Lazy Guide: Bilt Cash

Tl;dr: A dollar of Bilt Cash can be worth $1 or more—but not everywhere. Use it for Rent Day upgrades when they’re good, redeem at face value for everyday purchases, or set it to housing rewards for easy, steady value.

We’re well into Bilt 2.0, and while the rollout was… messy, one piece of the puzzle is starting to come into focus: the value of Bilt Cash. I’ve been keeping my eye on the currency over the past few weeks, and I want to circle back to two big questions from that Bilt 2.0 transition: 

• How much is Bilt Cash worth? 

• And which redemptions are best?

What is Bilt Cash?

Bilt Cash is a flexible rewards currency, separate from Bilt points. Bilt Cash is earned in several ways:

• $100-300 as a welcome bonus when getting a Bilt card

• $200 annually for having a Bilt Palladium

• 4% back for each dollar spent on a Bilt card (if chosen over housing-only rewards)

• $50 for each 25,000 Bilt points earned toward Bilt status each year

Only a maximum of $100 in Bilt Cash can be rolled over to the new calendar year, so it’s important to make good use of it throughout the year. 

Bilt Cash Value: What Each Redemption Is Worth

Greatest upside: Rent Day transfer bonus upgrades

A dollar of Bilt Cash can be worth well more than a dollar when exchanged for a higher Rent Day transfer bonus, at least if: (a) you redeem enough points, (b) the bonus is high enough, and (c) the transfer is to a sufficiently valuable points currency. 

For example, for March’s Rent Day I spent $135 in Bilt Cash to transfer 80,000 Bilt points to JAL with a 75% transfer bonus instead of 50%. That meant I needed 14,000 fewer Bilt points. Conservatively valuing the Bilt points at 1.25¢ each, that $135 in Bilt Cash was worth $175+ in points. And I was able to use those points to book business class tickets that cost around $4,500 each, so with some points-influencer math, that jumps to ~$700 in “value.”

But not every Rent Day will offer that much value, so make sure it’s a good deal before transferring. We break down every Rent Day here on the blog and in our Sunday newsletter, LazyPoints Weekly. 

Some redemptions can offer dollar-for-dollar value—or close

Some redemptions are simple: you use Bilt Cash in place of actual money. The risk is overspending on things you wouldn’t have bought anyway—but if you’re using it for normal purchases, it’s effectively $1 for $1.

Everyone’s spending habits are different, but I think the most likely redemption options to fall into this category are Lyft rides, Walgreens, and Bilt Hotels redemptions. 

Housing rewards: at least 41¢ per dollar of Bilt Cash

Bilt Cash can be redeemed for points on housing (rent and/or mortgage) payments at a fixed value. If you value Bilt points conservately at 1.25¢ each, each dollar of Bilt Cash earns 41¢ worth of points. Of course, they can be worth even more (or less) with other redemptions, and potentially even more if those points are ultimately redeemed with a Rent Day transfer bonus.

The advantage of housing rewards is that you can set it and forget it—earning a steady stream of Bilt points without having to hunt for good Bilt Cash redemptions.

Point accelerator: 31¢ if maximized

If you fully maximize the accelerator, it’s worth about 31¢ per dollar of Bilt Cash ($200 becomes 5,000 points, with a value of about $62.50 at 1.25¢ each). That’s solid—but not great.

It can be a useful low-effort option if you have excess Bilt Cash, but there’s a big catch: it expires at the end of the calendar year, whether you’ve earned all 5,000 points or not. So make sure you can maximize this benefit before you redeem Bilt Cash this way. 

What about housing-only rewards instead of Bilt Cash?

I nerded out on this, but I’ll save you the spreadsheets. As long as your card spending is within 25%-125% of your housing payments (you don’t want to fall outside this range), it’s the equivalent of earning Bilt Cash and getting about 31-61¢ per dollar, depending on where you fall in that range (it’s not linear).

Lazy Take 🦥

Bilt Cash doesn’t need to be optimized constantly to provide excellent value.

The point accelerator can be a useful entry point (it’s how I started), but it’s riskier long term. Instead, eventually moving to housing rewards offers solid, set-and-forget value.

If you want to do even better, though, some dollar-for-dollar redemptions can beat that—and Rent Day transfer upgrades are where Bilt Cash can truly supercharge your points strategy.