Bilt Mastercard review: Turn rent into rewards with no transaction fees

The Bilt Mastercard is currently unavailable to new applicants. Bilt launched Bilt 2.0 Cards in February 2026, with existing cardmembers eligible to transition to the new card. The information and offer details below may not reflect the terms of the upcoming card. Some offers mentioned below are no longer available.

Paying rent with a credit card doesn't normally make sense because of the added transaction fees. The Bilt Mastercard® flips the script and lets you pay rent without transaction fees. The best part is, Bilt Points are some of the most valuable travel rewards you can earn.

At the start of 2026, Bilt announced three new cards, replacing the Bilt Mastercard. These rewards credit cards offer a range of annual fees, each with the ability to earn points on both your rent and mortgage — but at the cost of a fairly complex earning system.

If you're interested in learning more, CNBC Select details the benefits, welcome bonus, rewards and fees of the Bilt Mastercard®, as well as what you need to know about the Bilt 2.0 cards.

The Bilt Mastercard® doesn't officially offer a welcome bonus.

For a no-annual-fee card, the Bilt Mastercard comes with a surprising amount of useful purchase and travel protections, including:

• Trip Delay Reimbursement
• Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection*
• Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver*
• Cellular Telephone Protection
• Purchase Security (theft and damage protection)*

* Please review the Bilt Mastercard® Guide to Benefits for details.

To help you make the most of your points, Bilt Rewards members have complimentary access to the Point.me and Awayz award search tools through the Bilt app. Both of these services are integrated with Bilt Travel. You can search for hotels or flights and book directly with Bilt Points or cash. However, with the Point.me and Awayz integration, you also have the option of viewing search results with prices that are based on the cost of booking through a Bilt transfer partner.

Bilt Elite Status

Bilt Rewards offers an elite status program, based on how many points you earn in a year (referral bonuses and certain promotional bonus points do not qualify). When you earn status, you'll have that status through the end of the year you earned it and the entire following year. Here are the status tiers:

• Blue: Enroll in Bilt Rewards
• Silver: Earn 50,000 qualifying Bilt Points or $10,000 in eligible spending
• Gold: Earn 125,000 qualifying Bilt Points or $25,000 in eligible spending
• Platinum: Earn 200,000 qualifying Bilt Points or $50,000 in eligible spending

Elite benefits include perks such as earning interest on your points balances (in the form of more Bilt Points), a lower points transfer minimum and a bonus for new leases or renewing your lease. The most valuable benefit of having Bilt status might be the bonuses it can unlock on Rent Day. Rent Day deals change each month, but in the past, Bilt offered a transfer bonus of up to 150% for its top-tier elite members, which is a phenomenal deal.

You'll also get perks with partner brands like discounts, complimentary flights and lounge access with the airport helicopter transfer service Blade. With Bilt Platinum status, you'll receive Gold status with Air France/KLM's Flying Blue program (activation required), which gets you perks like priority check-in and boarding and international lounge access when traveling with a SkyTeam member airline, including Delta.

As you work toward status, you'll also receive Milestone Rewards for every 25,000 points you earn. You can choose from the following Milestone Rewards:

• Double points on Neighborhood Dining for seven days
• 2X Bilt Points at grocery stores for 30 days
• 2X Bilt Points at gas stations for 30 days
• 2X Bilt Points on sports and concert tickets for 30 days
• 1,000 points to use toward a purchase from the Bilt Collection
• 5,000 qualifying points toward the next status level (these points cannot be redeemed; unlock once you've earned 50,000 points)
• 2X Bilt Points on digital wallet purchases for seven days (unlocks once you've earned 75,000 points)
• 10X Bilt Points on your next three Lyft rides (unlocks once you've earned 75,000 points)
• $10 toward your next fitness class booked through the Bilt app (unlocks once you've earned 150,000 points)
• 7,500 points to use toward a purchase from the Bilt Collection (unlocks once you've earned 225,000 points)
• 4X Bilt Points at gas stations for 30 days (unlocks once you've earned 250,000 points)

Earning

To earn points with your Bilt Mastercard, you need to use the card at least five times each statement period. If you qualify, you'll earn:

• 3X points on dining
• 2X points on travel
• 1X points on other purchases.
• Up to 1X points on rent payments with no transaction fee (up to 100,000 points each calendar year)

Bilt also has several ongoing offers that allow you to earn even more points. As part of Bilt's monthly Rent Day promotion, you can earn double points on the first of each month (excluding rent, up to 1,000 bonus points). When you link your Lyft and Bilt accounts you can earn 2X points on Lyft rides on top of the points you earn from the card you pay with.

You can also earn Bilt Points even when you're not using your Bilt card by linking your other credit cards to your Bilt wallet. Linked cards earn additional rewards at local restaurants, fitness studios and other merchants in the Bilt's Neighborhood Rewards network.

On top of that, thanks to a partnership with Walgreens, you can earn 2X Bilt Points on Walgreens branded products, 1X Bilt Points on other Walgreens purchases and 100 Bilt Points on eligible prescription refills, and these bonuses are all on top of what you normally earn with your credit card. Plus, you can automatically apply FSA or HSA benefits to eligible Walgreens purchases when you link those accounts to your Bilt Rewards account.

