I reported a month ago that you’d soon be able to convert Rakuten points into Bilt points. Rakuten is an online shopping portal that earns points or cash back for the purchases you make anywhere, akin to the mileage malls that work with airlines like American, United, Alaska, et al.
- What I love about Rakuten is their often-lucrative offers, and that you can choose cash back or American Express Membership Rewards points.
- But a Bilt point is worth more than an American Express point. They have better airline partners and better hotel partners to transfer points to than Membership Rewards does.
And since new members can earn 5,000 bonus points with any purchase through one of their participating merchants of $50 or more and you can spend $50 on a gift card you’ll use that’s like getting 5,000 free Bilt points, which is amazing not just because a single Bilt point is more valuable than any other mileage currency but also because they frequently run huge transfer bonuses on the first of the month. (Note that signing up as a new member through the Bilt app rather than directly with Rakuten offers just 2,500 bonus points after $25 spend.)
You can now link your Rakuten account through the Bilt app and select “Bilt Points” as your Rakuten payment method.
- $1 Rakuten Cash back is worth 100 Bilt points for the first six months of this partnership.
- After that, Bilt elite members (Silver and above) keep this transfer rate.
- However, base (Blue) members will receive just 50 ilt points per $1 Rakuten cash after that.
- So after six months it’ll be better for members without status to earn with Membership Rewards.
In addition to spending Bilt points directly at 1.25 cents apiece through their (surprisingly good) travel portal, you can transfer points to 21 different partners, which outpaces Chase Ultimate Rewards, Capital One, and American Express:
- Star Alliance: Air Canada Aeroplan, Turkish Miles & Smiles, United Airlines MileagePlus, Avianca LifeMiles, TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go
- oneworld: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, Iberia Plus, British Airways Club, Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- SkyTeam: Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Non-alliance: Emirates Skywards, Southwest Airlines, Aer Lingus Aer Club, Etihad Guest
- Hotels: World Of Hyatt, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, Accor ALL – Accor Live Limitless
Rakuten earn should go a long way towards helping me keep my Bilt (Platinum) status. Their elite status got me free airport helicopter rides this year and Air France Gold status (free checked begs, priority and free exit row seats on Delta) and Accor Platinum status.
Bilt Rewards lets you earn miles paying rent with any credit card – not just the Bilt card. Soon they’ll offer points for paying mortgages, too.
Bilt Rewards is a must join program. I use it to great option for stacking earning on Lyft rides. You earn points with Walgreens. They have great restaurants for points-earning – the standard Rewards Network dining portfolio but actually good restaurants, also. And great monthly ‘rent day’ promotions for points transfers (bigger bonuses than anyone else has ever offered) as well as meals and comedy shows.
If I don’t rent, and don’t have a mortgage, how do I earn points on this program?
Very nice.
Somewhat related, Lululemon will be 15x through Rakuten on Saturday 11/8 for those Plat holders that haven’t used their quarterly $75 yet!
That’s a good deal for Rakuten (users); and, probably a bad deal for BILT (the company).
I’m just gonna keep saying it, until someone can prove me wrong: I remain skeptical of whether BILT will survive once WF is out. Never forget what Cardless did to Celtics card members (shutdowns without warning.)
The real issue is that without a major ‘too-big-to-fail’ backer like a Wells Fargo, BILT’s days are numbered. BILT offering points on rent payments with no transaction fee is a net cost for the card partner (Wells Fargo) due to the points they award. BILT cannot possibly offset this cost merely by increasing the use of the card for high-interchange non-rent purchases or by expanding its merchant and neighborhood network enough. Rakuten doesn’t help this at all; they’ll be *adding* liabilities, not reducing them!
So, especially beyond January 2026, 2.0c do not hoard any of these points. Earn ’em, and burn ’em. As Immortan Joe would say: “Do not, my friends, become addicted to (BILT). It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence!”
Is there an exact end date for the first six months. Rakuten takes forever to confirm points and has four quarterly transfer dates. Six months from today is May 6. That means unless you are a bilt status member you only get the favorable transfer rate on 11/15/25 and 2/15/26, correct? 5/15/26 is outside of the six month window.
I love Rakuten. I like the idea of earning Bilt points to transfer to Atmos. But there is an incredibly limited window to do so unless you intend to have a deeper relationship with Bilt. And lots of uncertainty about what Cardless will bring next year, no?
Am I missing something?