In the miles & points world, many of us are familiar with the Bilt Mastercard® (review), which is a valuable no annual fee card that allows you to pay your rent by credit card and earn rewards, even if your landlord doesn’t ordinarily allow no-fee credit card payments.
However, the Bilt Rewards ecosystem goes beyond that, with all kinds of other ways to earn and redeem points. Bilt has an elite status program, and since 2024, has also offered Milestone Rewards, providing (minimal) perks for passing certain thresholds. The company has now announced plans to change this as of 2026.
In this post:
Bilt will award $50 in Bilt Cash for every 25,000 points earned
As of January 1, 2026, Bilt Rewards will replace Milestone Rewards with Bilt Cash. Specifically, you’ll earn $50 in Bilt Cash for every 25,000 Bilt points earned. It doesn’t matter how those points are earned, and of course Bilt Cash is in addition to whatever Bilt points you ordinarily rack up.
The idea is that while Bilt points can be redeemed primarily outside the Bilt ecosystem, Bilt Cash can be redeemed within the Bilt ecosystem, giving dollar-to-dollar value to access experiences and benefits that points can’t buy.
Bilt Cash can be redeemed for local restaurants with mobile checkout, for hotels on Bilt’s travel platform, for fitness studios, and more. Bilt Cash can also be used to upgrade status tiers for improved Rent Day transfer offers, for early access to high demand comedy, dining, and fitness experiences, and for access to the Home Away from Home collection.
This seems like a win-win change for Bilt and members
Personally, I’m happy to see this change. While I don’t think this is some sort of a game changer, I do think it’s an improvement over what’s currently offered. For example, here are the Milestone Rewards people can choose from after earning 25,000 points:
- Double points on Bilt Dining for seven days, up to 1,000 points
- 1,000 points for the Bilt Collection
- 2x points at grocery stores for 30 days, up to 1,000 points
- 2x points at gas stations for 30 days, up to 1,000 points
- 2x points on sports and concert tickets for 30 days, up to 1,000 points
If you ask me, these rewards are so minimal to the point that they’re almost not worth even bothering with. I don’t think I’ve actually selected one up until now, since Bilt’s card isn’t my go-to product for most spending categories. So if I can instead save $25 on a meal every so often, I’d consider that to be a positive change.
This also seems like a beneficial change from Bilt’s perspective. Bilt wants people to increasingly engage with its entire ecosystem beyond just the credit card and paying rent, so having some Bilt Cash to spend will help with encouraging that.
Bottom line
In 2026, Bilt will be replacing Milestone Rewards with Bilt Cash. With this, Bilt members will earn $50 in Bilt Cash for every 25,000 points they earn, regardless of how they’re accrued. That’s intended to be good as cash within the Bilt ecosystem, for everything from dining at local restaurants, to hotels, to fitness classes.
While I wouldn’t consider this to be hugely valuable, I do think it’s an improvement over the current program.
What do you make of the introduction of Bilt Cash, and do you like this more or less than Milestone Rewards?
You missed one other available milestone reward - the 5k points boost toward status. It will get me to Platinum again this year (when combined with 100k earned from rent plus 3x/6x dining charges) which has been more than worth it with the higher transfer bonuses. Seems like it won’t be possible to get there again after this year without putting 1x spend on the card which is not advisable.
Can you imagine being on the BILT marketing/PR team reviewing this comment section
I bet that is someone's actual job. (I'd imagine their day is going like... 'Uh oh, we got some live ones! Ankur.. what do we do!?!' ...Quick get Leslie Jones to do another Cameo for us!)
That it is someone's actual job is precisely why, my friends, I urge all ambitious young people to pursue equity partnership at a V10 law firm. (Okay, let's say V20. Okay, okay, Debevoise [V21] is good too)
When you become an equity partner, and even along the way, you will do influential work for influential clients. You will read about your...
That it is someone's actual job is precisely why, my friends, I urge all ambitious young people to pursue equity partnership at a V10 law firm. (Okay, let's say V20. Okay, okay, Debevoise [V21] is good too)
When you become an equity partner, and even along the way, you will do influential work for influential clients. You will read about your accomplishments in the press. If you just get a "normal job" you will be stuck reading sh*tposts from weirdos in the comments of a travel blog. No fame, no notoriety. No excitement. Just your $200k paycheck which can barely afford the rent on a 1-bed apartment (they're now $6,000+ in desirable neighborhoods).
