Introducing Bilt Rewards (and how to earn for free)

There's another points system that has been around a few years, that honestly until this week I haven't put much time or effort into: Bilt Rewards

Bilt originally allowed you earn points a few ways: paying your rent and by linking non-Bilt credit cards to your Bilt account and then earning Bilt rewards when using those credit cards at local restaurants, pharmacies, taking a Lyft etc. There are points you can earn ON TOP OF the points you earn with the bank who issued your credit card! Best of all - it's free to use!

Like the big banks, Bilt has several travel transfer partners (airlines and hotels); most notably, Hyatt (which the only other transfer partner is Chase; this is how I use the majority of my Chase points - transferring to Hyatt), but also Southwest and United (airlines many domestic travelers frequently use).

Bilt Airline Transfer Partners (1:1 ratio)

Bilt Hotel Transfer Partners (1:1 ratio)

Bilt has been in the news a lot this week for two changes, which is what I really want to cover in this post!

Earn Points for Paying Your Mortgage

You read that correctly! Coming in Feb 2026, you will be able to pay your mortgage through a Bilt credit card to earn Bilt rewards for paying your mortgage.

More details to come, but as of right now, Bilt has said there will be three different credit cards with annual fees of $0, $95, or $495 (with varying benefits)

Bilt's website has the current details listed here as well as an email signed up to stay informed here.

Earn Points for Shopping!

I've posted about online shopping portals before, and as of today (11/6/2025), you can now claim you Rakuten rewards in the form of Bilt Rewards.

I personally decided to make this switch (I previously was earning American Express Membership Rewards), because with Bilt, I can still transfer my points to airlines, but I also can transfer to Hyatt!

How to Earn Bilt Points with Rakuten

1. Create a free Rakuten account if you don't already have one. Using my referral will earn both you and I points! (note $50 is equivalant to 5,000 points!) 

2. Create a free Bilt Rewards account using the same email address as Rakuten.

3. Sign into your Bilt account and follow the prompts (likely on your "For You" page) to link Bilt to Rakuten. Note: if your Bilt account is brand new, you'll need to likely wait 24 hours before you have the ability to link to Rakuten)

4. Just for linking your accounts, you'll get 2,500 points!

5. Shop through Rakuten and earn points! If you tend to forget to check shopping portals, Rakuten has both an app and a web browser extension that you can download, which takes the work of out remembering to use!

Keep in mind, Rakuten points are paid quarterly, so plan accordingly!

Summary

Although I'm new to Bilt (I made an account last year to try to figure out how to earn points on paying for our condo share, but honestly didn't go far when I realized I would probably need their credit card to make this work), I'm really excited to start using their points system and am saving a credit card spot in my 5/24 line up to be able to open the new Bilt 2.0 card once it comes out in Jan/Feb 2026, in order to earn points for paying our mortgage!

Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!