(EXPIRED) 5x everywhere for Black Friday with Bilt Rewards card

The Bilt Rewards Mastercard is out with an awesome Black Friday promotion: get 5x on all shopping (excluding rent and the usual cash-like transactions) for up to 50,000 points on Black Friday. While I have other cards I’ll be using on Friday, this is an awesome promotion given Bilt has popular partners like American Airlines, World of Hyatt, and Turkish Airlines. They are even providing a way to skip the waitlist and the ability to get an instant card number in the app for those who are looking to sign up and grab this bonus.

The Deal

• The Bilt Rewards card is offering 5x everywhere (up to 50,000 points) on Black Friday (Friday, November 26, 2021) from 12am-11:59pm Eastern Time
• If you are new to the Bilt Rewards card and you would like to skip the waitlist, you can use promo code BLACKFRIDAY (enter your code to skip the waitlist and apply here)

Key Terms

• Qualifying transactions can be made in person or online
• The following types of transactions will not count as eligible purchases:
  • rent;
  • balance transfers;
  • cash advances;
  • purchase of travellers’ checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers or similar
  cash-like transactions;
  • purchase of lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting
  transactions;
  • writing or cashing checks;
  • Insurance sales & underwriting;
  • bail and bond payments;
  • tax payments;
  • court costs & government services;
  • advertising services;
  • interest;
  • unauthorized or fraudulent charges;
  • fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable;
  • purchases made prior to signing up for the Bilt Program;
  • Discounts, gift cards, offers, promotions, coupons or any other rewards received through this Program or otherwise are not eligible for earning Points;
• See all promotion terms and conditions here.

Quick Thoughts

I published a post this morning about how Amex is filling my pockets with cards that are earning 8x-16x for the next few months, though I’m still happy to use an Ink card at Staples or Office Max now and then, so I can certainly see the appeal of earning 5x Hyatt points on all spend for the day on Black Friday. And for anyone who isn’t working on the copious amounts of highly-bonused Amex spend that we’re chipping away at in my household, the chance to earn 5x everywhere on Black Friday (on a card with no annual fee!) is very attractive.

I can’t think of a time that we’ve seen an issuer offer a blanket spending bonus specifically for Black Friday. It hits me as a terrific way for Bilt to get to the top of wallet on a shopping day where many people will be making purchases about which they are naturally excited, whether gifts for others or for themselves.

As noted at the top, Bilt has provided the code BLACKFRIDAY to skip the waitlist and apply for the card right away for those looking to take advantage of the Black Friday promotion. The Bilt Rewards app provides instant access to the digital version of the Bilt Rewards card, so you could presumably apply now and use the digital card on Friday to pay online (or perhaps add the card to Apple Pay or Google Pay to use in-store). If you are just after the 5x bonus, you could do better with other cards in terms of return on spend. Even if you highly value Hyatt points, you could open a fee-free card like the Ink Cash or Ink Unlimited and pick up 75,000 Ultimate Rewards points on $7,500 spend and transfer those points to Hyatt. The bonus on the Bilt card isn’t strong enough to justify getting the card just for the Black Friday promo.

On the other hand, if you pay rent and you aren’t currently earning rewards on it, the Bilt card continues to make sense (and we’ve written about why). But while the Bilt Rewards card is clearly most beneficial to those who rent, a promotion like this one certainly aims at broader appeal and that is exciting to see.

I still wish the card would offer a valuable welcome bonus, but some will surely look at this as a nice-enough bonus for a card with no annual fee. And for existing cardholders this promo will be a really nice value-add that might change up which card you’re planning to use on Friday.

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