Equity partnership means a $6M draw, and as even TravelinPenis knows, a lavish condo on the UES. (I actually prefer the UWS, but same deal.)
50 Bilt cash for Platinum seems a pretty deal. Wonder if I can get flying blue status on the day I buy Platinum status
Unless I missed something, the announcement did not mention the price (how many Bilt Dollars will be required) for a Bilt tier status upgrade. I think we need to wait for more information on this one.
Any comment on 'MeOff' following you over at DoC? (I think it's probably the fellow behind Gen Yinjing Youguan)
nope
I am now on DoC as Rude Canadian.
I would also prefer to go by my characters instead of the transliteration. 我是跟阴茎有关。多谢！
The plot thickens... Wait, why are you disparaging our neighbors to the north? They're often so polite. And, they've been very kind to the CCP, allowing all those mainland Chinese investors to buy up all the housing in Vancouver and Toronto. (What's the worst that could happen... you single-handedly cause WWIII?)
The worst and most insufferable women on the NYC dating scene are Toronto natives.
I can regale you with stories when we meet.
Do they regale you of tales about their escapades on Yonge Street?
They wish they were that cool.
I open the NYTimes app this morning… first headline: “Trump Says He’s Cutting Off Trade Negotiations With Canada” *facepalm* (apparently, you’re making an impact.)
Agree to disagree. I've deliberately spent on the card to earn Platinum status for next year. Unlikely I'd put future spend towards the card if a simple 25k points/$50 redemption could magically get me to Platinum the one or two times a year when I want to use a transfer bonus. And if you're not in one of Bilt's big cities, your redemption options are pretty limited. I used the milestones well and am disappointed to see that program end.
Wow, you are one of the very few people to do that (organically spent towards this kinda irrelevant status), other than Gary Leff (unless he was 'gifted' that status by Ankur himself; after all, he's visited NYC for their office a few times, and apparently took Blade to get there... whata guy!)
Will be interesting to see how the "buy elite status" element works. If you can get, say, a 100 percent transfer bonus for just $50, or even $100 (maybe costs $100 to get to the platinum transfer bonus), it could pay for itself many times over if you are transferring 50k+ points.
Far as I can tell, the only really meaningful point of elite status is the transfer bonuses, and that does cause me to...
Will be interesting to see how the "buy elite status" element works. If you can get, say, a 100 percent transfer bonus for just $50, or even $100 (maybe costs $100 to get to the platinum transfer bonus), it could pay for itself many times over if you are transferring 50k+ points.
Far as I can tell, the only really meaningful point of elite status is the transfer bonuses, and that does cause me to shift some spend to the card. So if you don't actually need status to get the most out of one or two big transfer bonuses a year...
Yawn. We're waiting for February 2026. BILT 2.0. Transition from Wells Fargo to Cardless. It could be the beginning of the end... or a new beginning. I'm expecting the former, based on Cardless involuntary closure of other products. Let's where this goes...
That may be the historical behavior of Cardless, but Ankur will have them by the balls delivering value for customers. I already hold no cards other than Bilt and AMEX.
If Bilt actually does nerf, I'll be 100% AMEX.
I don't care who has who by whoever's whatever, I just want BILT to survive, so I can keep earning at least 1 point per dollar on paying rent, then transfer it to Hyatt and/or Alaska. That's it. Keep it simple.
I prefer transferring to United
It's depends with UA. I like to 'top off' where needed with them (using Chase or BILT), but I feel like I've gotten more value from Hyatt (+3x) and United. Just depends on the redemption.
Nice. Way to go Ankur.
- 跟阴茎有关，Bilt member since 2021
I'm not as 'hopeful' on this as you are.
- 跟阴茎有关... bah!
Would you look at that! You're learning Chinese.
Next, try looking this up in the dictionary: 打飞机
Officially, it means "hitting the airplane" (keeping with this blog's theme). Euphemistically, it means a five-on-one, if you catch my drift.
Or 10-1...
How big is your junk that you need two hands?
Oh, no need to worry; just puffery.