Bilt credit card, issued by Wells Fargo, pays 1x reward on rent payments. This is probably the most blogged-about card that doesn’t even offer a $50 worth of signup bonus. As far as I know, their affiliate bonus is small so blogs are probably not breaking bank by promoting Bilt card. If I recall correctly when someone from Bilt reached out, they offered a $25 affiliate bonus. I tried to redirect them to offer that as a signup bonus but that didn’t go well. This is probably as good a time to remind you that there are no credit card affiliate links on this site. My point is that their affiliate bonus is peanuts compared to the major cards blogs promote. When cards are paying affiliate bonuses of around $300, why are there so many blog posts on Bilt cards across the miles and points blogosphere?
The dilemma with Bilt is also that how do you sell a card that has no signup bonus? The short answer is that users get to earn points that they otherwise might not have. In other words, you get to earn points on rent. Sure, you can likely pay rent with other cards and earn points but homeowners typically charge credit card fees.
Then, the question is – how do you get casuals to use the card? Why do they need casuals? Because 1x reward on rent is a loss, period. Credit card gamers, as proven by the increased anti-churning rules over the years, are a loss as well. So, Bilt needs enough people to spend enough money on transactions that earn them money. I think this is why the card earns 2x on travel and 3x on dining. These earning rates, especially after accounting for Bilt’s 1:1 transfer partner including the likes of Hyatt and American Airlines, are a fairly good deal for a no-annual-fee card.
An average American is known to have 4 credit cards (CNBC) and every card issuer is competing to be one of those 4 cards. Bilt’s mandate of “Use the card 5 times each statement period to earn points” helps them remind people to have the card in their wallet. People say they have cracked down on folks loading 50 cents on Amazon. Bilt limits to one rent payment per 30 days (DoC). It couldn’t be more obvious that Bilt itself is run by gamers.
Now, let’s circle back to the topic. Bilt generally seems to despise abusers but I am convinced their whole stick is to market the product through blogs. They typically have a rent day promo that is more or less guaranteed to receive a separate blog post from every major blog. Who wouldn’t want to blog about a 100% transfer bonus to AirFrance/KLM FlyingBlue (DoC), 75%-150% Transfer Bonus To Virgin (DoC), 100% Transfer Bonus To Hawaiian Airlines (DoC)? These promos are fantastic but aren’t guaranteed in the future, especially with the airline you want. I argue the point is to get people talking, get people to earn points at 1x or 2x or 3x, hoping to turn it into a double of that. Are these promos a loss as well? Well, it depends on what portion of their user base is casually using the card thinking of it as a 2/4/6x card, and how easily they can control and squash gamers.
Now, credit must be given where it is due with Bilt landing with Fargo within a short duration of launch (Business Wire), running various other promos like 5x points on select categories (DoC), and double reward on rent day promo (DoC). We can’t forget the “hidden signup bonus” of 5x earnings (DoC) nor their various partnership offers like Lyft credit offer (DoC), Lyft elevated earning rate offer (DoC), and Hyatt status challenge offer (DoC). Of course, we have already touched on Points.me integration in this blog (which is an excellent feature by the way).
Closing Thoughts
To me, Bilt is an obvious case of being created by hardcore gamers but not for hardcore gamers. I am also curious about how sustainable their business model is. I think they need a hoard of casuals using the card casually to be profitable but they are clearly targeting travel points enthusiasts with all the promos and it wouldn’t be too told of an assumption to say that these enthusiasts are not the most profitable of the bunch.
P.S. I currently don’t have a Bilt card.
