Compare the Features and Benefits of Bilt Mastercard® and
Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card

What is Bilt?

The Bilt Mastercard® is the only credit card that lets you pay your rent with no transaction fees and earn one point per dollar in the process.

This works with any landlord, up to $100,000 in rent per year as long as you make 5 other purchases each statement period.

Alaska Airlines – a Bilt Rewards Transfer Partner (Image Courtesy: Alaska Airlines)

Bilt Transfer Partners

💳 This card earns Bilt Rewards points. Bilt often runs transfer bonuses where you can get even more points when you transfer to airline or hotel partners at designated times. Transfer bonuses are awesome. Get 20%, 50%, 100% or more bonus miles when you transfer points at the right times. But they are easy to miss!

You can see all past Transfer Bonuses from Bilt Rewards points.

Even better? Get notified when a new transfer bonus comes out and again before it ends (either or both, your choice). Sign up for free alerts right here. 🔔

Rent Day

On the 1st of every month, Bilt Rewards has “Rent Day” – where you’ll earn double points on dining, travel and other purchases excluding rent and tax payments (up to 1,000 bonus points each Rent Day) on that one day.

On Rent Day, they also have other bonuses and giveaways, which may include status trials on an airline or hotel partner or a points transfer bonus.

Summary

Overall, this card is pretty much a “must have” for renters, since there is no other way to earn points – with no transaction fees – when paying your rent.

There is also no annual fee to hold the card and no Foreign Transaction Fees.

I have one myself and don’t see any reason for any renter not to have it.

Disclaimers

• Rates and Fees

The market for premium travel rewards cards is crowded, and every major card issuer has a product with an annual fee of $95, or close to it. While not a creative name for a card in this class, the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card appeals to those who want the cardholder benefits of premium card, but are happy to earn cash back rewards instead points that can be transferred to frequent flier miles or points with hotel programs.

This card earns double points on all travel and dining purchases, and 1.5 points per dollar spent everywhere else. But rather than being just travel rewards points, these points can be redeemed for one cent each as statement credits, bank deposits, gift cards or travel reservations.

So far, this is pretty similar to the no-fee Bank of America Travel Rewards card. But what makes this card “premium” are its benefits.

To start off with, you receive up to a $100 credit towards the application fees of TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, which includes PreCheck. These services are used by frequent travelers to speed themselves through the lines at the airport.

You also receive up to a $100 credit towards airline incidental fees. These are the charges for things like luggage or seat selection that everyone hates, and those who use this fee each year will completely offset this card’s $95 annual fee.

It also includes an entire range of travel insurance policies such as trip delay reimbursement, trip cancellation and interruption coverage, and lost or delayed baggage reimbursement. It even comes with emergency evacuation insurance, a feature only found on a fraction of the top credit cards with annual fees over $500.

Purchase protection and extended warranty coverage are also included.

In the end, you have a card that offers a fairly simple cash back rewards program, similar to what you would find on a no fee card. But at the same time, it has all the fee credits, travel insurance and purchase protection features you’d expect to find on a much more expensive credit card.

Anyone who travels regularly, even if not frequently, will find these benefits to be worth its modest annual fee.