Redeeming

Bilt offers a range of redemptions for its members, you can redeem Bilt Points for airlines, hotels, rent payments, statement credits, toward a down payment on a home, fitness classes and merchandise. When you use Bilt Points to book travel through Bilt, each point is worth 1.25 cents, and points are worth 1.5 cents each when you redeem them toward a down payment on a house. The other redemption options typically aren't as valuable, as you may receive one cent per point or less.

You can maximize the value of Bilt Points by transferring them to Bilt's travel partners. You can transfer Bilt Points to these loyalty programs:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Accor Live Limitless
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
• Avianca Lifemiles
• British Airways Executive Club
• Cathay
• Emirates Skywards
• Flying Blue (Air France and KLM)
• Hilton Honors
• World of Hyatt
• Iberia Plus
• IHG One Rewards
• Marriott Bonvoy
• TAP Miles&Go
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

With these transfer partners, you can unlock incredible value. For example, you can use your points with Flying Blue's monthly promo rewards, which offer rotating deals — such as round-trip economy award flights from the U.S. to Europe that typically cost 25,000 miles or less. Bilt is also the only major flexible travel rewards program that transfers to Alaska Airlines, making it a great option for topping off your Mileage Plan account.

The Bilt Mastercard has a no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees (see terms and conditions). For your card's APR, see the terms. There is a late fee of up to $40, a cash advance fee of $10 or 5% of the advance (whichever is greater) and a balance transfer fee of up to 5% of the transfer ($5 minimum).

Bilt Mastercard vs. Citi Double Cash® Card

The Citi Double Cash® Card has no annual fee and earns a flat 2% back on all purchases (1% when you buy and 1% when you pay). If you won't earn points on rent and don't spend heavily on travel and dining, the Citi Double Cash has the potential to be more rewarding. If you want to use Bilt Points for rent or merchandise, the rewards you earn with the Citi Double Cash Card are more valuable.

Plus, the Citi ThankYou® Points you earn with the Citi Double Cash now transfer to Citi travel partners like American Airlines.

Bilt Mastercard vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card may have a $95 annual fee, but its welcome bonus is worth $1,000 in travel— enough to offset that fee nearly eight times over. You can earn a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

The Capital One Venture Rewards card also earns at least 2X miles on every purchase and comes with a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® application fee credit worth up to $120.

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For renters, the Bilt Mastercard has the potential to be an exceptionally rewarding credit card because you can turn rent into rewards without transaction fees. Bilt Points are also valuable and Bilt's monthly Rent Day promotion offers opportunities to dramatically boost that value and earn additional points.

However, if you own your home or otherwise don't pay rent, the value of this card drops. If you're not earning points on rent, this card is still as good as many of the best travel credit cards, but it doesn't stand out. Plus, it doesn't have a welcome bonus, which means you're missing out on the opportunity to earn hundreds of dollars in value that you'd have with many other cards in this class.

Building off the popularity of the Bilt Mastercard, the company announced three new credit cards that will be available for public applications starting Feb. 7, 2026. One of the hallmark changes is Bilt expanding rewards to mortgage payments in addition to rent. Here's a look at the three Bilt 2.0 cards:

• Bilt Blue Card (see rates and fees): With no annual fee, the Bilt Blue card is the entry-level option geared toward those interested in the Bilt ecosystem and earns 1X points on non-housing purchases.
• Bilt Obsidian Card (see rates and fees): For a $95 annual fee, the Bilt Obsidian offers higher earnings rates on certain categories. You'll earn 3X points on your choice of dining or groceries, up to the $25,000 annual spending maximum.
• Bilt Palladium Card (see rates and fees): Touted as Bilt's premium card, the Bilt Palladium carries a $495 annual fee. You'll earn 2X points on everyday purchases and can enjoy various statement credit perks and lounge access.

How you earn rewards on rent is changing as well. Bilt is dropping the minimum transaction requirement and introducing a system based on your spending percentage. Each purchase with your Bilt 2.0 card can earn you 4% Bilt Cash, which is a currency you can spend within the Bilt ecosystem or use to cover the transaction fee on rent payments. There's also a second, simpler alternative as well: Users can opt to pay their full rent or mortgage with no transaction fee and earn points instead of Bilt Cash.

While Bilt Cash offers a wide variety of redemption options, it can be difficult to keep track of and determine how much you need to cover your rent transaction fee. Additionally, many redemption options have monthly caps of $5 or $10, meaning you have to chip away each month to get your full value.

What happens to my old Bilt Mastercard?

If you already own the Bilt Mastercard, it will continue to work through Feb. 6, 2026; on Feb. 7, it will sunset. What happens to your old card depends on your previous actions (if any):

• You took no action: If you chose not to preorder a Bilt 2.0 card, your current Bilt Mastercard will be converted to a Wells Fargo Autograph® Card starting Feb. 7. You'll receive a new Autograph Card and card number and will continue to manage the card through a Wells Fargo account.
• You opted into a Bilt 2.0 card by Jan. 30: To receive the seamless transition Bilt advertised, you had to have applied for a Bilt 2.0 card by Jan. 30, 2026. This transition includes keeping the same card number, no hard credit check and your digital wallets will automatically update. While you can apply for a Bilt 2.0 card after this date, the process might be different.

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For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the benefits may be provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

Select rates/fees to learn more about the product features, terms, and conditions of the Bilt Mastercard.