Bilt Mastercard World Elite
Max Your Plastic Credit Card Review
Craig Turck
3/5/20254 min read
Introduction:
This is my first review. I wanted to start with the Bilt Mastercard World Elite card because it is apparently the most innovative, and misunderstood, card available today. My immediate reaction to the card, similar to those I’ve heard when discussing it with others, was:
“My landlord doesn’t accept credit cards, so this isn’t for me.”
If you pay rent, it IS for you, because this card has solved the landlord vs. credit cards issue. In short, Bilt has waived the transaction fee for rent payments. Even if you don’t pay rent, this card may still be for you based on the other benefits it offers.
The Bilt card also offers additional unique benefits I have not seen with any other card. I’ll list them all here, then look at each in more detail.
Annual Fee:
$0
Sign Up Bonus:
Nothing published. However, Bilt has provided cardholders a unique offer of 5x points on everything they spend (excluding rent) for 5 days, beginning the day the arrival of the card is confirmed, with a cap of 50,000 bonus points. This offer comes in the form of an email. If you have a significant upcoming expense, timing the receipt of this card could be quite beneficial. Since the offer is not published, you may not receive it.
Key Benefits
1x points on rent
3x points at restaurants, plus 5x+ points at Bilt Neighborhood Dining Partners
5x points on Lyft ridesharde
3x+ points at fitness classes
Linked credit cards
BiltProtect
Rent Day
Travel partners
Detail
1x points on rent
When the Bilt card was launched, Founder Ankur Jain set out to solve a problem – how to turn our biggest expense, housing, into meaningful rewards. He has done this with rent, with cardholders earning 1 point per dollar of rent spend. These are points you can’t earn with any other card, and it costs you nothing.
See article Bilt Mastercard – How It Works for detail on this.
There is a catch, however. To earn the rent points each month, you must use your card for at least 5 additional transactions not related to rent. This seems reasonable; since the transaction fee for rent has been waived, income must be generated through other transactions with fees.
3x points at Restaurants, plus 5x+ points at Bilt Neighborhood Dining Partners
Since Bilt has waived the transaction fee for rent payments, they are enticing cardholders to conduct other transactions with the card. 3x points at all restaurants is pretty darn good. They have also partnered with restaurants across the country, and together they offer an additional 2x+ points. I looked at these for my neighborhood, and found that most offer 3x points. I found a few at which my family frequently dines, so at those restaurants, we’re earning 6x points for every dollar spent.
5x points on Lyft Ridesharde
Bilt gives 2x points simply for linking your card with Lyft. This is automatically done with your phone number.
To get the full 5x points, you need to add your card as a form of payment, and pay for the ride with it. This earns 3x points on top of the 2x points for linking your card.
3x+ points at Fitness Classes
As part of your neighborhood benefits, Bilt offers up to 3x+ points on local fitness classes. This means you’ll receive up to 4x points, along with complimentary add-ons, for getting healthy.
BiltProtect
Bilt provides the opportunity to link bank accounts with your BILT account. This enables Bilt to pull funds from a bank account of your choice to pay for rent, leaving your full credit line available for everything else.
See article Bilt Mastercard – How It Works for detail on this.
Linked Credit Cards
You can also link other credit cards to your Bilt account, enabling you to stack Bilt benefits on top of your usual card benefits.
See article Bilt Mastercard – How It Works for detail on this.
Rent Day
Innovative and fun, Rent Day occurs the first day of every month, and brings with it special deals.
Each month, at a minimum, Bilt doubles the points earnings that day on dining (6x), travel (4x) and all other spend, excluding rent (2x), along with specials for that month.
Travel Partners
Bilt has one of the richest travel partner networks, giving excellent flexibility in transferring points to the partner(s) of your choice:
Additional Benefits
In addition to the benefits described above, Bilt also offers 2x points on travel booked directly with airlines, hotels, and rental car agencies; 2x points on Wallgreens brand spend; trip delay reimbursement; cellular telephone protection; no foreign transaction fees; status enhancements and milestone rewards based on spend/points, and more.
Is the Bilt Mastercard worth it?
The Bilt Mastercard has no annual fee, unlocks point earnings on rent pay, and has introduced innovative ways to earn 5x points on Lyft rides, 3x points at all restaurants and up to 6x points at partner restaurants. The sign up bonus is not great, but in my opinion it doesn’t have to be, because the other benefits are excellent.
Max Your Plastic Bilt Mastercard Rating:
