transferable bank currency

Bilt Rewards: is it worth collecting?

Yes, if you rent. Bilt is the only way to earn a transferable currency on rent, and it reaches World of Hyatt at 1:1 exactly as Chase does — so a payment that earned nothing now earns the best hotel currency in the market. Earning is capped by your rent, not by the redemption side.

Updated Card terms modeled, not yet reconciled against issuer disclosures — what that means

Is Bilt Rewards worth using?

Collect it if

  • You pay rent and have no other way to put it on a card.
  • You want Hyatt and a broad airline list from a single balance.

Look elsewhere if

  • You own your home, at which point the earning proposition largely disappears.
  • You need a balance to build quickly — the rent cap decides how fast it can.

What is one Bilt Rewards point worth?

Short answer

1.85¢ in the Award Rate Q3 2026 model, the median of 4,380 sampled redemptions priced against the cash cost of the same booking on the same date. Half of those redemptions returned less than that figure. It ranks 2 of 5 among the bank currencies we value, where the category median is 1.8¢.

How the number is derived

The published Award Rate figure for Bilt Points, the median of 4,380 sampled redemptions. World of Hyatt at 1:1 and a transfer list that mirrors the strongest bank currencies carry it. What is unusual is that nothing caps it from below: Bilt has no meaningful cash floor, so the valuation is almost entirely a transfer valuation, and the number would fall sharply if the partner list ever narrowed.

Bilt Rewards’s pricing mechanism

How does Bilt Rewards price an award?

What it means in practice

No award chart — priced through partners. There is no award chart here, because there are no awards here. A bank currency buys nothing directly; it becomes a partner’s currency and then prices at whatever that partner charges. So its value is not one mechanism but a weighted blend of every partner’s — plus the fixed-value floor the bank will always take the points back at, which is where a large share of real redemptions actually happen.

Read the pricing mechanism before the valuation, not after it. The valuation is a consequence of the mechanism rather than an independent fact about the program: a currency priced off the cash fare cannot beat the cash fare by much, however well you redeem, and a currency governed by a published table holds its value until the table changes.

How to earn Bilt Rewards points

Bilt Rewards is earned on credit card spend and nowhere else, which is the defining feature of a transferable currency: no flying and no stays are required to build a balance. Points from several cards in the same family generally pool into one account, so a no-annual-fee card can feed a balance that only becomes transferable through a premium one.

Cards that build a Bilt Rewards balance

This card earns Bilt Rewards directly. Full terms for each are linked at the foot of this page.

Bilt World Elite Mastercard®

Wells Fargo · Mastercard

4.2Our rating

Welcome bonus
None
Annual fee
$0
Read our full Bilt Mastercard review

No apply link until we have reconciled this card’s rates and fees against Wells Fargo’s own pricing-and-terms disclosure. The analysis stands; the figures below are modeled, and we will not send you to an application on numbers we have not read off the issuer ourselves.

Terms ApplyNo annual fee · 21.24% – 29.49% variable APRmodeled — see issuer for current rates

See full rates & feesHide rates & fees
Annual fee
$0
Purchase APR
21.24% – 29.49% variable
Foreign transaction fee
None
Late payment fee
Up to $41
Returned payment fee
Up to $41
Minimum interest charge
$1.00

The Bilt Mastercard is issued by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. pursuant to a license from Mastercard International Incorporated. Rates, rewards and benefits are subject to change.

These figures model Wells Fargo’s published terms and have NOT been reconciled against Wells Fargo’s pricing-and-terms disclosure. Last edited (not verified) . Confirm current terms on the issuer’s page before you apply. Wells Fargo rates & terms

Bilt Rewards transfer partners

All 17 partners Bilt Rewards publishes — including the ones we tell readers not to use, because a partner list with its bad entries removed cannot be used to make a decision. Ranked by what one point is worth after the transfer rather than by the ratio, which is the only ordering that answers the question you are asking.

Bilt Rewards transfer partners, ranked by what a point is worth after the transferAll 17 published partners. “One point becomes” applies the transfer ratio to our published valuation of the destination currency. Gain and loss are measured against keeping the points as Bilt Rewards at 1.85¢ per point, which is what these points are worth if you do nothing — how we value points. Ratios and partner list verified .
Transfer timeTypical, not guaranteedSweet spot — what to actually book
World of HyattWe value this currency at 1.9¢ per point1:1Instant to 2 hours1.9¢About even+0.05¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsCategory 1–4 standard rooms off Hyatt’s fixed chart, where a points price that does not follow the cash rate is worth the most. Bilt and Chase are the only two currencies that reach Hyatt.Transfer bonuses: Appears in Rent Day promotions periodically, which is more than Chase has ever offered on Hyatt.
Turkish Airlines Miles&SmilesWe value this currency at 1.6¢ per point1:1Instant to 48 hours1.6¢Loses value−0.25¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsStar Alliance business class to Europe and United-operated domestic and Hawaii awards off Turkish’s fixed chart.Transfer bonuses: Featured on Rent Day periodically. Turkish miles hard-expire three years from the date earned.
Air Canada AeroplanWe value this currency at 1.5¢ per point1:1Instant to 24 hours1.5¢Loses value−0.35¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsStar Alliance business class to Europe off the published distance table, with a 5,000-point stopover on the one-way.Transfer bonuses: A recurring Rent Day partner, typically 20–100% on the first of the month.
Alaska Atmos RewardsWe value this currency at 1.5¢ per point1:1Instant to 24 hours1.5¢Loses value−0.35¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsA one-way partner award with a free stopover — a single redemption to Asia that includes several days in a partner hub for no extra miles. Bilt is the only bank currency that reaches Mileage Plan.Transfer bonuses: Featured in Rent Day bonuses, occasionally at 100%.
American Airlines AAdvantageWe value this currency at 1.45¢ per point1:1Instant to 24 hours1.45¢Loses value−0.40¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsAAdvantage Web Specials, which discount business class below the standard award level, and Qatar Qsuite awards priced at a fixed level. Bilt is the only transferable currency in the United States that reaches AAdvantage at all — that single relationship is the strongest argument for the program.Transfer bonuses: Featured in Rent Day bonuses. American has never allowed a bank transfer bonus larger than the Rent Day promotions, and the partnership itself is the benefit.
Avianca LifeMilesWe value this currency at 1.4¢ per point1:1Instant to 24 hours1.4¢Loses value−0.45¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsLufthansa and Swiss business class with no carrier surcharges — an award that settles for under $100 in cash.Transfer bonuses: A recurring Rent Day partner at 20–50%.
Virgin Atlantic Flying ClubWe value this currency at 1.4¢ per point1:1Instant1.4¢Loses value−0.45¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsANA round-trip business class between the US and Japan off Virgin’s fixed partner table.Transfer bonuses: Featured on Rent Day several times a year.
British Airways Executive ClubWe value this currency at 1.35¢ per point1:1Instant1.35¢Loses value−0.50¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsShort-haul American and Alaska segments priced by distance band. Bilt reaches both AAdvantage and Avios, so you can price the same domestic hop two ways and take the cheaper.Transfer bonuses: Featured on Rent Day periodically.
Iberia PlusWe value this currency at 1.35¢ per point1:1Instant to 24 hours1.35¢Loses value−0.50¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsOff-peak Madrid–US business class on Iberia metal with modest surcharges.Transfer bonuses: Featured with the other Avios programs on Rent Day.
United MileagePlusWe value this currency at 1.35¢ per point1:1Instant1.35¢Loses value−0.50¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsExcursionist Perk itineraries, where an entire segment in a second region prices at zero miles.Transfer bonuses: Occasionally featured on Rent Day.
Aer Lingus AerClubWe value this currency at 1.3¢ per point1:1Instant1.3¢Loses value−0.55¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsOff-peak Dublin–US business class, the cheapest low-surcharge transatlantic Avios award.Transfer bonuses: Featured with the other Avios programs.
Air France-KLM Flying BlueWe value this currency at 1.3¢ per point1:1Instant to 24 hours1.3¢Loses value−0.55¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsMonthly Promo Rewards on Air France and KLM business class, discounted 25–50%.Transfer bonuses: Regularly featured on Rent Day.
Cathay Pacific Asia MilesWe value this currency at 1.3¢ per point1:1Instant to 48 hours1.3¢Loses value−0.55¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsCathay business class to Hong Kong on a distance chart, with member-only space.Transfer bonuses: Occasionally featured on Rent Day.
Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMilesWe value this currency at 1.3¢ per point1:1Instant to 48 hours1.3¢Loses value−0.55¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsA second route into the Alaska ecosystem via HawaiianMiles conversion. Since Bilt also transfers to Alaska Mileage Plan directly at 1:1, this is worth using only if a bonus makes it cheaper. Confirm current conversion terms first.Transfer bonuses: Occasionally featured on Rent Day.
Emirates SkywardsWe value this currency at 1.1¢ per point1:1Instant to 24 hours1.1¢Loses value−0.75¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsEmirates first class departing Asia, where surcharges are lowest.Transfer bonuses: Occasionally featured on Rent Day.
Marriott BonvoyWe value this currency at 0.7¢ per point1:124–48 hours0.7¢Loses value−1.15¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsNone worth naming — a 1.85¢ point becoming a 0.7¢ point. Use only to complete a Bonvoy balance for a booking you have already found.Transfer bonuses: Occasionally featured on Rent Day, which still does not make the maths work.
IHG One RewardsWe value this currency at 0.6¢ per point1:124 hours0.6¢Loses value−1.25¢ vs. keeping the points as Bilt RewardsA four-night InterContinental stay for an IHG Premier cardholder, where the fourth night is free. Outside that, IHG’s own points sales are a cheaper way to top up.Transfer bonuses: Occasionally featured on Rent Day.

