Card 11 — Bilt Rewards
In all honesty, after 10 cards I was really happy with my setup and the system was running itself. However, I recently learned about a new product and decided to give it a chance. Its unlike anything I’ve gotten before, and covers my biggest expense every month — that’s right, its a rewards card for rent.
Towards the end of March, Bilt partnered with Wells Fargo and launched the Bilt Rewards Credit Card. Many of you know my opinions of Wells Fargo, but this product is unique and I decided to give it a chance.
What is the Bilt Card?
To start with, let’s go over the features of the card.
The primary feature of the card is earning Bilt points on rent payments. You earn 1X points on rent payments up to 50,000 points each calendar year.
Additionally it earns 2X on travel and 3X on dining. Also, you need to have 5 transactions minimum every statement period in order to actually earn Bilt points from rent.
Bilt also has some features that set it apart from traditional neobank cards. They have about a dozen travel partners, including Hyatt and United, which means you can earn points in different currencies (Chase UR, Amex MR, etc) and pool them together.
I’m not sure what the value of Bilt points are yet, TPG values them at 1.8 cents/point, which is arguable, but I’ll let you know as I use the card.
Why’d I Get It?
Rent is my largest expense every month, and unfortunately there hasn’t been a way to capitalize on the payment before. Bilt has a $0 annual fee, and if Bilt works as expected, then I’ll be able to earn an additional 50,000 points at no additional cost or effort. Plus I can transfer to the points to travel partners I already use, so it seamlessly integrates with my system.
User Onboarding
It’s very clear that the Bilt Mastercard is a very new product. Setting up the account was a bit frustrating because the Wells Fargo system and the Bilt systems aren’t properly communicating. For example, I was instantly approved, received the physical card, and verified it; however, I had to contact support to actually use the app. Support realized there was an issue with my account and quickly fixed the problem. (I’m confident that these issues will be cleaned up as the product matures.)
Once everything was fixed, I tried setting up rent payments, and noticed a problem. Bilt supports rent payments through 2 methods: Payment Portals and Mail. In the Bilt FAQs they say they support ACH, but its really ACH through a payment portal. I pay rent by doing an ACH transfer from my bank account to my landlord’s, so unfortunately this isn’t supported yet. I’m not sure when they will add this feature, but till then I won’t be getting value from the card. However, I think it’s still a great addition to anyone’s wallet because there’s tremendous value if you’re able to use it.
The other aspect of this card to consider is Wells Fargo. Personally, I’m not a fan of the bank given their history, and have stayed away from their products. As part of signing up for the card, I created an account with WF. It’s necessary for any advanced card management such as locking it if its stolen. And my god, of all the banks, the user experience is the worst both on web and mobile. Thankfully I won’t be using it much since 99% can be done through the Bilt Rewards app.
Shameless Plug
If you decide to get the card, use my referral.
