That title might seem backwards… How can you possibly earn Bilt Rewards Points without having the Bilt Mastercard®??
Well, the Bilt Rewards program stands out from the rest for a few reasons.
It does have one credit card as part of its program, and it’s currently the only one that allows you to earn 1x point per dollar from paying your rent (up to 100,000 points per calendar year).
Which is pretty great.
And to be fair, you will earn more points on various purchases if you do have the Bilt Card, but it’s not mandatory.
You can simply sign up for a FREE Bilt Rewards account and still earn points without ever swiping the Bilt Card!
Here’s how 👇
Earn Through Bilt Dining
Bilt has its own dining rewards program, called Bilt Dining, that is featured in dozens of cities across the U.S. (New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, etc.).
After signing up for your free Bilt account, you can link ANY card to the Bilt Dining program and earn up to 3x points per dollar spent at eligible Bilt Dining restaurants when you pay with the linked card in your Bilt Wallet.
And the best part? Those 3x points per dollar are in addition to whatever your linked card would earn.
For example, if I linked my American Express® Gold Card which earns 4x points per dollar on worldwide restaurants (up to $50,000 per year, then 1x after that), I would actually be earning 7x total points per dollar spent at a Bilt Dining restaurant 🙌
Earn Through Lyft Rides
Screenshot from www.biltrewards.com
We all use rideshare services from time to time, and just by linking your Bilt and Lyft accounts, you can earn 2x Bilt points per dollar whenever you book a ride.
Earning double the points on any purchase is one of the easiest ways to accelerate what you can earn. It doesn’t get much easier than that!
Earn Through Neighborhood Fitness
If you’re into SoulCycle, Rumble Boxing, or YogaSix classes (among others), you could earn up to 3x Bilt points per dollar for bookings made with ANY linked card in your Bilt Wallet.
Fancy fitness classes aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re into it, you might as well earn triple the points 💪
Earn by Playing Along on Rent Day
The first of every month is called “Rent Day” in the Bilt stratosphere.
But even if you aren’t paying actual rent and still don’t have the Bilt Card, you can opt in to play some games or trivia through the app on that day and earn bonus points!
As someone who personally doesn’t have the Bilt Card, I’ll still log into my app on the first of the month to play along and score a few hundred bonus points—just for kicks 🙃
New Ways to Earn and Redeem with Bilt in 2025
Bilt Adds Southwest Airlines as a Transfer Partner
As of April 2025, Southwest Rapid Rewards is Bilt’s 19th transfer partner, and transfers are live at a 1:1 ratio. That means 1,000 Bilt Points equals 1,000 Southwest points.
Transfers are currently processed twice daily, so expect a short delay when transferring your points. The good news? Bilt plans to make transfers instant very, very soon.
Bilt Expands to Student Housing
Bilt recently announced a major expansion into student housing, thanks to a partnership with American Campus Communities (ACC), which operates properties at more than 65 universities.
Starting in late May 2025, students at select campuses will be able to earn Bilt Points on housing payments, even in dorms. These points can be transferred to top travel partners or used for other redemptions (yay!).
Redeem Bilt Points for Student Loan Payments
Bilt now lets you redeem points for student loan payments, too. Freaking amazing move, by the way…
Every 1,000 Bilt Points equals $10 toward eligible student loans
Redeem via the Bilt app or website
Minimum redemption starts at 1,000 points
This is the first time a major rewards program has offered a direct way to reduce student loan debt with points — so yeah, we’re pretty excited.
Bottom Line
You can see now that you don’t even need to apply for the Bilt Card to start earning Bilt Rewards.
By simply signing up for a free Bilt account, you’ll unlock easy ways to begin accruing points that you can redeem in the future for (nearly) free travel.
