Link: Apply for the no annual fee Bilt Mastercard®
The Bilt Mastercard® is issued by Wells Fargo, and is an innovative card that a lot of people should consider applying for. In many ways, this is one of the few cards that I’d consider to be “too good to be true,” and there’s not another card like this on the market.
While the card is primarily targeted at renters, there’s even huge value to be had for others. For example, I recently applied for the card, and have gotten great use out of it, despite not renting.
While I’ve published a review of the Bilt Mastercard, in this post I wanted to summarize the main reasons you should consider picking up the card, if you haven’t done so already. In no particular order…
In this post:
The Bilt Mastercard has no annual fee
The Bilt Mastercard has no annual fee. Not for the primary cardmember, and not for any authorized users. I’d consider this to be one of the best no annual fee cards on the market.
Not only is it great to have a no annual fee card that’s lucrative, but also keep in mind that holding onto credit cards long term can help your credit score, and it’s ideal to do that with no annual fee products.
Now, let me balance the above by saying that the major catch with the Bilt Mastercard is that it doesn’t have an official sign-up bonus, and that’s something that many people (understandably) consider when applying for a card. However, when I applied, the card did have an unofficial sign-up bonus, though of course I can’t guarantee that will always be the case.
The Bilt Mastercard lets you earn rewards for paying rent (and more)
The single biggest selling point of Bilt Mastercard is the ability to earn points for paying your rent without any sort of credit card fee. As long as you make at least five purchases per billing cycle, Bilt will make the payment to your landlord on your behalf (by wire or check), and then you’ll be charged on your card for it, and will in turn earn points. You’re limited to earning up to 100,000 points per year this way.
For many Americans, rent is their single biggest expense, so being able to turn that into travel rewards is incredible.
What about for those of us who don’t rent? Well, anecdotally Bilt seems to let you earn points for paying your HOA fees. This is only unofficially possible, and it only works for HOAs and not mortgages, but that’s a pretty great opportunity for those of us who have HOAs to pay.
The Bilt Mastercard offers up to 3x points
The Bilt Mastercard has an incredible rewards structure, particularly for a no annual fee card. The card offers 3x points on dining, 2x points on travel, and 1x points on everything else. There’s not another no annual fee card on the market with such lucrative bonus categories for those who travel, and best of all, the card has no foreign transaction fees.
Bilt has fantastic transfer partners
How can you redeem points earned with the Bilt Mastercard? Much like the major transferable points currencies, Bilt lets you transfer points at a 1:1 ratio to roughly a dozen travel partners. While there are other ways to redeem your Bilt points, this will get you the most value, assuming you’re savvy with redeeming miles & points.
What’s especially awesome is the roster of transfer partners that Bilt has, as they include programs like Air Canada Aeroplan, American AAdvantage, Turkish Miles&Smiles, World of Hyatt, and more. In particular, I love how American AAdvantage and World of Hyatt partner with Bilt (the former doesn’t partner with any other transferable points currencies, while the latter only partners with Chase Ultimate Rewards).
Bilt has awesome Rent Day promotions
On the first day of each month, Bilt celebrates Rent Day. For one, you earn double rewards on most purchases on the first of each month, meaning you earn 6x points on dining, 4x points on travel, and 2x points on all other purchases (excluding rent), with the ability to earn up to 10,000 bonus points each month.
On top of that, there’s a special promotion each month, which can add significant value. We’re talking huge transfer bonuses to travel partners, and all kinds of other value-add promotions. A special monthly promotion might sound like a gimmick, but Bilt really does it in a way where you won’t be disappointed.
The Bilt Mastercard offers rental car coverage
The Bilt Mastercard has some benefits that you’d typically associate with a premium credit card with a high annual fee. For example, the card offers primary rental car coverage. You can receive auto coverage for covered damage due to collision or theft for most rental cars when you pay for your transaction with the card. Of course make sure you consult your cardmember agreement for full details.
If you rent a car, you’ll want to use a card with this valuable coverage.
The Bilt Mastercard offers cell phone protection
The Bilt Mastercard offers a cell phone protection benefit. You’ll have to pay your monthly cell phone bill with the card, and then you can receive up to $800 in protection (subject to a $25 deductible) against covered damage or theft. Given how expensive smartphones are nowadays, this perk could easily save you $775 with just one claim.
The Bilt Mastercard offers travel protection
Airlines haven’t exactly done a great job with operational reliability in the past couple of years, which is why it’s important to purchase your travel with a card that offers protection. The Bilt Mastercard is probably the single best no annual fee card in terms of the travel protection that it offers.
In addition to rental car protection, the card offers trip delay reimbursement (get reimbursed for expenses incurred when your trip is delayed more than six hours due to an eligible reason) and trip cancellation and interruption insurance (get reimbursed up to $5,000 for non-refundable passenger fares if your trip is interrupted or canceled for a covered reason). Just make sure you pay with your card.