Transfers are one-way and permanent. No bank has ever reversed one. Confirm the ratio on Bilt Rewards’s own transfer page and find award space in the partner’s program before you move a single point — a transfer made against space that turns out not to exist cannot be undone. Points expire after 24 months with no qualifying earning or redeeming activity. Paying rent through the Bilt app, any card transaction, a dining-program purchase or a transfer out all count as activity, so an account in ordinary use never approaches expiration. Closing the Bilt card does not immediately forfeit the balance, but it removes the main way of generating the activity that keeps it alive.

The redemptions that make Bilt Rewards worth collecting

A currency is worth collecting because of specific redemptions, not because of an average. These are the ones that justify Bilt Rewards, ranked by what one transferred point is worth when it lands.

  1. Bilt Rewards World of Hyatt1:1 · 1.9¢ per point transferred · Instant to 2 hours

    Category 1–4 standard rooms off Hyatt’s fixed chart, where a points price that does not follow the cash rate is worth the most. Bilt and Chase are the only two currencies that reach Hyatt.

  2. Bilt Rewards Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles1:1 · 1.6¢ per point transferred · Instant to 48 hours

    Star Alliance business class to Europe and United-operated domestic and Hawaii awards off Turkish’s fixed chart.

  3. Bilt Rewards Alaska Atmos Rewards1:1 · 1.5¢ per point transferred · Instant to 24 hours

    A one-way partner award with a free stopover — a single redemption to Asia that includes several days in a partner hub for no extra miles. Bilt is the only bank currency that reaches Mileage Plan.

  4. Bilt Rewards Air Canada Aeroplan1:1 · 1.5¢ per point transferred · Instant to 24 hours

    Star Alliance business class to Europe off the published distance table, with a 5,000-point stopover on the one-way.

  5. Bilt Rewards American Airlines AAdvantage1:1 · 1.45¢ per point transferred · Instant to 24 hours

    AAdvantage Web Specials, which discount business class below the standard award level, and Qatar Qsuite awards priced at a fixed level. Bilt is the only transferable currency in the United States that reaches AAdvantage at all — that single relationship is the strongest argument for the program.

  6. Bilt Rewards Avianca LifeMiles1:1 · 1.4¢ per point transferred · Instant to 24 hours

    Lufthansa and Swiss business class with no carrier surcharges — an award that settles for under $100 in cash.

  7. Bilt Rewards Virgin Atlantic Flying Club1:1 · 1.4¢ per point transferred · Instant

    ANA round-trip business class between the US and Japan off Virgin’s fixed partner table.

  8. Bilt Rewards United MileagePlus1:1 · 1.35¢ per point transferred · Instant

    Excursionist Perk itineraries, where an entire segment in a second region prices at zero miles.

What Bilt Rewards does well, and what it does badly

The weaknesses below are the reason the strengths are worth believing. Every one of them is something we have watched cost a reader money or a booking.

What Bilt Rewards does well

  • The only transferable currency in the United States that reaches American AAdvantage, and one of only two that reach World of Hyatt and Alaska Mileage Plan. Between them those three relationships cover the gaps in every competing bank program.
  • Rent Day on the first of each month brings a rotating transfer bonus, so in most months the effective ratio to at least one partner is better than 1:1 — a predictable cadence, which Amex’s more frequent but unscheduled bonuses are not.
  • Points are earned on rent, the largest line item in most household budgets, with no payment-processing fee — a category no other rewards currency can reach at scale.
  • All seventeen partners transfer at 1:1. There is not a single penalty ratio anywhere on the list, which is true of no other bank currency.
  • The Bilt card carries no annual fee, so the entire transferable ecosystem is available at zero holding cost.

What Bilt Rewards does badly

  • Earning is structurally capped. Your rent is what it is, and the card requires five transactions in a statement period before rent points post at all — you cannot spend your way to a large balance the way you can with Amex or Chase.
  • The 2025 program restructure changed earning tiers and the rent multiplier, and Bilt has revised its terms more often than any competing program. A strategy built on today’s earn rates has a shorter shelf life here.
  • There is no cash-out floor worth using. Bilt points redeemed for statement credit or merchandise are worth well under a cent, so the currency is transfer-or-nothing — if the partner list ever narrows, the valuation falls with it and there is no backstop.
  • The transfer engine and customer service are the least mature of the five bank programs, and failed or delayed transfers are more common than at Chase or Amex.
  • Only one card earns the currency, so there is no way to build an ecosystem of complementary earning products the way Chase, Amex and Citi allow.

