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The last time I applied for a new credit card was two years ago.
I had climbed the infamous credit card ladder that I made multiple videos about on Youtube. I made a guest appearance on a Netflix documentary called Money Explained as a Credit Card Expert and right now, I have well over 3 Million points across all of my accounts.
I had told myself, I’d be done applying for new cards but that was until recently when I came across what I consider to be one of the best cards for 2023.
Well, in this blog, I’ll share with you
Why I applied for this card
What the benefits are
What the downsides are
Why I think this might arguably be the BEST Credit Card of 2023.
Why Bilt Mastercard?
What makes the Bilt MasterCard so special is the fact that this credit card is the one and only credit card that gives you benefits when it comes to paying rent.
There’s an article from Business Insider that talks about how more Americans are spending over half their income on housing. Furthermore, the average rent is now 32% of the typical American’s pay — that’s more than financial experts recommend budgeting for housing.
Part of this is due to inflation. Another part of this is just a lifestyle increase. People don’t want to be living in old beat-up apartments. A lot of people, especially my peers, choose to live in more of the new modern high-rise apartments that are getting built every day.
Needless to say, many people spend money on rent but it seems to be the spending expenses that we don’t put too much emphasis on.
I’ve been living in apartments for over 3-4 years now and after doing some math, I realized that I’d spent over $150,000 in just rent.
$150,000 — that is most people’s dream car, that’s more than a downpayment on a home!
Normally what I would do is use a credit card like my American Express Platinum card to pay the rent but they would take a 2-4% processing fee. In certain situations, you can still find positive value if you’re able to redeem those points for higher value but HIGH REDEMPTION is never guaranteed.
So let’s break down the math.
On average, let’s say your rent for your apartment is $3,000 a month. In a year, you would’ve spent over $36,000 in just rent. In 2 years, that would’ve been $72,000. In 3 years, that’s $108,000 you’ve spent.
Let’s say you have to pay a 3% transaction fee for using any credit card of your choice. Over the course of 3 years, you would’ve paid $3,240.00 in just transaction fees.
This is where the power of Bilt Mastercard comes out and we’ve never seen a credit card offer this type of benefit. Instantly, you would save that $3,240.00 over the course of the 3 years based on that $3,000 rent and just right there, just being a cardholder, you’re saving $1,080 per year.
That sounds pretty good- but it’s only the start because Bilt Mastercard offers 1x back on rent payments on up to 50,000 points each calendar year.
So if you’re rent is no more than $4,166 a year, you would be maxing out the full 50,000 points.
And 50,000 Bilt points isn’t something to take lightly.
Bilt MasterCard was just recognized as having the most valuable reward points ABOVE AMEX Membership Reward Points and Chase Ultimate Rewards by Bank rates in a recent study.
This is because you can transfer your points 1:1 to many of the already existing programs such as American Airlines AAdvantage, IHG Rewards, World of Hyatt, United Airlines, and Air France, just to name a few.
If you can get a 2-point to 1-cent redemption, you’re scoring an additional $1,000 in a calendar year by spending money you would’ve already spent.
In a recent article featured on their blog, they even provided 4 ways you can use Bilt Points to Fly Business Class through the Atlantic Ocean to Europe for just 57,500 points.
So if you’re spending money anyways on rent, this is the ultimate credit card to get a free flight.
So in a single given year, by using this card just for rent which is something most people have to do anyways, here’s a breakdown of what you’re getting:
You can get up to 50,000 points per year if you spend at least $4,166 per month on rent
2x back on travel
3x back on dining
They also do a cool little benefit too where you get double points on the 1st of the month, so you can get 6X on dining, 4X on travel, and 2X on other purchases (except rent), which I think can come in handy if you know how to play it right.
The best part about this is that there’s no annual fee. It literally costs NOTHING to hold this card.
Benefits of the Bilt MasterCard
Above all, you get additional benefits such as Trip cancellation & interruption protection and a Trip delay reimbursement of up to $5,000 reimbursement for a non-refundable passenger fare if your trip is interrupted or canceled for a covered reason or be reimbursed for expenses incurred, including meals, when your trip is delayed more than six hours.
Then there’s Cellphone Protection — If you want to pay your cell phone bill with your Bilt Mastercard, you’ll get up to $800 protection (subject to a $25 deductible) against covered damage or theft.
Likewise, if you buy something using the Bilt Mastercard, and it gets stolen or damaged within 90 days, you can get up to $10,000 back as Purchase Security.
And last but not least, my favorite out of them all is that this card even helps you to build credit which means it’ll also improve your chances of getting any other credit card down the line and this is because of the Bilt Rent Reporting feature and Bilt Protect.
The Bilt Rent Reporting feature allows your rent payments to be reported to all three major U.S. credit bureaus — making it easier than ever for renters to build a history of on-time payments.
With Bilt Protect, funds are pulled directly from your bank account to pay off rent charges to avoid high utilization being reported to the credit bureau. And you can still earn the same point system.
Downsides of the Bilt MasterCard
As for the downsides, there isn’t much at all.
Some of the downsides that people talk about are:
Bilt MasterCard is off from the MasterCard Network, which is not accepted at all places but I’ve never had an issue with MasterCard.
Bilt MasterCard is through the Wells Fargo Network. I can look past that because it looks like they did such a great job rebranding and I’ve had no issues with signing up for this card and getting approved. They sent me a text message that I got approved for this card and it was on its way. Also, they’ve been doing such a great job with having their own dedicated app on IOS and Android Store.
Credit Score
To apply for BILT Mastercard, you will need a credit score of at least 670. However, the higher your credit score is, the better your chances are of getting approved for a credit card with favorable terms. If your credit score is 850 or above, you will likely be able to get approved.
To conclude my review, I will boldly claim that the Bilt MasterCard is one of the most valuable credit cards of 2023 for anyone who pays rent.
If you’re a homeowner, I don’t think the Bilt MasterCard will work for you. In the FAQ, they state that mortgages aren’t applicable.
If you’re paying rent to a landlord, they can mail a direct check to your landlord.
If you want to begin your journey using the Bilt MasterCard, use the link below.
Get BILT Mastercard HERE