Bottom line
The Bilt Mastercard is a unique product. There’s not another no annual fee card that’s so well rounded, and there’s also not another credit card that rewards renters in the same way. This no annual fee card lets you earn points for rent, offers 2-3x points on dining and travel (with amazing transfer partners), and offers valuable protection, ranging from cell phone protection, to rental car protection, or delayed trip protection.
Until several months ago I hadn’t even considered this card, since I don’t rent. But between being rewarded for paying my HOA, plus the amazing Rent Day promotions we see every month, I’d say this card is absolutely worth it.
What’s your take on the Bilt Mastercard?
Does it make sense to sell my house and start renting if I have this card lol?
Does anyone know how they recognize maintenance in a cooperative building ?
Lol at everyone saying renters dont pay or care about property taxes. You do realize that its baked into the price. Property taxes on my townhome i own and rent out went up $450 this year, and guess how much i raised their rent... More than $450!
...and best of all I don't pay Property Tax!!!
Can you explain how to get your HOA to accept Bilt.
@ Paul B -- Everything is explained in this post:
https://onemileatatime.com/insights/pay-hoa-bilt-mastercard/
Two questions:
1. Do you have a complete list of travel transfer partners? It seems to suggest that there are over a dozen such partners but only a few hotels and airlines.
2. Why does this count to the chase 5/24 rule if it is a Wells Fargo issued card?
@ iamhere -- I wrote about all the travel transfer partners here:
https://onemileatatime.com/guides/bilt-rewards-points/
Chase's 5/24 rule accounts for cards from different issuers, as it restricts you to getting approved for a Chase card if you've opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months. This would include personal cards from all issuers, including Amex, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, etc.
24 days, or months?
@ BRC -- Whoops, months! Fixed, thank you.
The only possible benefit is the rent or HOA payments. Other than that other cards are more lucrative for the other categories. I think they should be more flexible with the "rent day" and allow people to choose which day per month is the "rent day" because not everyone owes rent on the first of the month. In addition, I am not sure why they limit rent or HOA to 100,000 points per year. All...
The only possible benefit is the rent or HOA payments. Other than that other cards are more lucrative for the other categories. I think they should be more flexible with the "rent day" and allow people to choose which day per month is the "rent day" because not everyone owes rent on the first of the month. In addition, I am not sure why they limit rent or HOA to 100,000 points per year. All other transactions are at 1x per dollar without a cap. Why can't they do the same?
@ iamhere -- Presumably they're limiting rent to $100K per year because it's an actual expense. Bilt is taking a loss when they pay your rent or HOA on your behalf, and then award you credit cards points for it. Meanwhile when you make a purchase with the Bilt Mastercard, Bilt is making money on that via merchant fees.
Can you product change a WF co-branded like the Choice card to BILT?
@ Dan -- You can't. While the card is issued by Wells Fargo, it's considered to be a totally separate product for those purposes.
Pretty ridiculous that Wells Fargo doesnt offer this to pay for mortgages if your mortgage is owned by Wells Fargo. I would get this in a second since Wells owns the mortgage on my rental. It would be a strong incentive when shopping for my next mortgage to picks Wells.
Long term renting is the single worst financial decision one can make in their lives.
This is oversimplified. Renting is maligned as throwing money away, but it isn't -- it's an exchange of money for tangible goods and services. Renters don't worry about HOA fees, property taxes, or the coordination of repairs. Renters have the flexibility of moving on a moment's notice for new jobs or life opportunities. Rental units are typically smaller than owned homes, which means less storage space for junk to accrue -- and a natural defense...
This is oversimplified. Renting is maligned as throwing money away, but it isn't -- it's an exchange of money for tangible goods and services. Renters don't worry about HOA fees, property taxes, or the coordination of repairs. Renters have the flexibility of moving on a moment's notice for new jobs or life opportunities. Rental units are typically smaller than owned homes, which means less storage space for junk to accrue -- and a natural defense against impulsive spending.
The decision to rent vs. buy is contingent on so many other factors, many subjective but some objective, like mortgage rates.
Renting does come with major drawbacks, namely that most property managers are awful, but some are not so bad. Here are some property managers with a nationwide presence whom I generally trust -- of course, be sure to do due diligence on the specific property you may be living in.
- AvalonBay
- Bozzuto
- Related
Exactly.
WRONG!!! And I am living proof of that by being a renter for 30 years. I have had near fist fight arguments with people who blindly think they know best that the math of buying is superior. Well it's not and I have a super complex spreadsheet and self developed database that I have used and modified for the last 30 years using my own data analysis skills. I am 54 and I have now...
