Bilt Overhauls Elite Program; Adds Benefits but Increases Requirements

The 2022-2023 Bilt Rewards Elite Status Tiers and Benefits

You probably didn’t even realize it until a few months ago, but Bilt Rewards, the program that lets you earn points for paying your rent without any credit card fees, has upped it’s game when it comes to rewarding status.

Since inception, 2.5 years ago, they have had 3 elite tiers: Silver, Gold, and Platinum and you earn them at 25,000, 50,000 and 100,000 Bilt points earned, in any way (including rent) but excluding refer a friend points. 

Until the last 6 months or so, even top tier elite status didn’t mean much. Bilt’s reward for Platinum status earned in 2022 was a coffee table book in early 2023.

But over the last 6 months they have rolled out meaningful reasons to strive for Gold and Platinum status, namely exclusive events (first dibs!) and tier transfer bonuses with Gold getting a 100% transfer bonus and Platinum getting a whopping 150% bonus (which translated to 2,500 points in the partner program for just 1,000 Bilt points. (Yes, we all wish they would have a transfer bonus to Hyatt and no, don’t get your hopes up!)

The 2024 Bilt Rewards Elite Status Tiers and Benefits

Well, now that Bilt started getting serious about delivering real value for status and also has increased the number of ways you can earn Bilt points (like Bilt Dining), they’ve decided to to an overhaul that aligns the two. You can’t give away so much if it’s too easy to earn Platinum, can you

So the overhaul will look like this:

What Now Counts for Elite Spend

• Bilt Mastercard spend
• Spend on SoulCycle classes booked in the Bilt app and at Bilt Dining restaurants with any card linked in your Bilt Wallet
• Spend on Lyft rideshare when Bilt is set as your rewards partner in the Lyft app
• Spend in the Bilt Travel Portal

(Still not via refer-a-friend bonuses)

New Benefits

• New “yet to be revealed” benefits
• Milestone Rewards: Every 25,000 points you earn will unlock special rewards as you work your way towards elite status. 

New Tier Requirements

In order to reach status, the following points OR spend is required to be earned from January 1 – December 31, 2024:

I get why Bilt has to do this, though it won’t work in my favor. I’ve earned Platinum (100,000 points) in both 2022 and 2023.

However, I won’t likely earn 200,000 points in 2024, nor will I likely spend $50,000 on the card. In fact, I’ll probably qualify for Gold both ways and Platinum in neither way. I don’t know my exact spend as Wells Fargo doesn’t seem to make YTD spend available, but I’d guess it’s about $35,000. And my points YTD are going to end up around 145,000, so I’d be shy there as well.

Of course, depending on just how good the Platinum perks are, in theory I could divert that last tranche of spend.

Still, Gold has thus far been a pretty solid tier and if that’s where I land, that’s where I land.

Bilt points out that for a majority of customers, the new spend option will actually make it easier to hit the next status level, and that is probably true. The winners here will be those that spend more on the credit card while the losers will be those that primarily earn points from rent and Rent Day 2X spend (2X points on the first of each month up to $10,000). 

So how will this affect you? Are you a heavy Bilt Mastercard user outside of paying rent?

Apply for the Bilt Mastercard and finally pay your rent on a credit card without any transaction fees – while earning points!

Thoughts?

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