Bilt Rewards Review: Pros, Cons, And Alternatives

What Is Bilt Rewards?

Bilt is a membership program and credit card that helps you build your credit through rent reporting and earn rewards for purchases, including your rent payments. It also offers three rewards credit cards, which are issued and administered by Column, N.A., an FDIC-member institution. The New York-based company was founded in 2019 by entrepreneur Ankur Jain. 

What Does It Offer?

Since its launch in 2019, Bilt has expanded its product and service offerings. Here’s a closer look at key features: 

Free Rent Reporting and Rewards

Bilt’s rent reporting is an opt-in feature, which is also referred to as Credit Boost in the app. Once you enrol, Bilt takes the rent payments that you make through the Bilt app or website, and reports them to the major credit bureaus for free. This way, they will show up on your credit report as a rent tradeline. 

According to Bilt, it can take up to 60 days before payments start showing up on your credit report, depending on the credit bureau processing times.  Bilt reports to Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. 

In addition to credit building, you can also earn rent rewards by paying your rent through Bilt. The base earning rate is a flat 250 points per monthly rent payment. However, if you make your rent payment through the Bilt app or website using a Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express credit card, you will earn 1 point per $2 spent on rent. You can only earn points on one residential rent payment per month.  

From time to time, Bilt may offer ways to earn bonus points on rent, but these offers may vary. Your points don’t expire as long as your Bilt account remains active and in good standing, but you could lose your points if your account becomes inactive or is closed. 

Bilt Neighborhood Benefits

Bilt Neighborhood Benefits is the name for Bilt’s retail partner loyalty rewards program. It lets you earn bonus Bilt points when you shop at Bilt partners across a range of retail categories, such as dining, travel, fitness, pharmacy, rideshare, and more. 

The bonus points you earn are in addition to any base points earned when you use your Bilt Mastercard. For example, Bilt Neighborhood Dining offers bonus points at specific restaurants listed in the Bilt app. The specific bonus multiplier (2X, 3X, or higher) is displayed in the app (see image below). Earning rates will vary by partner. 

Bilt Credit Cards 

Bilt now offers three different Mastercard rewards credit cards: Bilt Blue, Bilt Obsidian, and Bilt Palladium.

While all of the cards allow you to earn rewards on rent payments, they are clearly aimed at different types of renters. Here’s a breakdown of each card: 

Are There Any Fees?

One of Bilt’s key selling points is that most of its platform is free to use. For example, there is no fee to pay your rent as long as you use the Bilt system to do it. You will incur fees when you step outside of Bilt’s preferred payment structure. Otherwise, two of the credit cards (Obsidian and Palladium) carry annual fees, but both are premium rewards cards, so this is unsurprising. 

How Does Bilt Rewards Compare?

Bilt’s rent reporting and rewards platform is fairly unique, so it has few direct competitors. But if you’re looking at Bilt, there’s a good chance you’re considering one of its rewards credit cards, as it’s the best way to maximize Bilt rewards. 

Bilt is far from the only credit card option for rewards seekers. Here’s how the no-annual-fee Bilt Blue Mastercard compares to two popular cash back credit cards.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited card offers 3% cash back on dining, takeout, and eligible delivery services, 3% on drugstore purchases, 5% cash back on travel purchases through Chase Travel, and 1.5% cash back on all purchases with no annual fee.  
The Citi Double Cash Back card offers 2% cash back on all purchases. It’s split into 1% charged at purchase and 1% charged as you pay it off. If you are looking for a simplified way of earning rewards without an annual fee, this card could be a good fit.

How Do I Open An Account?

You can get started with Bilt by downloading the mobile app onto your iOS or Android device. You’ll have to provide some basic personal information to complete the process, but there is no charge to open the account. 
Once your account has been set up, you can link your bank account to pay rent through the platform and enroll in free rent reporting. If you want to maximize your Bilt rewards-earning, you can apply for one of the credit cards through the app or website. 

Is It Safe And Secure?

Yes, Bilt should be considered safe to use. It uses encryption to protect your information, and its credit cards are issued and administered by Column, N.A., which is an FDIC-member institution. This means that your Bilt credit card will have all of the legal protections you can expect from any regular credit card. It should go without saying that you should take precautions to protect your login and password information. 

How Do I Contact Bilt Rewards?

If you tap your profile icon in the top right corner of the Bilt app, you can chat with support using iMessage or WhatsApp. You can also click the chat icon on the Bilt website to access 24/7 AI-powered chat support. 

For credit card-related questions, you can reach out to Bilt’s card services team by dialing the number on the back of your Bilt Mastercard.
Bilt Customer Service
Bilt has a poor average Trustpilot rating of 1.6 out of 5 stars, which is very concerning. In fact, 80% of its reviews are 1-star ratings. I perused recent Trustpilot reviews. The most common complaints I noticed pertained to unresponsive customer support (much of it AI-powered). 

Is It Worth It?

If you’re a renter and happen to live in a Bilt Alliance property, you might be able to maximize the value of your rent payments. However, if you aren’t interested in paying your rent through Bilt or you’re just looking for a rewards credit card, there are better cards available. We’re also very concerned about Bilt’s customer service, given its Trustpilot ratings and the lack of human support options. Homeowners or others who don’t have a rent payment to contend with won’t get too much value out of Bilt.

Check out Bilt Rewards here >>