If you have Mastercard® Credit Card (see prices and fees), you may be familiar with at least one month Bilt Rental Date promotion. After all, cardholders will earn double Bilt Points on non-rent purchases on the first day of each month as long as they use their card at least five times per statement period (see rewards and benefits).
This means Bilt card members will earn the following amount on purchases during each Rental Day:
- Eat and drink: 6 points per dollar
- Tourism: 4 points per dollar
- Other purchases (excluding rent): 2 points per dollar
- Rent: 1 point per dollar (up to 100,000 points in a calendar year)
Currently, cardholders can earn up to 10,000 bonus points on purchases made with their Bilt Mastercard each Rent Day. However, starting October 1, Bilt Rewards is reducing the number of bonus points you can earn per Rent Day through the double bonus points promotion to just 1,000. You can see this change in Terms for August Rent:
“Effective January 10, 2024, the maximum number of bonus points you can earn under this promotion will be 1,000 points per month regardless of how much you purchase.”
Starting October 1, you can take advantage of double your points by spending just $334 on dining during each Rental Day.
TPG credit card editor and Bilt Mastercard cardholder Emily Thompson disappointed about this upcoming change, noting: “I use Rent Day to top up my dining apps, like Starbucks, to earn 6 points per dollar on purchases. I also take advantage of Bilt rewards when I’m at Bilt restaurants or take SoulCycle classes when I’m in NYC. The new 1,000-point bonus cap will mean I need to be strategic about how I leverage my bonus earning opportunities each month. For example, instead of topping up all my dining apps, I might just do a few and use them American Express® Gold Card to earn 4 Membership Rewards points per dollar* spent on the rest of my meals.”
With the Amex Gold card, cardholders will earn 4 points for the first $50,000 spent at restaurants, then 1 point for every additional dollar spent.*
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A Bilt Rewards spokesperson provided the following statement to TPG about the upcoming changes: “Here’s the context for the change: Less than 2% of members exceed 1,000 bonus points on Rent Day. By making this update, we can fund the full base points [plus] all rewards points to 98% of our members while allowing us to invest in new Hire Day benefits like transfer bonus and Rental Day experience. We know there is no perfect solution, but we want to make sure we deliver the most value to as many members as possible.”
Related: 6 Reasons I Love My Bilt Mastercard When Renting in America’s Most Expensive City
Richard Kerr, vice president of travel at Bilt Rewards, went to X on the weekend with the same message.
Interestingly, less than 2% of Bilt Rewards cardholders—TPG confirmed with Bilt that this statistic refers to cardholders, not the total number of Bilt members—earn more than 1,000 points through the double bonus points promotion on any given Rent Day. That could indicate that less than 2% of cardholders are maximizing the rewards they earn by saving up for their Rent Day purchases and prepaying for future expenses on Rent Day.
If you’re one of the less than 2% of Bilt cardholders who regularly earn more than 1,000 bonus points through the double bonus points promotion on Rent Day, you’ll want to do what Emily suggests: Be strategic and review the bonus categories on all your cards. Then, choose which purchases to make on Rent Day with your Bilt Mastercard, focusing on purchases that would otherwise be hard to earn bonus points on.
View Bilt Mastercard rates and fees This.
View Bilt Mastercard rewards and benefits This.
