the Jebba Journal: Tenth Edition

A new credit card that earns points from paying rent

In my last newsletter, I mentioned transferring points from my Bilt credit card to Alaska for one of my flights to Cabo, but I’m guessing most people have never heard of Bilt. This is a relatively new credit card company that’s backed by Wells Fargo and allows you to earn points by paying rent (and on everyday spend too). This Edition will go over everything you need to know about the card, why I use it, and who should consider getting one.

The Basics

Let’s start off with the quick facts about this card:

• It has a $0 annual fee, so it’s free to open and keep indefinitely

• Earning rates -

  • 1 point per $ spent on Rent and everything else not listed below

  • 2 points per $ spent on Travel

  • 3 points per $ spent on Dining

  • 5 points per $ spent on Lyft

• No foreign transaction fees (FTF)

• 16 points transfer partners, including Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, and Hyatt Hotels

On paper (and in reality) this card is very enticing. For comparison, the Chase Sapphire Preferred, one of my favorite points starter cards, has these same benefits (2x and 3x points on travel and dining respectively, ability to transfer points to partners, no FTF), but it has an annual fee of $95 per year. The big difference is that the Sapphire Preferred has a sign-up bonus worth at least $600 (and potentially much more if you utilize transfer partners), whereas the Bilt card almost never has a sign-up bonus.

How Does Paying Rent Work

“Paying rent with a credit card? What the hell are you talking about my landlord won’t take a credit card!” That’s exactly what I thought too, but Bilt is BUILT different (sorry, sorry, I’ll show myself out now). When you open the Bilt card, yes you will get a physical credit card with it’s own number you can use anywhere, but you’ll also get a separate Routing number and Account number, much like a checking or savings account.

If your landlord makes you pay rent through a portal, chances are you pay via e-check or an EFT using your checking/savings Routing and Account numbers. Instead of using your checking account, you just put in the Routing/Account numbers from your Bilt account and guess what, you just paid rent on your credit card! Except the difference from using any other credit card is you didn’t have to pay crazy high transaction fees. The charge shows up on your credit card statement like any other charge would and you pay it off when your statement closes.

“What if my landlord makes me pay through Venmo/PayPal?” Well, it’s essentially the same process as above. On Venmo or PayPal you just click “add a bank account” and use your Bilt Routing & Account numbers and it will show up as if it were a checking account.

I know it sounds like scam, but this is all perfectly kosher. Bilt even has instructions on how to do this. Venmo has Bilt listed on their “link a bank through Plaid” settings. You can also see that choosing “Bilt Rewards Personal Checking” as a payment option on Venmo after linking your account doesn’t have a fee associated, unlike a credit card which will have a 3% fee to use. Unfortunately, there is no way to use Bilt if you have to pay through Zelle.

Bilt listed as a bank option when linking with Plaid and Bilt showing up as a "bank" when choosing a payment method through Venmo

“What if my landlord only accepts a physical check?” Bilt will actually mail a check on your behalf to your landlord, although I strongly recommend against this. Not because I think it’s sketchy or anything, but I’m personally too paranoid a check will get lost in the mail and then I’ll be on the hook for any late fees for not paying rent on time. Of course, your risk tolerance might be different than mine.

Secondary Benefits

Tons of cards these days have secondary benefits that I find incredibly useful, like the return and purchase protection on my Amex Platinum. Typically though, these benefits are found on cards with an annual fee. Bilt offers a few solid secondary benefits without an annual fee.

• $800 Cell Phone Protection: if you pay your monthly cell phone carrier bill with your Bilt card, you can get reimbursed up to $800 if you damage your phone or if it’s stolen

• $10,000 Purchase Protection: any items purchased using your card are covered from theft and damage, up to 90 days from purchase date, up to $10,000 per claim

• Trip Delay and Trip Cancellation benefits

• Rental Car Collision Damage Waiver: covers damages due to collision or theft of a rental car

For me, the Purchase Protection and Cell Phone Protection stand out the most. I’d imagine these might be difficult claims to make since insurance companies do their best to not have to pay out, but it’s nice to know you can potentially get reimbursed if you’re covered under their very specific terms.

Transfer Partners

Bilt has partnered with 16 different Airline and Hotel programs, allowing you to transfer your points directly to those programs. I’ve talked before about why transferrable points are so valuable, and Bilt is one of the very few cards that can transfer points to partners with a $0 annual fee. Their full list of transfer partners can be found here.

For those of you mostly interested in domestic travel, you can transfer points to Alaska Airlines and United Airlines. As far as I know, this is the only credit card that can transfer points directly to Alaska (besides the Alaska Airlines specific credit cards that ONLY earn Alaska miles). If you're after hotel stays, Hyatt is probably your best bet and offers outstanding value compared to Marriott, Hilton, and IHG.

The Hyatt Andaz in Amsterdam

For international travel, I have used both Air France/KLM Flying Blue and Iberia (both transfer partners on Bilt) to get myself (and my parents) to Europe. While it will take awhile to earn enough points for an international flight using only points, its certainly possible, especially if your rent is very expensive like mine. In fact if I used my Bilt card solely for rent and no other purchases, it would take me 12 months to pay for a roundtrip flight to Paris or Amsterdam from San Francisco on points (not including mandatory taxes and fees that have to be paid with cash). I have to pay rent anyway, might as well get the option for a **free** international flight every year!

Business class on KLM, my first international business class flight from AMS to SFO

What’s The Catch?

Well, there really isn’t one, at least not yet. In order to get the points you earn from paying rent, you need a minimum of 5 transactions charged to the credit card per statement period. Even though using your Bilt account to pay rent won’t incur fees by you or your landlord, someone is paying for it, and that someone is Bilt/Wells Fargo. To recoup some of that cost, they want you to use your card as a normal credit card as much as possible so they can get the transaction fees from everyday purchases.

You also absolutely cannot use the Account/Routing numbers for other bills that don’t accept credit cards, like utility bills, as this will get your account flagged and shut down for abuse.

Their business model makes me wonder if this is sustainable, or if the card benefits will change once they acquire more customers. There are were rumors that Wells Fargo has declined to extend their contract with Bilt after 2029, but apparently both Bilt and Wells Fargo have denied the partnership is in jeopardy.

Still, credit card benefits change all the time, so it’s reasonable to assume there might be changes to the card within a few years. While I can only speculate, it wouldn’t surprise me to see them implement a 10+ transactions per month requirement to earn points on rent, or maybe charging a small annual fee. I doubt they would take away the ability to pay rent without a fee though, as their whole shtick is being the only credit card that allows this. Despite my pessimism, I wouldn’t hesitate to open this card right now if you think it’s right for you.

So, Who Should Get This

Do you pay rent via payment portal, Venmo, or PayPal? Do you want to use points to help you travel? Then this card is probably for you. Even if you don’t pay rent, this is still a very enticing card given it’s earning structure on travel and dining, travel partners (and damn good ones, too), and no FTF, all with no annual fee.

That being said, if this is your first travel-based credit card, I’d probably recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred, if you can meet the minimum spend requirement for the sign-up bonus. Yes it has a $95 annual fee, but if you can get the initial bonus of 60,000 points, at a minimum you can redeem those points for $600 cash, or $750 towards travel booked through their portal.

If you already have a one or even several travel-based cards or can’t meet the minimum spend of the Sapphire Preferred, then you can’t go wrong with Bilt given the earning potential. If you do want to open up the card be sure to use my referral link! And if you have questions about any of this, feel free to email me or leave a comment below.

Disclaimer: This post contains personal referral links to credit cards.