Bilt Rewards is the loyalty program of the no annual fee Bilt Mastercard® (review), which is quite lucrative. This is a proper transferable points currency, allowing 1:1 transfers to a variety of partners.
Bilt Rewards has a partnership with Alaska Airlines, and if you ask me, this just became significantly more interesting, thanks to the launch of the new Atmos Rewards premium credit card. It’s having me reconsider my Bilt strategy, so let me explain…
Bilt Rewards & Alaska Atmos Rewards partnership basics
For some background, Alaska Atmos Rewards is a 1:1 transfer partner of Bilt Rewards. That’s a great use of those points, given how valuable Atmos Rewards points can be. Furthermore, Atmos Rewards doesn’t partner with any other major transferable points currency.
There’s another interesting aspect to this. Keep in mind that one of the selling points of the Bilt Mastercard is the ability to earn points for paying rent at no additional cost. However, thanks to the exclusive collaboration between the two brands, those with the Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Credit Card (review) and Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card (review) can also earn points for paying their rent:
- These cards offer 3x Atmos Rewards points for rent payments through Bilt, on up to $50,000 of spending annually (after that you earn 1x points)
- The way this works, you link your Atmos Rewards card to you Bilt account, and then Bilt will process the rent payment, and in turn, you’ll be awarded points
- The catch is that Bilt charges a 3% fee for third party credit card payments, and that applies here as well
Personally I’ve been on the fence for a long time about the math on this. Essentially, you have the choice of whether you want to earn 1x Bilt Rewards points for paying rent at no cost with the Bilt Mastercard, or 3x Atmos Rewards points for paying rent at a 3% fee with the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card or Atmos Rewards Summit Card.
In other words, would you pay a 3% fee to earn 3x Atmos Rewards points rather than 1x Bilt Rewards points? If you were to value Bilt Rewards and Atmos Rewards points equally (you should probably value Bilt points a bit more), you’d basically be buying Atmos Rewards points for 1.5 cents each.
Is it time to switch from Bilt to Atmos for rent payments?
In the past I’ve generally thought the better option is to use the Bilt Mastercard with 1x points and no fees rather than the Atmos Rewards Summit Credit Card with 3x points and a 3% fee. That’s because I basically viewed the difference in value as being breakeven, so when that’s the case, I’ll go for the option that costs me the least out of pocket.
However, I’m now reconsidering that. Why? Well, there’s a lot more potential upside with Atmos Rewards now, given the incentives for spending money on the Atmos Rewards Summit Card:
So lets say, theoretically, that you spent $50,000 per year on rent (that’s more than most spend, but I’d like to keep the numbers easy):
- You could earn 50,000 Bilt Rewards points and pay no fees
- You could pay $1,500 in fees, and earn 150,000 Atmos Rewards points, 25,000 Atmos Rewards status points, and you’d be over 80% of the way to the Global Companion Award
If being able to earn points on rent would change your ability to earn a 100,000-point Global Companion Award or to earn elite status, I think there’s significant merit to going that route.
Of course let me emphasize that everyone should crunch the numbers for themselves, and most people might not want to unnecessarily pay an extra $1,500 in fees annually. If you’re not sure which option makes more sense for you, stick to the one with the lowest out of pocket cost.
But as someone who tries to take a numbers-based approach to doing math on rewards programs, I feel pretty good about that. In the past, I thought 50,000 Bilt Rewards points vs. paying $1,500 for 150,000 Atmos Rewards points was basically a breakeven decision where you couldn’t go wrong either way.
But if you add in the Global Companion Award, and if you’re increasingly invested in earning elite status with Atmos Rewards, then I think there’s a clear winner.
Bottom line
Bilt Rewards and Alaska Atmos Rewards have a partnership. For one, Bilt Rewards points can be moved to Atmos Rewards at a 1:1 ratio, which is a nice redemption option. Beyond that, those with a personal Atmos Rewards credit card can pay a 3% fee to pay their rent by card, and then earn 3x Atmos Rewards points.
I’d say that was potentially compelling in the past, though I think it has just become even more interesting, thanks to the Atmos Rewards Summit Card. Not only will you earn 3x Atmos Rewards points per dollar spent, but you’ll earn one Atmos Rewards status point per $2 spent, and that spending will also count toward the 100,000-point Global Companion Award.
So yeah, given that I applied for this card and got approved, I think it’s time to start pursuing that strategy…
What do you make of this Bilt Rewards & Alaska Atmos Rewards partnership? Are you changing your consumer behavior?
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