Do Bilt Rewards points expire?

Policy in full

Points expire after 24 months with no qualifying earning or redeeming activity. Paying rent through the Bilt app, any card transaction, a dining-program purchase or a transfer out all count as activity, so an account in ordinary use never approaches expiration. Closing the Bilt card does not immediately forfeit the balance, but it removes the main way of generating the activity that keeps it alive.

Expiration policy is the fact most worth checking before you build a balance and the one most often stated loosely elsewhere. An inactivity clock that any qualifying activity resets is a mild inconvenience; a hard deadline that runs from the day the points land is a different kind of risk entirely, and it changes whether a speculative transfer into this program is defensible at all.

Policy above verified against the program’s own terms on . If it has changed since, tell us and we will log the correction.

Frequently asked questions

  • How much is one Bilt Rewards point worth?

    1.85¢ in the Award Rate Q3 2026 model. That is the median, not the maximum — half of the redemptions behind it returned less. The published Award Rate figure for Bilt Points, the median of 4,380 sampled redemptions. World of Hyatt at 1:1 and a transfer list that mirrors the strongest bank currencies carry it. What is unusual is that nothing caps it from below: Bilt has no meaningful cash floor, so the valuation is almost entirely a transfer valuation, and the number would fall sharply if the partner list ever narrowed.
  • Is Bilt Rewards better than Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles and Citi ThankYou Points?

    Not on value per point. Bilt Rewards is worth 1.85¢ against 1.75¢, the median of the other 4 bank currencies we value, and Chase Ultimate Rewards leads the category at 1.9¢. Per-point value is not the whole comparison — how fast a program earns, and whether it has properties or routes where you actually travel, can outweigh it — but it is the part that is comparable, and this is where it lands. Every currency we value, side by side.
  • Which programs can I transfer Bilt Rewards to?

    Bilt Rewards publishes 17 transfer partners. The ones worth using are American Airlines AAdvantage, World of Hyatt, Alaska Atmos Rewards; the full list, with ratios, transfer times and what one point is worth after each conversion, is in the table on this page.
  • What is the biggest mistake people make with Bilt Rewards?

    Missing the monthly transaction requirement that turns a rent payment into points in the first place. It is the failure mode we see most often, and in a program with dynamic pricing there is no chart to fall back on when it goes wrong.

About the author

Editor, Award Rate

Nicholas Miles writes and maintains every page on Award Rate, and the site is built so that none of those pages has to be taken on faith: every card figure is rendered from a structured record that is checked against the issuer’s own pricing-and-terms disclosure, and the build fails if a number appears in prose instead. The points side of the site is lived-in rather than theoretical — Nicholas holds and tracks balances across ten loyalty programs — transferable bank currencies and the airline and hotel programs they feed — and recently took the family on a multi-stop award trip across Korea, Japan and Hawaii, flown mostly on points — the multi-seat, fixed-dates redemption problem most points advice quietly ignores. The conflicts that come with that are disclosed rather than hidden: the editor personally collects and redeems points in programs this site covers, the site is funded by affiliate commission disclosed on every offer page, and no issuer, airline or hotel group has any other relationship with it.

  • Personally earns, tracks and redeems points and miles across ten loyalty programs
  • Built the Award Rate card-data model and the verification gates every published figure must pass
  • Booked and flew a multi-stop family award trip across Korea, Japan and Hawaii, mostly on points

Disclosures and sourcing

How Award Rate makes money

Award Rate is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment or financial advisor. Some of the card offers on this site are from advertisers who compensate us when you are approved through our links. That compensation may affect where and in what order offers appear, but it never affects our ratings, our point valuations, or what we recommend. We do not review every card on the market, and card offers displayed here may not include all available offers.

Where the numbers come from

Our editorial team writes and scores every review before any commercial arrangement is considered. Issuers do not review, approve, or endorse our content.

Dollar values are derived from the published Award Rate valuation model rather than from issuer marketing, and the model is republished with its sample sizes each quarter.

Rates and terms for the cards on this page

These figures are modeled, not reconciled. Cards marked modeled below carry figures that describe the product at plausible terms but have not yet been read off the issuer’s own pricing-and-terms disclosure by an Award Rate editor. Treat every number attached to a modeled card as indicative only, and confirm the current terms on the issuer’s page — linked for each card below — before you apply. Our reconciliation process, and what changes when a card moves to verified, is described in our methodology.