Ever since Bilt Rewards launched its loyalty program, the best value that you’ve been able to get has been to transfer your points to the loyalty programs of travel partners like Hyatt, American Airlines, Aeroplan, Flying Blue, etc., especially if you can time those redemptions with a substantial transfer bonus.
Other than those transfers or redeeming your points through the Bilt travel portal at a fixed 1.25 cents per point redemption rate, it’s been hard to get good value from the points outside of other occasional Rent Day promotions on the first of the month.
However, there is a third way to get good value from your Bilt Rewards points – redeeming them towards a home down payment.
The reason using your Bilt Rewards points towards a down payment can be appealing is because it offers a fixed 1.5 cents per point redemption rate. That means that if, say, you’ve saved up 150,000 Bilt points, those can be redeemed for $2,250 towards your down payment.
Being able to redeem transferable points at this rate for what is, in effect, cash will be very appealing for some people. You can certainly get better than 1.5 cents per point of value by transferring to travel partners, especially when there’s a transfer bonus going on and particularly if you have higher status in the Bilt Rewards program as that usually results in an even higher transfer ratio. However, 1.5 cents per point in cash is nothing to be sneezed at.
Be aware though that this redemption option won’t be easy to game. This page on the Bilt website has a link to a form (I’ve not linked directly to the form here just in case that particular link changes in the future). You have to provide proof of your home purchase, then you’ll work directly with Bilt’s VP of Housing who’ll then issue a check once your documents have been verified. Bilt has confirmed that they’ve already had many loyalty program members take advantage of this redemption option to help purchase a home.
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