5 Reasons Why Paying Rent Through Bilt With a Different Card Makes Sense

Bilt Rewards has come a long way from simply being a loyalty program that rewards you for paying your rent. Today, it partners with local restaurants, Lyft, Walgreens, and other merchants to reward members when they spend money in their neighborhood.

Still, rent payments remain at the core of Bilt Rewards’ value proposition. Earlier this year, the loyalty program expanded how you earn points on rent payments.

Starting today, July 21, all rent payments charged to any third-party credit card earn 1 point per $2 spent — plus a 3% processing fee — but is it worth it?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to that question. It depends on your goals, the card you use, and how much you value points and miles. So, let’s look at this Bilt Rewards change and some strategies you can use to maximize your rent payments with Bilt.

How To Pay Rent on Bilt Rewards

As mentioned, Bilt Rewards has long allowed you to pay rent with any American Express, Visa, or Mastercard credit card in exchange for a 3% processing fee. But thanks to Bilt’s recent changes, you now earn 1 Bilt point per $2 on rent payments, regardless of the credit card you use to pay your rent.

To be clear, these Bilt Points are earned in addition to any rewards earned with your credit card.

Through Bilt’s BillPay platform, you can cover up to 3 housing-related expenses every 30 days for a single residential property — including rent, student housing, HOA dues, utilities, and internet. However, these payments must be billed directly by your property manager to qualify.

To pay rent with a third-party credit card, first, add it to your Bilt Wallet on Bilt’s website or app (iOS, Android). You can see all of the cards linked to your Bilt Rewards account and add new ones using the Instant Link feature.

To pay rent with this card, click the Pay rent tab and enter the amount to pay your landlord. Then follow the on-screen prompts to set up your payment.

Click on the credit card drop-down menu on the left side of the page to select the card you’d like to pay with. The processing fee will be reflected in your total rent payment on the right side of the screen.

Click the Authorize button and follow the prompts to complete your payment to your landlord.

Maximizing Rent Payments With Bilt Rewards

Paying a 3% processing fee on top of your rent payment can definitely sting, but there are ways to make it work in your favor. Pairing the right cards with your Bilt rent payment can help you rack up more points or get closer to your desired elite status tier.

1. Earn Welcome Offers

There are many welcome bonus offers out there to earn a ton of rewards at once. However, earning these bonus offers generally requires spending $2,000 to $5,000 over a 3- to 6-month period. Some premium cards require a higher $10,000 minimum spend (or more).

Paying your rent can help you get closer to earning your next welcome offer. The value of the bonus offer almost always offsets the 3% fee, especially when combined with the 1 Bilt Rewards point per $2 spent you earn when you pay your rent.

2. Earn a Recurring Spend Bonus Award

Further, some credit cards offer recurring spending bonuses after you spend a certain amount of money in a calendar year.

Take, for example, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant^® American Express^® Card, which grants an Earned Choice Award when you spend $60,000 on the card in a calendar year. After meeting this spending requirement, you can pick from 5 Nightly Upgrade Awards, a Free Night Award worth up to 85,000 points, 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, or a $1,000 discount on a Marriott-branded mattress.

Whether or not it’s worth paying Bilt’s processing fee to earn a spend bonus depends on how much you value the Bilt points you earn, the points you earn, and the bonus you’re chasing. Run the numbers and see if it makes sense to supplement your progress toward a spending bonus by paying rent with Bilt.

3. Earn More Transferable Points

A handful of credit cards earn more than 1 point (or mile) per $1 on all purchases. One good example is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, which earns 2 Capital One miles per $1 on all non-bonus purchases.

Let’s say you spend $3,100 monthly on rent and pay with your Capital One Venture card through Bilt Rewards, paying a $93 processing fee. You’d earn 1,550 Bilt points and 6,386 Capital One miles. Upgraded Points values Bilt points and Capital One miles at 1.8 cents per point, meaning you’d get $142.85 in value for $49.85 in profit.

However, you can get more value from your miles if you transfer them to book high-end hotel stays or business-class travel with your rewards. Again, run the numbers before you pay the processing fee to see if it’s worthwhile for your situation.

4. Earn Hotel Elite Status

Paying rent with a credit card can also help you earn hotel elite status. You may not be able to fully spend your way to elite status by paying rent, but paying rent with the right card can help you supplement your earnings.

For instance, The World of Hyatt Card earns 2 elite nights every time you spend $5,000 on the card. Plus, you can earn a Category 1-4 free night certificate when you spend $15,000 on the card in a calendar year.

Let’s say your rent is $3,100 a month, and you pay your rent 6 times with the World of Hyatt card through Bilt. You’d spend $18,600 on rent and $558 in processing fees, earning 9,300 Bilt points and 19,158 World of Hyatt points.

Upgraded Points values Bilt points at 1.8 cents per point and Hyatt points at 1.5 cents per point, giving you $454.77 in rewards value. This doesn’t quite cover the 3% processing fee, but you’d also earn 6 elite night credits and a free night certificate, pushing you closer to your desired Hyatt elite status tier.

If this is enough to help you earn top-tier Globalist status, it could be well worth paying the processing fee thanks to its benefits, like complimentary breakfast and room upgrades.

5. Earn Airline Elite Status

The same thought process applies to airline status. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and most other U.S. airlines let you earn your way toward elite status by spending on their respective co-branded credit cards. Each program does this differently, but I’ll use Delta as an example.

The Delta SkyMiles^® Reserve American Express Card earns 1 Delta SkyMiles per $1 on most purchases, so using the example above, you’d earn 9,300 Bilt points and 19,158 SkyMiles on 6 rent payments of $3,100. We value Delta SkyMiles at 1.2 cents per mile, meaning you’d get $397.30 in rewards value from your rent payments. This is $160.70 less than the processing fee.

However, the card also earns 1 Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) per $10 spent on the card, putting an additional 1,916 MQDs in your account. If this gets you the MQDs you need to qualify for a higher tier of Delta status, it might be worth the lower return on redeemable SkyMiles.

Again, whether or not this is worth it depends on how much you value Delta elite status and how close you are to the next status tier. If the MQDs won’t help you upgrade or maintain your status, it probably isn’t worth it for SkyMiles alone.

Final Thoughts

Starting July 21, 2025, renters earn 1 Bilt Rewards point per $2 when paying their rent with Bilt in exchange for a 3% processing fee. This is in addition to points earned with the credit card used to pay, opening up interesting points-earning opportunities for renters.

You can use the changes to earn more points on your rent payments, get closer to a welcome offer, or progress toward airline or hotel elite status. Whatever you decide to do, be sure to run the numbers first. The 3% processing fee can add up over time, so you should ensure you come ahead.