Bilt has made quite some announcements this week. This includes the launch of three new credit cards in partnership with Cardless — the no annual fee Bilt Blue Card, $95 annual fee Bilt Obsidian Card, and $495 Bilt Palladium Card (the premium card is the obvious choice, in my opinion). It also includes a complete overhaul of rewards for rent and mortgages, which are a mixed bag.
The reality is that earning rewards for rent through Bilt is becoming a lot more complicated and costly (in terms of opportunity cost for spending), so in this post, I’d like to go over what’s likely the most exciting other opportunity to be rewarded for rent with Bilt — that’s to earn Alaska Atmos Rewards points for paying rent, at an attractive cost. How does this work, and is it worth it?
In this post:
Bilt Rewards & Alaska Atmos Rewards partnership basics
For some background, Alaska Atmos Rewards is a 1:1 transfer partner of Bilt Rewards. That’s a great use of those points, given how valuable Atmos Rewards points can be. Furthermore, Atmos Rewards doesn’t partner with any other major transferable points currency, aside from Bilt.
There’s another cool aspect to this, and it probably got even more interesting with the upcoming Bilt changes we’re seeing.
Bilt lets you pay rent with third party credit cards in exchange for a 3% fee. Typically that’s not worth it. However, thanks to the exclusive collaboration between the two brands, those with the Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® credit card (review) and Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card (review) can earn points for paying their rent at an advantageous rate:
- These cards offer 3x Atmos Rewards points for rent payments through Bilt, on up to $50,000 of spending annually (after that you earn 1x points); you can potentially even earn 10% more points if you have an eligible Bank of America account
- The way this works, you link your Atmos Rewards card to you Bilt account, and then Bilt will process the rent payment, and in turn, you’ll be awarded points
- As mentioned above, the catch is that Bilt charges a 3% fee for third party credit card payments, and that applies here as well
- Just to be thorough, let me mention that while Bilt will soon start letting members redeem Bilt Cash to pay for mortgages with no fees on Bilt credit cards, that will not be part of this partnership, so it continues to only be possible to earn 3x points on rent with these cards, and not mortgages (and Bilt Cash can’t be used to offset the fees when using Atmos credit cards)
In isolation, 3x Atmos Rewards points for paying rent at a 3% fee with the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card or Atmos Rewards Summit Card is a heck of a deal, as it’s like buying Atmos Rewards points for one cent each. That’s phenomenal.
Of course one has to consider this in the context of the opportunity cost of earning Bilt points for rent rewards. Bilt is becoming much more complicated, so it’s not as straightforward of a comparison as it used to be. People will fall into one of two camps with these changes:
- If you have a Bilt credit card and would otherwise have enough Bilt Cash to offset the cost of the rent fees, then it comes down to whether you’d rather earn 1x Bilt points at no fee, or 3x Atmos Rewards points for a 3% fee; if you were to value the points currencies equally, it would be like acquiring Atmos Rewards points for 1.5 cents each
- If you wouldn’t otherwise have a Bilt credit card and/or wouldn’t otherwise have enough Bilt Cash to offset the cost of rent fees, then it comes down to whether you’re willing to pay 1.0 cents per Atmos Rewards point, which seems like quite a good deal
Is earning Atmos Rewards points for rent worth it?
I think there’s potentially a lot of merit to paying the 3% fee for rent on the Atmos Rewards Summit Credit Card, and earning 3x points. There’s a lot of upside with Atmos Rewards beyond the points you earn, given the incentives for spending money on the Atmos Rewards Summit Card:
- The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers a 100,000-point Global Companion Award when you spend $60,000 on the card in an anniversary year
- The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers one status point per $2 spent on the card, with no caps
So lets say, theoretically, that you spent $50,000 per year on rent (that’s more than most spend, but I’d like to keep the numbers easy). You would pay $1,500 in fees, and you’d earn 150,000 Atmos Rewards points, 25,000 Atmos Rewards status points, and you’d be over 80% of the way to the Global Companion Award.
If being able to earn points on rent would change your ability to earn a 100,000-point Global Companion Award or to earn elite status, I think there’s significant merit to going that route.
Let me emphasize that everyone should crunch the numbers for themselves, and most people might not want to unnecessarily pay an extra $1,500 in fees annually. The thing is, with the upcoming Bilt changes, I know a lot of people are also being locked out of rent rewards there, which might make this option more lucrative.
