topic Re: BILT card in Credit Cards

BILT card

red259 — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 07:05:27 GMT

Anyone have the BILT credit card? Opinions on it? I have a decent sized monthly rent payment and would love to earn points on it. My landlord doesn't take credit cards but my understanding is BILT will mail out a paper check to the landlord? The card looks interesting and I am mainly interested in it so I can earn points off my rent spend without going through third party vendors like plastiq that charge an arm and a leg. Any feedback is appreciated. Seems like a couple of the travel partners I use somewhat frequently with points from other sources so this would be a nice supplement.

Re: BILT card

creditrizz — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 07:38:46 GMT

It's one of the best credit cards without a fee IMO, and even better than some that have fees. Lots of travel insurance perks, solid transfer partners and point bonus categories which makes it function similar to chase sapphire preferred. Solid online booking portal that comes with point.me for free. It's almost too good to be true even before you remember that you can charge rent and in some cases mortgages to it for free as well!

Re: BILT card

Anonymous_CC_Rewards — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 12:49:26 GMT

Since you rent and they have transfer partners you'll use, get it. The only reason not to get the card would be that you respect or fear (depends on the PoV) Chase's 5/24 rule and your're at 4/24.

Just a reminder, you have to make 5 purchases on the card outside of rent payments to get the points. If you want to easily optimize, make the bilt card the default payment for your auto and or renters insurance. You can also prepay your static "small" bills like phone & internet on "rent day".

Re: BILT card

red259 — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 06:01:23 GMT

@Anonymous_CC_Rewards wrote:
Since you rent and they have transfer partners you'll use, get it. The only reason not to get the card would be that you respect or fear (depends on the PoV) Chase's 5/24 rule and your're at 4/24.

Just a reminder, you have to make 5 purchases on the card outside of rent payments to get the points. If you want to easily optimize, make the bilt card the default payment for your auto and or renters insurance. You can also prepay your static "small" bills like phone & internet on "rent day".

I have soo many Chase cards that I guess going 5/24 isn't the end of the world unless Chase is about to release a new product that i am unaware of.

Re: BILT card

Gregory1776 — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 07:35:50 GMT

Thanks for the post. If I may add a unsolicited question to it; although on topic: how does it work making sure the check gets mailed and gets to landlord on the first? or before. And charging the rent on the first? Don't want to be "late" on rent -$150. Do you know if the check states BILT etc, or is it Wells Fargo?

my new landlord wants to shove me into using his online rent payment which I'm not doing with any enthusiasm as he cannot take care of his bloody property.

Re: BILT card

creditrizz — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 08:09:10 GMT

Haven't used the check option, I just generate the routing/ach and enter it as a bank account

Re: BILT card

narcan04 — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 09:24:05 GMT

You can set when the check cuts and allow for transit time in the mail. The system will tell you if it estimates your check won't get there by the first. I have mine set to charge/cut the check midmonth.

The check just says Wells Fargo. I have it sent to me so I can hand deliver directly to my landlord since he's old school. It also helps me to not worry if it got lost in the mail.

Bilt will send you a reminder on the 2nd-4th if your check has not been cashed yet so you can confirm with the landlord.

Re: BILT card

okurosetta — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 02:44:58 GMT

I have the card and like it a lot overall. As far as rent payments, if your landlord's online portal allows inputting ACH information (routing/account numbers), then that is definitely easier / much faster than having them send a check. P2 and I are temporarily renting and that's what we've been doing, no issues at all.

There is the five purchases per cycle thing, but that may not be an issue for you. I enjoy using the card on Rent Day (double points on the 1st), tend to get 2-4 purchases on that day alone. 6X on dining and 2X on non-category is pretty great (also 4X on travel but don't really use that).

Outside of Rent Day, 3X on dining still isn't bad, solidly beats most other cards I have outside of Custom Cash, which has a cap. So if I put a few other dining purchases on it, I usually hit the five purchases without trying.

They also occasionally throw out bonuses, like around Black Friday they were offering double points on 1X purchases. And there are sometimes transfer bonuses on Rent Day, which can have much higher multipliers than most transfer bonuses.

For some people, the idea of bonuses coming on specific days is the opposite of what they are looking for - but for other people, it adds to the fun, another tool to use to extract a bit more value here and there. I solidly fall into the latter camp, so I enjoy it quite a bit!

Re: BILT card

DaWhole9 — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 16:08:36 GMT

I have it and use it for rent, a no brainer as you get cash back for paying rent, and also some cool travel perks. I got a healthy $30k SL. Ni complaints at all.

