Bilt Milestone Rewards Perks: Not Very Exciting

Link: Apply for the no annual fee Bilt Mastercard®

I’ve written extensively about the Bilt Mastercard® (review), which is an innovative and rewarding credit card. The greatest selling point of the card is that you can earn points for paying your rent (and anecdotally your HOA as well). Best of all, the points are quite valuable, which is also why this is a card that I applied for.

Bilt has an elite status program, which is a pretty unique perk for a credit card. Some major changes were made to the program as of 2024, and we were promised the introduction of Milestone Rewards perks, whereby you can unlock special rewards for every 25,000 points you earn, as you work your way to elite status. Bilt has now revealed the details of what this will look like, and you should definitely manage your expectations.

Details of Bilt Milestone Rewards benefits

To start, here are the requirements to earn Bilt’s various elite tiers:

• You can earn Bilt Silver status with 50,000 qualifying points or $10,000 of eligible spending
• You can earn Bilt Gold status with 125,000 qualifying points or $25,000 of eligible spending
• You can earn Bilt Platinum status with 200,000 qualifying points or $50,000 of eligible spending

With the new Milestone Rewards program, you can select perks at the following tiers (this is based on the number of qualifying points you earn, and not based on your spending):

• 25,000 points
• 75,000 points
• 100,000 points
• 150,000 points
• 175,000 points
• 225,000 points and beyond (every 25,000 points)

With that in mind, let’s go over the perks that you can pick at each of those thresholds. Note that in each case, you’ll receive an email and push notification in the app when you reach a new Milestone Rewards tier. Furthermore, you’ll need to make your selection before the end of the calendar year, and you’ll need to activate your rewards period by that deadline.

Bilt Milestone Rewards for 25,000 points

When earning 25,000 points in a calendar year, Bilt members can select one of the following:

• 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

Bilt Milestone Rewards for 75,000 points

When earning 75,000 points in a calendar year, Bilt members can select one of the following:

• 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
• 10x points on your next three Lyft rides, on up to $25 of spending
• 2x points on digital wallet purchases for seven days, up to 1,000 points

Bilt Milestone Rewards for 100,000 points

When earning 100,000 points in a calendar year, Bilt members can select one of the following:

• 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
• 10x points on your next three Lyft rides, on up to $25 of spending
• 2x points on digital wallet purchases for seven days, up to 1,000 points
• Get 5,000 points closer to the next status tier

Bilt Milestone Rewards for 150,000 points

When earning 150,000 points in a calendar year, Bilt members can select one of the following:

• 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
• 10x points on your next three Lyft rides, on up to $25 of spending
• 2x points on digital wallet purchases for seven days, up to 1,000 points
• Get 5,000 points closer to the next status tier
• $10 toward your next fitness class

Bilt Milestone Rewards for 175,000 points

When earning 175,000 points in a calendar year, Bilt members can select one of the following:

• Double points on Bilt Dining for seven days, up to 1,000 points
• 1,000 points for the Bilt Collection
• 4x points at grocery stores for 30 days, up to 3,000 points
• 4x points at gas stations for 30 days, up to 3,000 points
• 2x points on sports and concert tickets for 30 days, up to 1,000 points
• 10x points on your next three Lyft rides, on up to $25 of spending
• 2x points on digital wallet purchases for seven days, up to 1,000 points
• Get 5,000 points closer to the next status tier
• $10 toward your next fitness class

Bilt Milestone Rewards for 225,000 points & beyond

When earning 225,000 points in a calendar year (or any other threshold beyond that, in increments of 25,000 points), Bilt members can select one of the following:

• Double points on Bilt Dining for seven days, up to 1,000 points
• 1,000 points for the Bilt Collection
• 4x points at grocery stores for 30 days, up to 3,000 points
• 4x points at gas stations for 30 days, up to 3,000 points
• 2x points on sports and concert tickets for 30 days, up to 1,000 points
• 10x points on your next three Lyft rides, on up to $25 of spending
• 2x points on digital wallet purchases for seven days, up to 1,000 points
• Get 5,000 points closer to the next status tier
• $10 toward your next fitness class

My take on these Bilt Milestone Rewards perks

Bilt’s new Milestone Rewards perks are better than nothing, but… that’s about all I can say? The rewards aren’t terribly exciting to begin with, but I’d say that the low caps on how many bonus points you can earn are almost comically stingy.

Like, you can earn 2x points on digital wallet purchases for seven days, and that’s capped at 1,000 points? Keep in mind that other cards just outright offer 2x points on all purchases. Furthermore, if you rack up 175,000 points in a year (which is a lot), your special reward that’s not available at other tiers is $10 off a fitness class?

I tend to think rewards systems like this make sense if they actually get people to change their behavior, but I can’t imagine this will accomplish that. No one is going to say “oh, I’ll spend an extra $5,000 on my Bilt Mastercard so I can get $10 off a fitness class.” Admittedly Bilt is already very rewarding in many ways, so maybe there was no need to even introduce something like this.

Look, the way I view it, Bilt is awesome for three reasons:

• You can earn points for paying your rent by credit card without paying a fee; so if you rent and you’re not using a Bilt Mastercard, then you’re missing out on free points
• The Bilt Mastercard is the single most well-rounded no annual fee card for someone looking to earn travel rewards
• For those who aren’t renting, the Bilt Rent Day promotions are really what make this card and product lucrative, as we’ve consistently seen 75-150% transfer bonuses as part of these offers, which makes for an incredible return on spending

The biggest question for me regarding the long term value proposition of the program is if we’ll continue to see these amazing Rent Day promotions with huge transfer bonuses. These Milestone Rewards are of course nothing in comparison to that.

Bottom line

Bilt has finally unveiled its Milestone Rewards benefits, and they’re not much to get excited about. You can earn rewards for every 25,000 points where you don’t qualify for an elite tier, though the rewards are minimal. Expect that at most tiers, you’ll get a maximum value of around 1,000 points, while at the highest tier, you could earn up to 3,000 incremental points.

What do you make of Bilt’s Milestone Rewards?