Bilt: My Take

I signed up and received the Bilt sign-up bonus after spending $5,000. The sign-up bonus was $300 in Bilt Cash and 50,000 points. This also earned me Gold status until January 2028.

The first year math is pretty easy: the semi-annual $200 Hotel Credit, the 50K points, and the 2X everywhere outweigh the $495 annual fee. The other benefits, including getting points on Mortgages and the monthly use of Bilt Cash, made it even more compelling.

I didn’t have any problems setting up my mortgage payment. I simply changed the ACH information on my mortgage payment settings to the Bilt ACH, and it worked the first month and every month after that. I did the same for my HOA payment.

I’ve been using the Bilt card’s 2X everywhere for non-bonus spend. I’m still using my Amex Gold for Grocery & Restaurants, and my US Bank Cash+ cards for utilities. I’m auto-paying all of my insurance bills with Bilt. I just wish it was a Visa so I could use it at Costco!

With all of the above, I’m generating enough Bilt cash to fund my mortgage, HOA and a few monthly credits.

I used the first half year's $200 credit to book my hotel for the Travel Points Conference in October in Chicago (let me know if you are going!). I used $100 of Bilt Cash and was out of pocket about $10. That’s in contrast to paying all of that out of pocket, even with the Conference discount rate. So I saved $300 right there.

I’ve done the monthly Walgreens $10 Gift Card, and was able to use it after a few missteps. I have a Walgreens close by. The cashier rang up my basket, and then I had her scan the UPC on the Gift Card, which I had loaded into my Apple Wallet. There was still a $1+ left, and the manager gave me cash for what was left. Really pretty simple.

As I mentioned above, I also have the Amex Gold card, which has a monthly $10 Dining Credit. I had been using it at Five Guys, but now I’m stacking it with the Bilt $10 GrubHub monthly credit. It’s widely reported that this “credit” was a gift card, and now it’s a promotional code. The big difference is that gift cards don’t expire, and promotional codes do. But my Amex Dining Credit is only good for that month, too, so it aligns with the Bilt credit. So I have a $20 credit every month to use on Grubhub. That works well for me, as we have a Thai restaurant we like, GrubHub doesn’t charge a delivery fee for orders over $50, and our regular order is just slightly over $50.

I haven’t done a transfer bonus yet, and hope I haven’t missed a window of opportunity. The JAL transfer bonus did not have a cap on the number of points you could transfer, but the Avios transfer for May & TAP Portugal for June were both capped. Transfer bonuses are a huge advantage of the Bilt card as the bonuses can go up to 125%, meaning if you transfer 100K points, you’ll end up with 225K points in the transfer partner. The Transfer bonus varies based on your status. My Gold status gives me 75% transfer bonus, and Platinum is 100%. As Gold, I have the option to use Bilt Cash to buy up to 100%, whereas Platinum status can buy up to 125%.

I need to utilize a transfer bonus to maximize the value of the Bilt card. If I don’t, then I’m still getting 2X everywhere plus the other benefits. But the transfer bonus would make the value super-sized! And justify keeping the card another year.

Bilt Cash expires at the end of the year, and I need Bilt Cash to get points on my mortgage. It’s almost like the card completely resets at the beginning of each year, but I don’t get a sign-up bonus. This is the one major negative of the card, and it's strange that they do this.

Overall, the ability to earn points on my mortgage, 2X or 3X everywhere, and the credits make this a keeper for me.

If you decide to apply for the Bilt card too, here’s my referral link (thanks in advance!).