WRONG!!! And I am living proof of that by being a renter for 30 years. I have had near fist fight arguments with people who blindly think they know best that the math of buying is superior. Well it's not and I have a super complex spreadsheet and self developed database that I have used and modified for the last 30 years using my own data analysis skills. I am 54 and I have now been retired 3 years because I took all that money that I never used for housing which over the course of my adult life to 50 (401k contributions, Roth, and a lot of stocks), I saved approximately 250k. I have turned that into 4 million. Along the way I made a lot of mistakes because I was in uncharted territory and nobody was around to teach me investing. Had I known in my 30s and 40s half of what I know now I could have retired in my early 40s. So now today, all my friends and family who bitterly told me how stupid I was in throwing away my money on rent not one single one of them even knows when they can retire. And yes I make them say I was right and they were WRONG so wrong. Now they all beg me to teach them to raise capital to get to retirement. Most of them don't even dare change jobs because they live with ginormous mortgages that they will never walk away from before they have grand babies. Today, my money makes money for me. At 5.5% interest in $3 million worth of CDs I'm making $160k a year from that alone. I'm living very comfortably in my "rental". Add points for flying, I pretty much don't worry about money. I spend my cash on hotels and food. I don't buy stuff and I don't keep up with the Jones. Rent and insurance are my only big bills.
You'd be a lot richer if you had owned a home. Your home would be an appreciating asset by now - not an expense. You have excellent spending control and are otherwise a good example of the power of saving/frugality. But to wave around your millions as an example of why long term renting is a good idea is silly. You'd have a lot more than that if you had bought a simple home 30...
You'd be a lot richer if you had owned a home. Your home would be an appreciating asset by now - not an expense. You have excellent spending control and are otherwise a good example of the power of saving/frugality. But to wave around your millions as an example of why long term renting is a good idea is silly. You'd have a lot more than that if you had bought a simple home 30 years ago. My home has appreciated 50% since I bought 12 years ago and I'm a couple of years away from paying off the mortgage. I'd advertise the size of my net value but I have a bit more class than you. Also it's important to be married and have kids but I get the sense you're single and lonely.
Btw only beta males get fighting angry about this topic.
@Viany
The tone of Bob's post notwithstanding, you've provided a data point supporting Bob. Let's say your house was worth $500k in 2011 when you bought it. If you put your $100k down payment into an S&P 500 mutual fund, it would be worth $400k at the end of 2022 (a year when the S&P returned -18%). It's been up about 18% this year, which would put it's value at $472k.
It gets more...
@Viany
The tone of Bob's post notwithstanding, you've provided a data point supporting Bob. Let's say your house was worth $500k in 2011 when you bought it. If you put your $100k down payment into an S&P 500 mutual fund, it would be worth $400k at the end of 2022 (a year when the S&P returned -18%). It's been up about 18% this year, which would put it's value at $472k.
It gets more complicated with the tax implication, insurance, taxes, maintenance, rent, etc, but on paper you've cost yourself a couple hundred thousand dollars. When you're mortgage gets paid off, you'll start clawing that back, but the mutual fund will likely have grown to $600k or more.
And when thinking about your house as an investment, you should remember that it is leveraged (via the mortgage) and not diversified (it's a single asset and subject to the swings of a local market). I'm not saying a home ownership is terrible. It's just more complicated than own = good; rent = bad
Shhh please don’t explain to “alpha male” Viany how purchasing a home is for suckers. He might get triggered (wait, already did)
If you rent you probably arent putting any money away, let alone putting it into an investment account and even rarer investing it in a fund and even rarer than that having the patience to see that fund drop 20% and not selling. Now if you are one of these rare people i dont have to tell you how well you are doing because if you own and put money away every month and dca a S&P fund then we are laughing at everyone else!
There is not one "correct" answer to Renting vs. Owning. Homes don't always appreciate. I purchased a Long Beach CA home in 1989, lost 30%+ on it selling for a relocation in 1996. By 2003, it returned to it's nominal (non inflation-adjusted) 1989 value, after 14 years.
In high cost areas, renting can be a significant savings over owning. I see homes in my area getting purchased as rental real estate -- After taxes...
There is not one "correct" answer to Renting vs. Owning. Homes don't always appreciate. I purchased a Long Beach CA home in 1989, lost 30%+ on it selling for a relocation in 1996. By 2003, it returned to it's nominal (non inflation-adjusted) 1989 value, after 14 years.
In high cost areas, renting can be a significant savings over owning. I see homes in my area getting purchased as rental real estate -- After taxes and expenses, the yield is maybe 2% even if purchased 100% cash. I know there are tax writeoffs, but unless the home continues to appreciate a lot from these levels, it's a terrible investment. Math is much different for a place like Toledo, OH.
That depends on the financials. Consider the cost to purchase and run your own home versus renting. In some places it is much more advantageous to rent.