Re: BILT card

CreditCuriosity — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 17:09:00 GMT

This article got me looking athough in theory you should not be able to pay your mortgage with credit card many are able to and list of lenders that allow it and my mortgage is with one of those lenders. This thread has just got a lot more interesting as never knew they gave you an ach/acct # associated with the card. Free money is free money up to $100k on spend per year which my mortgage payments are certainly not that but certainly not chump change and free $ back.

So whom who reading this thread actually pays their mortgage vs apartment using the BILT card?

Re: BILT card

12njoy — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 19:54:37 GMT

@CreditCuriosity

I could be wrong but I believe I read somewhere on the BILT site that you could not make mortgage payments. OP, It's a great card, I have a 25k limit.

Re: BILT card

CreditCuriosity — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 20:19:34 GMT

@12njoy correct per website says no but reddit says otherwise with many DP's.. If I can do my 3k mortgage @ 1% it is just free money each month/year then transfer out to Hyatt is my thoughts. If they ever crack down points would be transferred out every once in awhile is how i see it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/comments/1b8b9ox/bilt_credit_card_for_mortgages/?sort=new

Re: BILT card

12njoy — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 20:47:18 GMT

@CreditCuriosity wrote:
@12njoy correct per website says no but reddit says otherwise with many DP's.. If I can do my 3k mortgage @ 1% it is just free money each month/year then transfer out to Hyatt is my thoughts. If they ever crack down points would be transferred out every once in awhile is how i see it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/comments/1b8b9ox/bilt_credit_card_for_mortgages/?sort=new

Thanks CC. I did read that as well. I would be concerned that they may shut the card down for misuse. Not saying it would happen but that would be my concern.

Re: BILT card

salt_water_swimming — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 21:15:46 GMT

@12njoy wrote:
@CreditCuriosity wrote:
@12njoy correct per website says no but reddit says otherwise with many DP's.. If I can do my 3k mortgage @ 1% it is just free money each month/year then transfer out to Hyatt is my thoughts. If they ever crack down points would be transferred out every once in awhile is how i see it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/comments/1b8b9ox/bilt_credit_card_for_mortgages/?sort=new
Thanks CC. I did read that as well. I would be concerned that they may shut the card down for misuse. Not saying it would happen but that would be my concern.

To be fair, if you don't rent then the card is not great anyway. If you can sneak a few mortgage payments on it before they shut it down, that's not a bad return

Re: BILT card

Gregory1776 — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 21:50:04 GMT

@DaWhole9 wrote:
I have it and use it for rent, a no brainer as you get cash back for paying rent, and also some cool travel perks. I got a healthy $30k SL. Ni complaints at all.

Awesome SL! Do you have any other WF accounts? What are some of your other CLs? I am considering it, and already have a 25K limit with WF.

Re: BILT card

Pppoolboy — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 07:08:31 GMT

The phrase "transfer partners" always makes me soil my shorts but, then again, I hate traveling.

Just be sure to do the math before you apply.

Re: BILT card

red259 — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 00:35:14 GMT

@Pppoolboy wrote:
The phrase "transfer partners" always makes me soil my shorts but, then again, I hate traveling.

Just be sure to do the math before you apply.

I'm big into transferring to travel partners. I went ahead and picked up a BILT card so will be interesting to see how it works out with my other cards.

Re: BILT card

12njoy — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 00:40:22 GMT

@Pppoolboy wrote:
The phrase "transfer partners" always makes me soil my shorts but, then again, I hate traveling.

Just be sure to do the math before you apply.

I cashed in my BILT reward points to the tune of $200 - $300. I forget the exact amount but it was 71,000 points. Buyers remorse on that (point redemption). I recently got approved for the Virgin Red Rewards card and they have a partnership with BILT whereas the points transfer rate is 1:1. Well nothing I can do about that now

Re: BILT card

red259 — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 19:28:17 GMT

Just an update. I've been using my Bilt card to pay my rent via the app. They send the check to my landlord. No problems soo far. I'm rather pleased with this since I am earning travel partner points on rent. We will see how it looks at the end of the year and the types of redemptions I am able to workout. Still some money back is better than no money back.

Re: BILT card

salt_water_swimming — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 19:50:03 GMT

I got 62,500 points from maxxing out the 5x/5 days promo and was able to transfer them to Hyatt. Supplemented with a UR transfer and booked at a nearly 4cpp valuation. That's not a typical redemption value (2.2x is more average) but it made the Bilt points portion worth $2,500. Not bad for $12,500 spend considering I hadn't even paid rent, the main draw of the card, with it yet.

Great card.