) and use Venture Rewards to get everything else.

It is also important to know that there are no welcome rewards on BILT Mastercard. The card’s value proposition is to earn points while avoiding transaction fees that pay rent annually. Compare it to the points you earned on the welcome bonus on other cards and subtract the value of the fees you paid in the process.

Earning less than me per dollar to spend 3 points with Bilt Mastercard American Express® Gold Cardevery dollar spent in global restaurants (the first $50,000 of purchases per year for annual purchases; then 1 point per dollar).

Bilt Rewards State Layer

Under the original Bilt Rewards program, your status tier is determined by how many points you earn on your rental. Although this is no longer the case, the BILT state layer still exists and based on how many points you get in a given calendar year, and the option to get fast track state through your BILT MasterCard spending.

Here are the levels:

• Blue: Members who earn less than 50,000 points in the calendar year or spend less than $10,000 on their Bilt Mastercard.
• silver: Earn at least 50,000 points or at least $10,000 in a calendar year.
• Gold: Members earn at least 125,000 points or at least $25,000 in a calendar year.
• platinum: In a calendar year, earn at least 200,000 points or spend at least $50,000 on its intersex ship Mastercard.

Please note that points earned through recommendation and reward sports are not counted in status. Rent payments will not be included in the state expenditure requirements.

Overall, the benefits of each position may feel small depending on your real estate goals.

Silver members and above can earn interest on points and reward points on qualified activities on the property, while you need a gold status to access the home ownership concierge and lead you through the home purchase process from start to finish.

Only Platinum members can receive gifts from the Bilt collection, including home decor and artwork.

Related: How to Earn “Interest” in Reward Balance

Redeem BILT Reward Points

Once you have points in your account, you can transfer them to the following loyalty program:

Some of these transfer partners, such as World of Hyatt, are very valuable and make the income very attractive with an attractive attitude. That is, many of these partners, such as IHG, are far less valuable.

Additionally, you can transfer American Express membership rewards or Chase Ultimate rewards to many of these programs.

However, you can maximize BILT reward points by intentionally using these transfer partners. For example, you can get incredible value by leveraging the world of Hyatt. Despite the program’s peak and off-peak pricing, Hyatt World mostly sticks to a fixed rewards list that offers excellent prices on luxury hotel accommodation.

You can also choose to redeem points in BILT’s travel portal. This involves a flat conversion rate of 1.25 cents per point, which means 10,000 bilt points are worth $125.

As we pointed out in our full guide to BILT Rewards, you can also redeem points for exercise courses, from renting items from rental collections, rent discounts, and even down payments for putting them on your home. That is, these are usually less valuable than transferring to a travel partner, so it is best to avoid these redemption options.

Does using Bilt Rewards make sense?

If you are a renter, it’s no point to paying your monthly rent with bilt. Essentially, you can earn the necessary expenses per month (up to 100,000 per calendar year).

If you live in the BILT Rewards Alliance building, you can simply download the app to pay your rent via BILT. If you don’t, you can pick up the Bilt MasterCard and make payments through its checking side or ACH service.

There is no annual fee for this card and no transaction fees are charged when paying rent (see Fees and Fees). You only have a balance on your card (like other credit cards) and you will only charge fees and interest.

That’s what makes Bilt Mastercard possible for people living in expensive cities like New York City and San Francisco. Rent can form a large part of your monthly spend in these areas, so getting a return on spending can be an important consideration. If you have roommates who don’t mind you put all your rent on your card after you give you cash, you can earn more points.

Of course, you do need to use Bilt Mastercard for at least five purchases per billing cycle to earn points. However, this is not a heavy requirement, as the card receives reliable reward points when it comes to catering purchases.

On the other hand, consider what you give up when you pay with Bilt. For example, someone uses a credit card that is a common brand of airlines to pay rent through Plastiq, which earns bonuses for elite qualification metrics, and they may skip the bilt if they have no other way to meet the spending threshold for their chosen elite identity.

Similarly, if you follow Chase’s 5/24 application rules, but getting a Bilt MasterCard will let you limit you, you may need to apply for a new Chase card first and then save the BILT MasterCard for later use.

Bottom line

With Bilt Mastercard’s revenue structure and a range of transfer partners, Bilt Rewards can be an excellent way to earn up to 100,000 points per year on rent. Just make sure to use the card at least five times a month for other purchases or you will forfeit any points.

For many people, it makes absolutely sense to use bilt to pay rent, earn points and not pay anything.

To learn more, check out our full review of BILT Mastercard.

Apply here: Bilt Mastercard

For the rates and fees of Bilt MasterCard, click here.
For the rewards and benefits of BILT Mastercard, click here.