What Can I Use the BILT Mastercard For BESIDES Rent? (Utilities and More!)
The BILT Mastercard in all its glory
The BILT Rewards Mastercard is a credit card that offers an extremely unique benefit: the ability to pay rent without paying any of the fees that landlords typically charge. This is a huge advantage for renters, who can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year in processing fees and earn points for rent payments. But what else can you use the BILT Mastercard for besides paying your rent? It’s a little-known fact that the BILT system can actually be used for a wide variety of payments, beyond just rent, allowing people to earn points on a wide variety of surprisingly useful payments.
However, before we jump into what the BILT card can be used for, let’s recap the basics of the card:
The Basics of the BILT Mastercard
The BILT Mastercard is the only card offered by the new company Bilt Rewards and is sponsored and branded by Wells Fargo. The BILT card made waves with its launch in 2022 and has left people excited with its unique mix of benefits and rewards.
The major value behind the BILT card is the ability to earn points on rent payments without any transaction fees. Normally, renting platforms (including Venmo/Zelle) charge fees for using credit cards, forcing renters to pay their rent with direct bank transfers. This leaves thousands of credit card points on the table that could be used for anything from cash back to travel!
The way BILT’s system is able to do this is by assigning you a “dummy” bank account number, so you’re able to pay rent with ACH (Automated Clearing House, a form of electronic transfer) rather than the card number itself—all without any fees! BILT has a wide range of transfer partners (including Hyatt & American Airlines), allowing you to use your points from rent payments to directly fund your next vacation.
While the BILT card is unique in letting you use it to earn points for rent payments, it has some normal credit card point earning on certain categories of spend:
3x BILT points on dining
2x BILT points on travel
1x BILT points on (basically) everything else.
Therefore, the BILT card can be used as more than just a rent card, and is fairly comparable to popular cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred. If you’re interested in a full explanation of all the card details and benefits, make sure to check out our review of the BILT Mastercard.
However, did you know there is a wide range of other things you can use the BILT card for? Keep reading to see some of the amazing things you can pay for using the BILT card with no fees.
Unique BILT Card Uses
Based on communications from BILT directly through their support, here are some of the most useful things you can use the BILT Mastercard’s unique system to pay for without paying any fees:
Rent: By far the most frequent use for the BILT card, paying your rent with a credit card allows you to dramatically your point redemptions each year! As far as we know, the BILT Rewards card is the only credit card out there that allows you to both earn points on your rent payments and not pay any fees.
Security deposits: That’s right, you can use the BILT card to pay for security deposits while renting. Doing this can earn you points on a payment that normally is basically an interest-free loan to your landlord! Frankly, I’m still shocked that BILT lets you do this, as being able to charge a security deposit to your rent is one of the most useful features of a card I’ve ever seen.
Utilities and utility bills: Did you know that you can use the BILT Mastercard to pay for your water, gas, and electricity bills? All you have to do is fill out the BILT system the same way you would for rent and get 1x points for bills that you normally would have to pay with a direct bank transfer. Paying your utility bills with the BILT card is a great way to earn thousands of extra points on something we guarantee you’re already paying every month!
Cable/internet/cell phone bills: Interestingly, you can also use the BILT card to pay all your electric and communication bills! Cable, internet, and cell phones can be paid for using the BILT card regardless of whether they are part of a package or just individual.
HOA/condo fees: If you own property instead of renting you probably think that the BILT card isn’t as valuable for you. However, the BILT card can actually be used for both homeowners association and condo fees (which can be thousands of dollars every year)!
University/college housing: While the BILT card can NOT be used for tuition, it CAN be used to pay for housing. With housing payments often thousands of dollars a year, this is another excellent way to rake in extra points either for yourself or your child!
As you can see, the BILT card is an incredibly useful tool and can earn you thousands of points on payments you normally have to make with a debit card or direct bank transfers!
However, it’s also important to note that there are a few things that you can NOT use the BILT card for:
Gym memberships
Mortgage payments
Taxes
Insurance bill
Sadly, BILT changed its system recently to only allow one ACH-based payment per month, dramatically limiting the usefulness of these other payments. However, we here at ETA Points are dedicated to finding tricks in these systems, and have two potential workarounds to help you continue to get points from your utility payments with the BILT card:
First, if you have the financial stability to pay a few months of rent at a time, this represents an easy solution to this new system change. Simply pay a few months of rent with the BILT card in one month, and then use the BILT card to pay for utilities/cable/any other payments in the middle months. While you’ll miss one month of extra points, this still allows you to get a bunch of extra earnings!
Secondly, if you happen to be living with others who are as committed to the points game as you are, consider having them apply for the card as well so that you can each make a BILT ACH payment per month and rotate the categories between you, allowing you and your roommates/partners to maximize your collective points!
Overall, the BILT card remains one of the most interesting cards on the market, with the ability to use points on anything from travel to even a downpayment on a house, and we can’t wait to see what else they come up with next! Now that you’ve got rent covered, make sure you have the appropriate amount of cards to cover your other spending categories. If you’re new to credit cards, make sure you know some basic tips to make the most of your points and credit cards.