After all, with the changes, you basically need to spend an average of 75% as much as your rent in order to be able to make fee-free payments, and not everyone will find that to be worthwhile.
Bottom line
Bilt Rewards and Alaska Atmos Rewards have a partnership. For one, Bilt Rewards points can be moved to Atmos Rewards at a 1:1 ratio, which is a nice redemption option. Beyond that, those with a personal Atmos Rewards credit card can pay a 3% fee to pay their rent by card, and then earn 3x Atmos Rewards points, on up to $50K of rent spending per year.
I’d say that’s potentially really compelling, thanks to the amazing value of the Atmos Rewards Summit Card. Not only will you earn 3x Atmos Rewards points per dollar spent, but you’ll earn one Atmos Rewards status point per $2 spent, and that spending will also count toward the 100,000-point Global Companion Award.
With the latest changes to how Bilt rewards rent payments, I think this may just interest more people than ever before. If you’ve decided you no longer want a Bilt credit card, this is the best alternative, if you ask me.
What do you make of this Bilt Rewards & Alaska Atmos Rewards partnership? Are you changing your consumer behavior?
Does the Atmos + Bilt option only work in Bilt network buildings? Or can you pay a private landlord with a check or ACH?
The Atmos Rewards Business Visa doesn’t get the 3x bilt points on rent, right?
Do ATMOS points earned via rent payments count toward status?
Yup. I've been doing it for months now and they count.
Hi Ben, this is something I’m definitely interested in exploring, especially given that the recent changes to the card are less favorable for me personally. I wanted to clarify whether we need to sign up for a new BILT card in order to link it with the Atmos card and take advantage of this partnership, or if the existing BILT Portal will continue to be sufficient for this to work, even without a BILT card.
Thank you.
You just need one of the Atmos cards connected to your Bilt account, no need for a Bilt card. Once it's connected you should see that you'll earn 3 Atmos points/$ for rent payments in your wallet.
I am generally struggling with all of these BILT changes as well as the Atmos Rewards value proposition for paying rent. Maybe I am missing something, but wouldn't it simply be more productive to pick up 3-4 cards a year and pay rent via your credit card portal instead of worrying about all the complicated math on these offers?
I would bet that with 2 personal cards and 2 business cards, you can pick up...
I am generally struggling with all of these BILT changes as well as the Atmos Rewards value proposition for paying rent. Maybe I am missing something, but wouldn't it simply be more productive to pick up 3-4 cards a year and pay rent via your credit card portal instead of worrying about all the complicated math on these offers?
I would bet that with 2 personal cards and 2 business cards, you can pick up an easy 400k-600k in points per year by mildly cherry-picking good offers.
I find purely focusing on a few sign up bonuses every year gets rid of the noise of optimizing which credit card to use on different spend categories, and large rent payments knock out minimum spends quickly and effectively for a nominal fee relative to the value attained from the bonuses.
While broadly correct, this assumes that someone is starting new and is eligible for every card that comes out. If you do this method, you'll quickly run into limits from the banks and denials.
I would have to disagree with you here. I've been in this game for 10 years and can still keep this pace consistently, while ebbing and flowing in and out of 5/24 as needed.
Sure, it has gotten a lot harder, since 2025 was a terrible year in the points & miles space, but you can get creative to find value with sign ups that are north of $750 in net value after the annual fee.
According to the T&C for the new Bilt cards they will no longer allow rent to be paid by Venmo.
@Ben - will we finally get the ability to pay Venmo-based rent via Bilt + Alaska card? I can’t seem to find a straight answer, so any insight is appreciated.
My rent is >$4k so this would be huge if that ability becomes available.
@ Andrew -- I don't have firsthand experience here, but I believe Venmo-based rent was possible with the Bilt Card, but not an Atmos Card, correct? If so, I believe nothing is actually changing about the system by which rent can be paid with an Atmos Card. I could be wrong, though... it's one of the many outstanding questions.
Ben, this strategy may not be for most people, but for those with expensive rent (in excess of $50K/year) and a pre-existing Atmos card, this is the way. I'm still gonna do Palladium, at least for a year, mostly for the SUB, and revert to it after completing the Atmos maximum ($50K). The only question is whether BILT/Alaska will rug-pull the existing 3x. Let's hope it holds.
My rent is 2300 and I use my atmos card to earn 3x back in Atmos points which is basically a 1 way flight on American arilines to Miami - its worth the 70 bucks in processing fees for me
and the .1 BofA bonus
@ Sam -- Great point, just added mention of the 10% bonus to the post, thanks!
