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

How Bilt Rewards actually works

Bilt Rewards lets you earn points on rent or mortgage payments with no added transaction fee across three credit cards. Bilt discontinued the original Bilt Mastercard, and the last day cardholders could use it was February 6, 2026. Effective February 7, 2026, Bilt replaced it with three cards: the Bilt Blue Card ($0 annual fee), the Bilt Obsidian Card ($95 annual fee), and the Bilt Palladium Card ($495 annual fee).

All three cards let you pay rent or a mortgage with no added transaction fee while earning points on the payment. The original Bilt Mastercard covered rent only, though mortgage earning was added later as an extension to that card. None of the three cards charges a foreign transaction fee.

Bilt also removed the old rule that required a minimum number of non-rent purchases each statement period to earn points on rent. Under Card 2.0, point earnings on rent or a mortgage depend on which monthly spending tier you reach, with a 250-point floor if you fall short of every tier. Confirm current per-tier earning rates and fees directly at bilt.com.

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. Bilt's Blue Card has no annual fee, while Obsidian ($95) and Palladium ($495) do, a three-tier spread instead of one flat fee. 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 Bilt's rent-first earning model rather than 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?

Pick a Bilt card if rent or a mortgage is your largest monthly expense, and choose Chase Ultimate Rewards if you do not pay housing costs by card. You can also carry both. Using Bilt for housing alongside a Chase Sapphire card for dining and travel lets you earn rewards across your entire budget without paying duplicate fees.

Bilt discontinued its original Mastercard on February 6, 2026, and replaced it with three distinct options. You can choose the Bilt Blue Card at $0, the Bilt Obsidian Card at $95, or the Bilt Palladium Card at $495. All three cards waive foreign transaction fees and permit fee-free rent or mortgage payments.

Your choice among them depends on your non-housing budget. Bilt Blue is the simplest choice if you want zero annual overhead, while the $95 Obsidian and $495 Palladium cards require heavier retail spending to justify their annual fees. Map out your monthly expenses in our budget planner to see how much of your total spending falls outside of housing.

Chase Ultimate Rewards remains the superior choice if you do not pay rent or a mortgage by card. Without housing expenses, Chase category bonuses deliver higher overall value.

Bilt Card 2.0 limitations to know

Bilt Card 2.0 determines your housing point earnings through monthly spending tiers and places calendar-year expiration limits on Bilt Cash. Under the Bilt Card 2.0 Program Overview, Bilt removed the old rule requiring a minimum number of non-rent purchases each statement period to earn points on rent. Rent and mortgage earnings now depend on which monthly spending tier you reach, though missing every tier still secures a baseline floor of 250 points.

Tier point-earning rates change over time. Confirm current spending thresholds on Bilt's card lineup page before submitting a payment. Card 2.0 lifted an earlier constraint by removing Card 1.0's 100,000-point annual cap on rent-earned points, so your housing rewards are no longer capped.

Every Bilt 2.0 card also earns Bilt Cash at 4% back on everyday spending. This is a separate currency from Bilt Points and expires at the end of each calendar year. Up to $100 of an unused Bilt Cash balance automatically rolls over into the next year, but any amount over $100 does not.

Bilt Points do not expire unless an account has 18 months of no activity. Track your Bilt Cash balance before December 31 each year to avoid forfeiting amounts above the $100 rollover limit.

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