It’s Now Easier to Earn Card Points on Rent. But Should You?

If you’re a renter, your rent payments are most likely your biggest monthly expense. Earning credit card rewards on this expense used to be complicated and rarely worth it — but that continues to change.

The Bilt Rewards program makes it possible to earn valuable points on rent payments. And now, you don’t even need the Bilt Mastercard to take advantage of it. Recently, the company has opened its program to Visa, Mastercard, Discover and Amex cardholders.

However, there’s one big “but.” Cardholders incur a 3 percent transaction fee for using third-party cards. Depending on the kind of rewards your card offers and how you use them, paying your rent with it might not be the best move.

To determine whether it’s a good idea to join the Bilt program with your credit card, you’ll need to do some math. Here are the calculations that will help you and other details you need to know.

How to earn Bilt points with any credit card

If you make a rent payment with a Visa, Mastercard, or Discover credit card through the Bilt App or website, you will earn 1X points.

The earning rate is lower for those with an American Express credit card. Amex cardholders only get 1 point per $2 dollars spent, meaning the rewards rate is effectively 0.5X points.

In any case, you’ll also earn the rewards your credit card earns on general purchases.

To start earning Bilt rewards this way, you need to link your credit card to your Bilt account. You can do so in the Wallet tab on the Bilt app or website.

Should you link your credit card to your Bilt account?

Now, let’s figure out the math you need to do to determine whether there’s any value in paying your rent with your credit card through Bilt. To do that, you need to calculate the combined value you’d receive from both your card rewards and Bilt points and subtract the 3-percent transaction fee. We’ll use a few different card types as examples for this calculation.

A cash back card

Let’s say your monthly rent payment is $1,700, and you have a cash back card that earns 1 percent back outside of its bonus categories — for instance, the Discover it® Cash Back or the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card (Visa).

If you connect your card to your Bilt account, you’ll pay a $51 fee for rent payments. With that, you’ll earn about $18 in cash back and 1,700 Bilt points. Bilt points are worth 2.1 cents apiece, according to Bankrate valuations. That means you’ll get close to $36 in value from Bilt points, and $54 in total value. That’s barely enough to make up for the transaction fee. And considering the value of Bilt points fluctuates based on how you redeem them, you might not always be able to offset the fee.

The picture looks a little different if you have a flat-rate cash back card. For example, the Citi Double Cash® Card (Mastercard) earns 2 percent cash back on purchases: 1 percent when you make a purchase and 1 percent when you pay it off. In our example, you’d earn $35 in cash back and $71 in total potential value. When you subtract the $51 fee, you get $20 per month in value per month.

To help you visualize, here’s a breakdown of the math we’ve done so far:

Rewards value based on a $1,700 rent payment and $51 in transaction fees

A travel card

The math becomes more complicated with travel cards. In many travel rewards programs, the value of points or miles varies widely based on how you redeem them. If you redeem through the issuer’s travel portal, you’ll usually get 1 cent apiece in value. The numbers in this situation would work identically to our 1-percent cash back calculation above.

But if you transfer your rewards to the right transfer partner, you might be able to get ahead. For example, with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, your points can be worth around 2 cents apiece, according to Bankrate valuations. Again, you’d get $20 in monthly value. That said, you’d have to pick the transfer partner strategically and stick to these high-value redemptions. It’s not always realistic and might be too much effort for an extra $240 per year.

A better option here is the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card which earns 2X miles on all purchases. Even if you redeem through the issuer’s portal, you’d get $20 in monthly value without any additional strategizing. And if you transfer your miles, you might get an even better deal. We value Capital One miles at 1.7 cents when transferred to a high-value partner. That means you could earn $60 in monthly value from your Venture X card. That’s $96 when combined with Bilt rewards — or $45 after the transaction fee.

Rewards value based on a $1,700 rent payment and $51 in transaction fees

An Amex card

Whether you have a cash back or travel card from American Express, it’s likely not worth it to pay rent with it through Bilt. Since you’d only get 1X points per $2 spent, you wouldn’t be able to recoup the transaction fee.

Let’s use our example again. If you pay $1,700 in monthly rent, you’ll earn less than $9 monthly with an Amex cash back card. With Bilt rewards added, you’ll earn $45 — which doesn’t even make up for the $51 transaction fee.

American Express Membership Rewards points can be highly valuable when transferred to the right travel partner. You can get as much as 2 cents apiece, based on Bankrate valuations. With a $1,700 rent payment (plus the $51 fee), you’d earn 876 points potentially worth around $18. That’s $51 in total value when you include Bilt rewards. Again, that’s barely enough to cover the transaction fee.

Rewards value based on a $1,700 rent payment and $51 in transaction fees

The bottom line

Unless you have a credit card that earns at least 2 percent cash back or 2X miles or points, you’ll probably have a hard time offsetting the 3 percent transaction fee Bilt imposes. This is especially true for Amex cardholders who are most likely to lose money on these transactions.

After all, one of the main draws of the Bilt Mastercard is the absence of such a fee. Without this feature, paying rent with a credit card is rarely worth it — even with extra rewards added to the mix.