It's a great 10% bonus, as long as you have any BofA checking, savings, or Merrill IRA, brokerage.
Doesn't work if you have to pay by check (only Bilt card will work for that).
Oh wow that just ruined it for me. My landlord won't setup a bilt account so everything has to be sent to them via check.
There is some other partnership between United Wholesale Mortgage and Bilt but details online are virtually nil. Trying to understand if UWM mortgage payments somehow translate into Atmos rewards. I have two UWM loans.
@ Kosher Kimchee -- Full details haven't been announced, and they're expected in "early 2026." I imagine you would directly earn Bilt points, and then in turn, those points could be moved to Atmos Rewards.
If you have a BILT card and the Atmos Summit card, can you combine both strategies? (Pay rent with your BILT card until you run out of BILT cash to cover the 3% fee, then switch to Atmos Summit for rent payments until you accumulate enough BILT cash from spend to cover the 3% fee again)
@ Alex -- Yep, that should work!
Alex, depending on your rent payment, if it's high, you may wanna do it the other way around, like, use Summit until you reach $50K spend maximum (get that 100K Alaska certificate), then revert to Palladium for the rest of the year, using up all the fee offsets.
Personally disappointed that the partnership doesn't extend to mortgages, as that would have been a game changer for me. At least I should be able to continue to pay my HOA (living in a condo community I have a relatively steep assessment) with my Summit card and earn Atmos points. Well worth it for me.
Bilt inked the agreement with Alaska at the time when rent payments via Bilt were a loss leader for attracting new customers to Bilt. The cost to Bilt for each AS mile/point is likely north of 1 cent, but justifiable when using Bilt's own card would cost Bilt even more. With Bilt 2.0, the calculus is now very different. I don't expect Bilt to renew the agreement without significant changes when the current agreement expires.
@ Tony -- It's possible you're right, but I imagine there's even a bit more to this than that. Keep in mind that Atmos Rewards agreed to partner with Bilt Rewards for points transfers, even though Atmos Rewards won't partner with other programs. That has to be costly for Bilt, and part of a bigger agreement. Now, I imagine at some point Bilt will have to start controlling redemption costs more, but we'll see how that plays out.
I'd be curious how much the partnership costs Bilt. I'm guessing not a lot of people took advantage of this partnership previously (outside the points community) since regular folks see the 3% fee and shy away from it. Don't think it costs Bilt a lot, relative to what it costs them in Bilt points on the legacy Bilt MC.
I'm sure the calculus will change with the new Bilt cards, but I imagine it still...
I'd be curious how much the partnership costs Bilt. I'm guessing not a lot of people took advantage of this partnership previously (outside the points community) since regular folks see the 3% fee and shy away from it. Don't think it costs Bilt a lot, relative to what it costs them in Bilt points on the legacy Bilt MC.
I'm sure the calculus will change with the new Bilt cards, but I imagine it still won't be too costly. I would guess most folks on the East Cost or Midwest won't have an Atmos card and would have no intention of getting one, so they'll either stick with the new Bilt card or walk away from the ecosystem entirely.
Samar, you're right, few took advantage before, but, many may start to now.
The question, as Nick references, if they (BILT or Atmos) announce a mid-year change, which could screw a lot of us over, especially if there's little to no notice.
@1990 - I think there will certainly be more usage for renters, but not by a ton. If I had to bet, if you asked most Bilt members (and I don't plan on asking!), they don't even know the partnership exists. That gives me some hope that there isn't going to be a change to it anytime soon.
My biggest ask from this vantage point is that they don't change this mid-year when people make decisions based on the value proposition for the year. If they want to announce in 2026 a change to this arrangement for 2027, cool, but the reliance issues here related to status in the Atmos program and spending thresholds (for the Summit) they knew going in were stackable benefits, and they did it to get customers. Build whatever...
My biggest ask from this vantage point is that they don't change this mid-year when people make decisions based on the value proposition for the year. If they want to announce in 2026 a change to this arrangement for 2027, cool, but the reliance issues here related to status in the Atmos program and spending thresholds (for the Summit) they knew going in were stackable benefits, and they did it to get customers. Build whatever off-ramp to devaluation at the end of the calendar year. Whatever else we think of Bilt 2.0, there was communication of a change well in advance and a window to assess the value of continuing to be a cardholder (even as Bilt Cash could have used a better rollout).