Bilt is considering points to pay for mortgages and a premium card
Check your email if you are a Bilt Cardholder. The renter-favorite rewards program sent out a survey to get feedback on potential upcoming changes to the Bilt card lineup — and there’s plenty to be excited about … especially if you’ve been hoping for a way to earn rewards while paying your mortgage.
When the
Bilt Mastercard(r) (see rates and fees) launched in 2021, it made a splash as the first card that allows renters to earn rewards on rent (up to 100,000 points in a calendar year) without paying a credit card processing fee. From there, the Bilt Rewards ecosystem has only grown, with the card now being just one piece of that larger world.Looking specifically at the card for now, the chance to earn points on rent was enough to sell a lot of us on it, but that’s not all it offers. The card offers earning rates that are similar to those of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, which is a favorite among many. What is the biggest difference? Bilt’s Mastercard comes with these benefits at no cost (see rates and charges). With no traditional welcome offer and no real way for those who don’t rent to earn rewards on their housing, some rewards credit card enthusiasts simply haven’t seen the card as worthy of taking up space in their wallets — even though the rewards are quite valuable.
Bilt has been listening and working to create more options for cardholders. TPG staffers have weighed in on what the survey results could mean for cardholders. Are they enough to convince those Here’s what TPG staffers have to say about the possibilities we saw in the survey.
Survey overview
This week, Bilt emailed cardholders with a survey about possible aspects of a future card (or card lineup).
BILT
Richard Kerr, the VP of travel at Bilt Rewards, asserts that these survey questions are in no way a promise of a final product.
“I do want to be clear that these are not locked in options, they are not finalized, they are not rigid, we have not committed to these and there will be many, many more revisions,” he said in an email.
Daily Newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts
Still, there are plenty of speculative changes laid out in the survey for Bilt members — and those who have been holding out on applying — to have big opinions about as they think about what this valuable program might be able to do for them in the future.
The survey asks cardholders to choose between two versions of three different card tiers: no-annual-fee, $95 annual fee and $550 annual fee. TPG staff members analyze Bilt’s survey options
We love to look at potential changes to a rewards The lack of benefits for mortgage holders is the main reason why TPG does not hold the Bilt MasterCard. The inclusion of mortgage points in every option in the survey, while not a guarantee of future card benefits, is a positive If this is true, it will be one of the most important stories of the year in terms of rewards currencies. If this could really happen, the Bilt Rewards program could get dramatically more interesting for many in the TPG hallways.
Still, some of us are a little skeptical of the devil that could lurk in those details.
TPG managing editor Erica Silverstein is interested in getting one of the Bilt cards — as long as mortgage holders aren’t charged the processing fee. Similarly, we’re interested to see if all mortgages will be eligible to earn rewards or if there will be restrictions such as limitations on eligible mortgage providers or requirements of certain tier levels within the Bilt program that will continue to keep many from earning rewards on their mortgage payments in a way that makes financial sense for them as the cardholder.
Earning rates
The earning rates listed in this survey are possibly the most divisive potential changes to Bilt’s card lineup.
Personally, I love the current earning structure of 3 points per dollar spent on dining and 2 points per dollar spent on travel purchases (the card must be used five times each statement period to earn points; see rewards and benefits), and I was disappointed not to see an option to keep these earning rates on any of the survey options. Similarly, TPG managing editor Madison Blancaflor was disappointed to see more restrictive bonus categories in the survey options, such as limiting dining bonus-earning to Bilt Neighborhood Dining rather than general dining purchases.
VISUALSPACE/GETTY IMAGES
One of the no-annual-fee options includes an earning rate of 1.5 points per dollar for all nonbonus spending, which TPG director of content Carly Helfand shared she is the most excited about. TPG copy editor Will Gordon is excited about the prospect of earning 1.25 Bilt Points per dollar spent for rent or mortgage Still, many of us wouldn’t get enough value from that additional earning by itself to justify a premium annual fee over the 1 point per dollar level offered on lower fee cards without getting unique value from other earning categories.
Related: The best rewards credit cards for each bonus category
Statement credits
Both the mid-tier and premium card options included statement credits for Bilt Travel hotels, Bilt Fitness and Walgreens.
For those who don’t mind adding to their stack of statement credits they already need to remember, the Bilt hotels and Walgreens credits seem easy enough to redeem. For those who have expensive prescriptions that they can fill through Walgreens, that credit could be a real asset.
HINTERHAUS PRODUCTIONS/GETTY IMAGES
I am among the many cardholders who don’t have Bilt Fitness options near me, so I could only take advantage of those credits when I’m traveling. This could prevent some prospective applicants from getting full value from any of the annual fee card options.
Hopes and fears
In addition to what we see in this survey, many of us have hopes and fears about things that aren’t directly addressed.
For instance, a major hurdle to justify adding the Bilt Mastercard to our wallets has been that it doesn’t come with a traditional welcome offer. Bilt hasn’t officially stated whether or not a welcome offers is planned for new cards that have higher annual fees. This could be a major factor in the decision to get any of the new Bilt cards, especially at the higher tiers.
BUSAKORN PONGPARNIT/GETTY IMAGES
Additionally, there’s no indication of exactly how the mortgage earning rate is structured, so it’s hard to peg a true value on that.
Finally, would these new products impact any of Bilt Rewards’ current offerings? The current Bilt Rewards program requires that you make five purchases per month in order to earn rent points (see Rewards and Benefits Existing cardholders, like me, love the current Rent Day Promotion that doubles points for all purchases made on the first If these cards do come to market, it’ll be interesting to see how they interplay with the current value proposition of the program.
Related: Bilt’s Rent Day promotion
Game changer or not?
So the question remains: Are these potential changes a game changer for those who have thus far been on Bilt’s sidelines? The addition of earning points for mortgages could be one of the most exciting and biggest stories of 2025. The survey’s possible changes could in some cases be good news for people who are looking for a rewards credit card that offers The earning rates at each level offer a decent return for many cardholders, and the benefits outlined appear to be relatively straightforward.
However, the general consensus among TPG staffers specifically is that we would still opt for a no-annual-fee version of the card rather than shell out for one of the premium products we saw in the survey as they were being presented. Other than earning rewards on housing payments, most of us have other cards with similar or better earning rates and benefits, and the appetite for managing more statement credits wasn’t high.
WESTEND61/GETTY IMAGES
Our senior vice president of content Jamie Page would rather see Bilt offer bonus earnings on home-related purchases, such as plumbing or electrician services, insurance, lawn crews and hardware stores.
TPG senior director of content Summer Hull agreed, saying, “What I really want from a Bilt card is something different you can’t replicate elsewhere … not just a card of a different color. “
Bottom Line
Bilt has done some exciting things over the past few years Bilt has made it clear that there are no guarantees and that the future card products may undergo several revisions. We are certainly doing the same over here. We are certainly doing the same over here.
For more details on the current Bilt card, check out our full review of the Bilt Mastercard.
Apply here:
Bilt Mastercard
See Bilt Mastercard rates and fees here.
See Bilt Mastercard rewards and benefits here.
