Rakuten is my favorite online shopping portal, and it lets you earn bonus rewards for purchases you make online. Historically, Rakuten has offered the ability to earn cash back or Amex Membership Rewards points for online shopping, with the latter being a more compelling option (at least for those good at maximizing points).
Continue reading: How To Earn Bilt Points With Rakuten For Online Shopping, And Is It Worth It?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Switched back to Amex yesterday. Maybe if enough people do it upfront Bilt will take notice and reconsider the 1:1 transfers, although probably not.
As the update states, anyone with any elevated tier status will receive 1:1 transfers from Rakuten. It is not an imposing requirement. It is a simple incentive to do a certain level of business with them. Those leaving will have zero effect on Bilt. You overstate their importance.
Since 5/15/26, unless you have BILT status (Silver, Gold, Platinum), it’s no longer 1:1 (back to half that), so… if so, I’d switch to Amex.
Anyone have any numbers on how Bilt is doing with Bilt 2.0? I don't. I'm assuming you don't either.
They launched a 6 month promotion with Rakuten to drive engagement with Bilt's platform ahead of their 2.0 launch. (Of course originally they didn't even realize their 6 month promotion was only 2 months and didn't even go through the launch, but I digress on that particular level of incompetence).
Maybe the Bilt 2.0 launch went very well, they've exceeded their targets, folks picked up the SUB+Bilt Gold status in droves, and Bilt no longer needs Rakuten to drive engagement.
On the other hand, maybe the launch did not go so well and had some issues, they did not exceed their targets, they have nervous investors, and they'd like continued engagement from Rakuten.
Maybe the engagement from Rakuten with their program was so small to begin with that it doesn't matter for them at all.
I have no idea! But am I rushing out to get a Bilt credit card to run $10k on it just so I can achieve Bilt Silver status and preserve 1:1 transfers? Nah, Amex's ecosystem is more than fine.
Bilt would be my "all in" card if it were to add Singapore to its list of airline programs and Leading Hotels and Choice to its list of hotel programs.
Really?? You'd forgo all other cards, if BILT merely added a few other transfer partners? Ok, if you enjoy a single point of failure, and loathe diversification.
Instead, please recall that Amex, Chase, C1, and Citi already transfer 1:1 to KrisFlyer; Wells Fargo does the best Choice Privileges rate (1:2), then Citi (1:1.5), which, if you have their suite of 2x-6x cards is outsized value; finally, Citi has Leaders Club , but 5:1 ain't great.
You do you, but, such a 'BILT is awesome' comment reminds me of the "Close Friends" 2,500-point social media bonus from earlier this year, where members had to submit their social handles, post about the 2.0 launch, and include a hashtag. (Shilly McShillface.)