Bilt and Qatar Airways Privilege Club are expanding their relationship. Starting today, holders of either U.S. Qatar Airways credit card can earn 3 Avios per dollar on rent paid through Bilt, on up to $50,000 each calendar year.
That’s as many as 150,000 Avios per year which is about the cost of a U.S. – Mideast business class roundtrip award ticket. Bilt charges 3% when rent is paid with a credit card other than a Bilt card.
$50,000 in rent costs $1,500. You’re buying Avios at a penny apiece. That’s worthwhile on its own, but the transactions also generate card spend toward status (and having Qatar’s award surcharges rebated).
And merely having a Qatar credit card now unlocks the ability to use Avios for other people, after Qatar’s recent draconian new award restrictions.
How The New Qatar Rent Benefit Works
Both U.S. Qatar cards are eligible:
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club Visa Signature Credit Card
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club Visa Infinite Credit Card
Add the card to your Bilt Wallet, select it as the payment method for rent processed through Bilt, and earn a total of 3 Qatar Airways Avios per dollar on up to $50,000 of rent each calendar year.
You’re earning Avios rather than Bilt points on that rent. Qatar is also a Bilt points transfer partner. Notably, Cardless services both Qatar Airways credit cards and the current Bilt credit card portfolio.
Earning Bilt Points For Housing May Be More Valuable Than Airline Options
Qatar is the fourth airline card that can earn rewards on rent through Bilt, after Alaska Airlines, United and Air France KLM. The processing cost for each is 3%, and Alaska, Air France KLM and Qatar earn 3x while United earns 2x. I earn Bilt points at 1x with my Palladium card.
Where earning is 3x and 3% you can think of this as paying 1.5 cents apiece for the incremental 2 points per dollar, but in reality Bilt points are more valuable (and transfer to) United, Alaska and Qatar which is why I prefer the Bilt card route. Bilt is the even better option if you’re doing ‘housing only’ rather than Bilt Cash and earning 1.25 points per dollar and this applies to rent or mortgage (and I have a mortgage anyway, I don’t rent).
The Broader Case For The Qatar Cards
When these cards launched, the premium card was immediately interesting because it essentially sold oneworld Sapphire status for less than the cost of an Admirals Club membership in the first year, and provided better lounge access.
- The $99 Signature card currently offers 40,000 Avios, first-year Qatar Silver status, 4x Avios on Qatar Airways purchases, 2x dining and 1x elsewhere. It earns 2 Qpoints for every 2,000 eligible purchase Avios.
- The $499 Infinite card offers 50,000 Avios plus 150 Qpoints after meeting its initial spending requirement, first-year Qatar Gold status, 5x on Qatar Airways, 3x dining and 1x elsewhere. It earns 2 Qpoints for every 1,500 eligible purchase Avios.
Qatar Gold is oneworld Sapphire. That means access to American Airlines Admirals Clubs, Alaska Lounges and American’s business class Flagship Lounges when flying a oneworld airline including on domestic American and Alaska itineraries. You can bring an eligible guest.
That status comes automatically for the first year. Retaining it requires spend. Qatar ordinarily requires 270 Qpoints in 12 months to renew Gold. The Infinite card’s 150 initial Qpoints gets a new cardholder most of the way there. Putting $50,000 of rent on the card should generate roughly another 66 Qpoints under the card’s current terms, because only the base Avios from eligible purchases count, not bonus Avios.
That would put a first-year cardholder around 216 Qpoints, leaving approximately 54 Qpoints or $40,500 of additional eligible base spending short of Gold renewal. Qatar also requires either four Qatar-operated and marketed flight segments or at least 20% of Qpoints from Qatar flying.
Rent Can Unlock Qatar’s Reward-Fee Rebate
Both Qatar cards also offer a rebate of Qatar Airways reward fees.
- Spend $15,000 on the card during the first 12 months and the benefit activates for 12 months.
- During subsequent waiver periods, spend $25,000 to renew it for another 12 months.
- Qatar’s carrier-imposed reward fee is refunded as a statement credit after all flights in the award reservation have been flown.
- Government taxes aren’t refunded.
Rent alone could satisfy these thresholds. Someone paying $1,250 per month reaches $15,000 during the first year. Rent of about $2,084 per month reaches the subsequent $25,000 threshold.
The 3% Bilt fee then buys Avios and hundreds of dollars in Qatar award fees and it so generates Qpoints.
Qatar Just Made It Harder To Book Awards For Anyone Else
Qatar Airways imposed new restrictions on who can travel using your Avios in June.
Previously, a Privilege Club member could redeem Avios for nearly anyone. Now an award booked through Qatar Privilege Club—even an award on a partner airline—may ordinarily be issued only for:
- The account holder
- Up to four existing adult Privilege Club members added to “My List”
- Up to six people enrolled in a Family & Friends group
Members added to either group are generally locked in for six months.
The Family & Friends program also pools those members’ future Avios into the main member’s account. “My List” is for adults who already have their own Qatar accounts. Here’s a nice breakdown:
In order to use these lists, the account must be at least 30 days old and must have completed one of two qualifying activities:
- Credit a flown Qatar Airways or partner-airline flight to Privilege Club.
- Complete an eligible Qatar Airways co-branded credit card accrual transaction.
Transferring points from Bilt, American Express, Chase, Citi or another Avios program doesn’t count. Qatar will happily accept a large transferred balance but that doesn’t let you redeem those Avios for your spouse. (I do wish Bilt allowed Gold members and higher to transfer its points to other Bilt members.)
A single eligible transaction on a U.S. Qatar Airways credit card opens up these bookings. And the Infinite card, because it gives Gold status the first year, lets the member can redeem for additional people who are not on either list (Gold and Platinum members are exempt from the ordinary nominee limitation, booking over the phone).
You can still book Qatar awards through British Airways, and points transfer freely between Qatar and BA, and BA can price many but not all Qatar awards at the saver level without these restrictions. BA opens its booking calendar 5 days after Qatar does, and not every itinerary is available and some price differently. You can also credit an eligible American or Alaska flight to a Qatar account if you wish.
“You’re buying Avios at a penny apiece.” Ok, so, we were having this debate recently elsewhere: Is it really like purchasing for just ‘1 cent per point,’ or is it actually more like ‘1.5 cent per point,’ because you receive 1 point per dollar spend on rent with BILT already anyway, so it’s more like you’re buying two extra points, thus 1.5 cpp? It really comes down to gross vs. incremental cost. Yes, the absolute cost is acquiring Avios (or Atmos, etc.) at 1 cpp, but the marginal/opportunity cost is 1.5 cpp for the 2 extra points per dollar. However, unlike the Alaska promotion, there isn’t a spend-goal like $60K on Atmos Summit for the 100K Global Companion certificate within a cardmember year.
Well, I applied for a Qatar card (the $99/year card) last week. I have an 840 credit score. I was rejected for two reasons: (1) too many recent credit applications (3 in past 12 months); and (2) too little use of the cards I have (at the least, I use each of my 16 current personal cards several times a year, and about half I use frequently if not daily). I’ve never been rejected by Chase, Citi, AmEx, or Barclays (I’ve carefully observed their restrictions, including Chase’s 5/24).