Bilt Rewards vs Chase Ultimate Rewards: Which Points Program Is Worth It?

How Bilt Rewards actually works

Bilt Rewards centers on the Bilt Mastercard, a card built specifically so renters can earn points on rent without their landlord needing to accept credit cards directly and without the cardholder paying a swipe fee that a typical third-party rent-payment service would charge. You pay rent through the Bilt app, the payment is processed like a normal ACH or check transaction on the landlord's end, and Bilt awards points on top.

Bilt has also extended the same fee-free idea to homeowners: eligible members can earn points on a mortgage payment through the Bilt app, using the same no-swipe-fee mechanic as rent. That makes Bilt one of the few rewards programs that pays points on either side of the rent-versus-own decision, not just renters. Outside of rent and mortgage payments, the Bilt Mastercard also earns points on everyday categories such as dining, travel, and other purchases, so it can function as a primary card rather than a single-purpose rent tool. The card carries no annual fee, which matters because a no-fee card earning points on rent is a genuinely rare combination — most cards either charge a fee or don't touch rent at all.

The catch is eligibility: the fee-free rent earning only applies when your landlord or property management company is set up as a participating payment recipient in the Bilt system, and monthly rent transactions typically need to hit a minimum number of card uses that month to count toward some of Bilt's other perks. Check bilt.com for the current qualifying rules, since the details of how landlords get onboarded have evolved over time.

How Chase Ultimate Rewards actually works

Chase Ultimate Rewards isn't a single card — it's the points currency shared across the Chase Freedom, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and Chase Sapphire Reserve cards (among others). You earn points based on the specific card's bonus categories: think rotating or fixed categories like dining, travel, streaming, and groceries, depending on which card you hold.

The program's real strength shows up when you hold more than one eligible Chase card, because points earned on a no-annual-fee Freedom card can typically be combined into the same Ultimate Rewards account as points from a Sapphire card. That combining matters because redemption value is usually much better through a card that unlocks premium redemption options (like transferring to travel partners) than through a card that only allows cash back or statement credit.

Chase's Sapphire cards carry annual fees — the Preferred's is lower, the Reserve's is higher — in exchange for stronger earning rates on travel and dining, transfer-partner access, and (on the Reserve) airport lounge access and travel credits. The no-fee Freedom card earns into the same pool but can't transfer points to partners on its own; it needs to be paired with a Sapphire card. Check chase.com for the current fee and earning-rate details, since Chase periodically adjusts them.

Transfer partners and redemption value

Both programs get most of their real value from transferring points to airline and hotel loyalty programs rather than redeeming for cash back or a flat-rate statement credit — a 1:1 transfer to the right partner at the right time routinely stretches a point further than any fixed-value redemption.

Bilt's transfer partners span major domestic and international airlines along with hotel programs — names like American, United, and major hotel chains such as Hyatt have historically been part of the network. Chase Ultimate Rewards has its own separate partner list, which has historically included United, Southwest, and hotel programs such as Hyatt and Marriott Bonvoy. Both lists change: airlines and hotels rotate in and out, transfer ratios get adjusted, and new partners occasionally get added. Rather than lean on a specific partner list here, confirm the current lineup directly at bilt.com and chase.com before you plan a redemption around a particular airline or hotel.

The practical difference: Chase's ecosystem is broader because it's fed by multiple cards with different bonus categories, so a heavy traveler can accumulate a larger transferable balance faster. Bilt's ecosystem is narrower but effectively free to access on rent — a renter earning steadily on a fixed monthly payment can still build a meaningful transfer-partner balance over a year without changing their spending habits at all.

Annual fees and welcome offers: what actually changes the math

Annual fees are the clearest structural difference. The Bilt Mastercard has no annual fee, full stop, which is unusual for a card offering airline and hotel transfer partners. Chase's no-fee Freedom card also charges nothing, but the cards that unlock transfer partners — Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve — do carry annual fees, with the Reserve's fee sitting meaningfully higher in exchange for premium perks like lounge access and annual travel credits. Check chase.com for current figures before applying, since Chase adjusts both the fee and the perks periodically.

Welcome offers are worth understanding as a structure rather than a number, because any specific dollar figure quoted today will likely be stale within months. Chase's Sapphire cards typically offer a bonus tied to hitting a minimum spend threshold within the first few months — the bigger the required spend, the bigger the bonus tends to be. Bilt's welcome offers have historically been smaller or more promotional, consistent with a no-annual-fee card that earns its keep on rent rather than on a big upfront bonus. When comparing offers, divide the bonus value by the spend requirement to get an apples-to-apples return, and always check the issuer's page directly rather than a card comparison site's cached numbers.

One more cost that's easy to miss: a third-party rent-payment app that isn't built for it will often charge 2–3% to run rent through a credit card. Bilt's whole value proposition is eliminating that fee for participating landlords, so the fee comparison for renters isn't really "Bilt vs Chase" — it's "Bilt's free rent-to-points conversion" vs "paying a fee elsewhere to do the same thing badly."

Which one should you get — and can you use both?

If your rent goes to a landlord or property manager set up with Bilt, get the Bilt Mastercard. There is close to no downside: it has no annual fee, it earns points on the single biggest recurring bill most renters have, and it still earns on everyday spend elsewhere. Skipping it means leaving points on the table for a payment you're making anyway.

If you don't pay rent to a participating landlord — you own your home, or your landlord isn't set up with Bilt — Chase Ultimate Rewards is the stronger everyday program for most people, especially frequent travelers. A Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve card's bonus categories, transfer partners, and travel protections generally outearn a no-rent Bilt card on the same discretionary spend, and Chase's ability to pool points across multiple cards adds flexibility Bilt's single-card model doesn't have.

You can absolutely carry both. There's no rule against holding a Bilt Mastercard alongside a Chase Sapphire card — the two run on separate points currencies with separate transfer-partner networks, so you're not stacking the same points twice. A common setup: put rent on Bilt to capture points on a payment that would otherwise earn nothing, and put dining, travel, and other bonus-category spend on a Chase card to maximize everything else. Track both balances with our budget planner so rent and discretionary spend stay in their own lanes and neither program's minimum-spend or category rules catch you off guard.

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