Saying long-term renting is bad is one of the worst pieces of "Dave Ramsey" advice that exists, especially in today's rate environment. In today's rate environment, it would almost *never* be worth it to purchase a house over rent. Assuming a $100k down payment on a $500k home, you are paying 6% - 7% per year on interest payments. That alone is about $24,000 per year (albeit slowly decreasing as you pay off your mortgage...
Saying long-term renting is bad is one of the worst pieces of "Dave Ramsey" advice that exists, especially in today's rate environment. In today's rate environment, it would almost *never* be worth it to purchase a house over rent. Assuming a $100k down payment on a $500k home, you are paying 6% - 7% per year on interest payments. That alone is about $24,000 per year (albeit slowly decreasing as you pay off your mortgage - let's say $450,000 in interest over the life of a 30-yr mortgage).
I appreciate you would respond, "oh, but the equity you earn!" To respond to that, you are tying up $100,000 in equity right away. At a 6% return in the stock market you could get from not tying that up and instead renting would net you just over $500,000 in interest. So by renting instead of buying, I'm saving $450,000 in interest *and* gaining $500,000 in stock market returns on investing my down payment. That's about $950k. Take out the equity you could sell your house for (let's say 4% avg. real estate return, so $500k, grossed up over 30 years, your home could likely sell for just over $1 million). That's only $50k over 30 years ($1,666 per year) in favor of owning.
As you can see - this is NOT a cookie cutter "renting is bad and buying is good". We didn't incorporate investing your principal payments, paying property taxes, paying for repairs yourself, HOA fees, and homeowner's insurance into this calculation, in addition to @Husch's subjective descriptions. Additionally, a 6% mortgage rate is probably a low estimate for today (Jul 31, 2023). These all would push the decision calculus in favor of renting, as those can easily add up above $1,600.
Telling people "YOU SHOULDN'T RENT BECAUSE IT IS FINANCIALLY BAD" is just plain incorrect. Telling people "you should own because it *CAN* bring you financial freedom and it can bring you peace of mind" is another thing.
It’s questionable to take financial advice from people who can’t even copy my name spelling correctly.
It’s not surprising that lonely single folks need to justify their decision to rent vs buying a home. Interest rates is a consideration but only something that’s arisen in the last year. We’ve had decades of near zero cost loans. I’ll leave it up to the rest of you to determine opportunity costs.
"The card offers 3x points on dining, 2x points on travel, and 1x points on everything else. There’s not another no annual fee card on the market with such lucrative bonus categories for those who travel"
The no fee Costco card from Citi tops this with 3x points on dining, 3x points on travel, plus 4x on gas. Yes, while the card has no fee, you do need a $60 Costco membership, so maybe not...
"The card offers 3x points on dining, 2x points on travel, and 1x points on everything else. There’s not another no annual fee card on the market with such lucrative bonus categories for those who travel"
The no fee Costco card from Citi tops this with 3x points on dining, 3x points on travel, plus 4x on gas. Yes, while the card has no fee, you do need a $60 Costco membership, so maybe not keep-forever -to-boost-score. But if like many of us, you're a Costco member already, then there's no extra fee.
@ swag -- Totally fair, but I think it's important to note that the Costco credit card is a cash back product. So the 3x points on dining and travel is really 3% cash back. Personally I value Bilt points at 1.7 cents each, so to me the card offers 5.1% back on dining and 3.4% back on travel. Admittedly we all have different valuations, and the Costco credit card is a fantastic cash back product.
Great summary, in addition to the "unofficial" sign up bonus (which I received), they also have unofficial bonuses categories. For example, shortly after my first month whereas I spent over $15k on the card- I received an email offering me 5x on Amazon, Wireless and Food Delivery with a 5k points cap on each category. Pretty generous.
The only thing I don't like is the cell phone coverage isn't as good as Amex. For example,...
Great summary, in addition to the "unofficial" sign up bonus (which I received), they also have unofficial bonuses categories. For example, shortly after my first month whereas I spent over $15k on the card- I received an email offering me 5x on Amazon, Wireless and Food Delivery with a 5k points cap on each category. Pretty generous.
The only thing I don't like is the cell phone coverage isn't as good as Amex. For example, Amex considers a cracked screen not to be "cosmetic damage" while Bilt excludes a cracked screen unless it impacts the phones functionality. I view this as a pretty significant difference and a reason to keep my wireless charges on Amex, I just broke my screen and while it was cracked in multiple places, Bilt likely would have denied me the $600 it cost Apple to replace it.
Apple does not charge anywhere close to $600 to replace a cracked screen. I had my cracked screen replaced at the Apple Store last year for $129. Chase Freedom Unlimited (no annual fee) approved my claim for full reimbursement because I had used the card to buy the phone a couple of months earlier.
Reasons not to: takes up 5/24 slot, and putting your rent payment towards a SUB is always a better option.