Should I get the Bilt Mastercard?
- Money&Travel
- Jun 11, 2022
- 3 min read
If you want to earn rewards while paying your rent with No Fees, this card is for you.
According to recent data, average monthly expenses per household is around $5,111 ($61,334 per year). Housing is the largest category of spending and accounts for approximately 35% of total monthly spending. Approximately $1,784 per month or $21,408 per year.
Renters account for approximately one third of households. Traditional methods of payment include checks, cash and money orders. Multiple electronic methods of payment are available, including ACH electronic transfer, Venmo, Zelle, Apple Pay, Square. However they are not always accepted by landlords and some will impose an additional fee, especially if you are trying to make payments using your credit card.
Bilt Mastercard, a product of Wells Fargo provides a unique solution. This card allows you to pay your monthly rent electronically with No Fees, even if your landlord does not accept electronic payments, you are still able to use this card to generate a check and have it mailed to your landlord. But that is not all, you are also able to earn rewards while paying your monthly rent and this card has no annual fee.
How do I earn rewards?
When you make at least 5 transactions in a statement period using your Bilt Mastercard, you'll earn points on rent and other expenses.
1x points on rent, up to a maximum of 50,000 points per year
2x points on travel (airlines, hotels, Airbnb/VRBO, cruise lines, car rental,
rideshares, toll bridges, parking lots)
3x points on dining
1x points on everything else
How much can I earn?
The number of points you are able to earn will depend on your typical spending. Using this card will allow you to earn points on your monthly, which usually is not possible without paying extra fees. Paying your cell phone bill with this card may be reasonable as it provides cell phone protection. Other cards may provide bigger number of points on categories like Travel and Dining, however you still earn reasonable number of points on some categories (like toll, bridges, parking, rideshares). Consider using MaxRewards App to compare different cards on your wallet and maximize your earnings. Here an example of how many points you may be able to earn in a year.
| Monthly Expense | Montly points | Annual points |
Rent | $1,500 | 1,500 | 18,000 |
Travel | $200 | 400 | 4,800 |
Dinning | $400 | 1,200 | 14,400 |
Others | $400 | 400 | 4,800 |
| $2,500 | 3,500 | 42,000 |
| | | |
How to use my points?
This card allows you to transfer your points to multiple hotel and airline partners with transfer rate of 1:1. Transfer partners include, but not limited to:
Air France - KLM
American AAdvantage
Emirates Skywards
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
United MileagePlus
World of Hyatt
Some of the transfer partners are unique, like American AAdvantage. World of Hyatt is transfer partner on some Chase credit cards but not on Citi or Amex products.
How to best utilize your points will depend on your preference, but there is chance to get good value from your points if you plan it carefully. For example you could fly to Hawaii from the East Coast using 15,000 miles on Turkish Airlines, or book an all inclusive hotel in the Caribbean using 21,000 World of Hyatt points.
Other benefits of Bilt Mastercard
Cell Phone Protection. When cell phone bill is paid with your Bilt Mastercard, you could get reimbursed for damage to or theft of a cell phone. Reimbursement is limited to repair or replacement of your cell phone, less a $25 deductible, with benefit limit of $800 and maximum of two paid claims per 12 month period.
Purchase Protection. In the event of theft or damage of item purchased entirely with your Bilt Mastercard, within 90 days of purchase.
Primary Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver.
Trip cancellation & interruption.
Trip delay reimbursement.
Mastercard ID Theft Protection.
Refer to Wells Fargo Bilt World Elite Mastercard Credit Card Guide to Benefits for details.
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