Best Way to Use Bilt Cash: Complete Guide for February 2026
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nextcard teamPublished Feb 24, 2026·Updated Mar 19, 2026
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nextcard teamPublished Feb 24, 2026
Best Way to Use Bilt Cash: Complete Guide for February 2026
How to Earn Bilt Cash
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Figuring out whether to use Bilt Cash for rent, credits, points transfer bonuses, or Point Accelerator feels like doing tax math.
While there is a mathematical answer to the best ways to use Bilt Cash, the complication is that each credit has monthly caps, some aren't available until March 2026, and everything except $100 Bilt Cash expires at year-end, so you need to actively track and redeem throughout the year instead of treating it like regular credit card points.
TLDR:
Bilt Cash earns at 4% on non-rent spend and expires in the calendar year earned with only $100 rolling over.
The value of each Bilt Cash redemption varies depending on how highly you value Bilt Points
Using standard point valuations for Bilt Cash, the highest valued redemption is typically for credits
Bilt Cash works differently than standard credit card rewards because you need to actively select how you want to earn. When you pick the Flexible Bilt Cash earning option (Option 2) on your Bilt Card you get 4% back in Bilt Cash on every dollar you spend outside of rent and mortgage payments. That means a $1,000 purchase nets you $40 in Bilt Cash ontop of the base earnings of the card.
The second way to earn happens automatically no matter which earning option you pick. For every 25,000 Bilt Points you rack up toward elite status, you get an extra $50 in Bilt Cash deposited into your account. Elite qualifying points include both rent and non-rent spend throughout the calendar year.
Here's what doesn't count toward that elite status threshold: referral bonuses, courtesy points from customer service, points from member surveys, and incremental campaign bonuses like the 5X for 5 Days promotion. Those points are great for your balance, but they won't trigger the $50 Bilt Cash bonus.
If you're spending $25,000 on your Bilt card in a year via non-rent expenses, you're looking at $1,000 in Bilt Cash from everyday purchases plus that $50 bonus from hitting the elite threshold.
Now that you've accumulated all that Bilt Cash, what's the best way to go about using all of it?
Using Bilt Cash for Rent and Mortgage Payments
The most direct way to use Bilt Cash is converting it into points on your monthly housing payment. Every $0.03 in Bilt Cash unlocks 1 Bilt Point when applied to rent or mortgage payments, and you won't pay any transaction fees.
There's a cap on how much you can redeem each month. You can only convert enough Bilt Cash to earn up to 1x points on your housing payment amount. If your rent is $2,000, the maximum you could earn is 2,000 points per month through Bilt Cash redemption. To unlock those 2,000 points, you'd need to spend $60 in Bilt Cash (since $30 gets you 1,000 points).
The math matters when you're deciding whether this redemption path makes sense for you. With the above example, if you value Bilt Points at 1.55 cents each, that $60 in Bilt Cash converts to 2,000 points worth about $31.00. That works out to roughly $0.51 in value per dollar of Bilt Cash you redeem.
While this isn't always the best option to redeem your Bilt Cash, it's one of the best ways to quickly redeem large amounts of it in one go.
Point Accelerator: Boosting Your Earning Rate
Point Accelerator is a Bilt Cash redemption option that temporarily boosts your earning rate, but it's only available if you have the Bilt Obsidian Card or Bilt Palladium Card. Activating this feature costs $200 in Bilt Cash and adds 1x bonus points on all everyday spend for your next $5,000 in purchases.
Once you activate Point Accelerator, the bonus expires when you hit $5,000 in spend or when the calendar year ends. You can turn this on up to five times each year, so if you're cycling through high-spend periods, you could burn through $1,000 in Bilt Cash annually on this feature alone and get an additional 25,000 points.
However, don't be fooled. The return on this redemption isn't amazing from a pure value standpoint. You're spending $200 to earn an extra 5,000 points, which comes out to about $77.50 if you're valuing Bilt Points at 1.55 cents each. That's roughly $0.39 in value per dollar of Bilt Cash.
Point Accelerator makes the most sense when you're about to make large planned purchases and/or you've already maxed out higher-value Bilt Cash redemptions. If you know you're spending $5,000 on something like a home renovation or business expenses, activating this feature beforehand lets you squeeze extra points out of spend you were making anyway.
Bilt Cash Credit Redemptions
Bilt Cash credit redemptions give you 1:1 value when you convert your balance into statement credits across the Bilt ecosystem. Unless you highly value Bilt Points or have a relevant transfer bonus in play, this is typically the highest value redemption rate available, beating out both rent conversion and Point Accelerator. The catch is that each credit category has monthly caps and specific availability windows you need to track.
Food and Dining Credits
Starting March 1, 2026, you can redeem up to $10 per month (up to $120 annually) toward restaurant or grocery delivery fulfilled through GrubHub. There's also a $5 monthly credit (up to $60 annually) for Bilt's 15-minute home delivery service powered by Gopuff, available right now.
The $300 annual restaurant credit at select Bilt Dining partners sounds appealing, but it only works with Mobile Dining Checkout at partner restaurants. As of February 2026, availability is still extremely limited, so this credit isn't universally accessible yet. You can use up to $25 per visit once per month.
Travel and Transportation Credits
Hotel bookings through the Bilt Travel Portal accept Bilt Cash with a two-night minimum stay. Blue and Silver members can redeem up to $50 monthly (up to $600 annually), while Gold and Platinum members get up to $100 monthly (up to $1,200 annually).
This credit stacks ontop of the Palladium and Obsidian's semiannual hotel credit as well.
Health and Wellness Credits
Fitness class credits let you book one group class per month at studios like SoulCycle and Barry's through the Bilt app, with up to $40 monthly (up to $480 annually) available.
Walgreens credits run $10 monthly (up to $120 annually). Using the credit this way gets you a Walgreens gift card that does not expire.
Understanding Bilt Cash Expiration Rules
Bilt Cash expires at the end of the calendar year you earned it, with only $100 Bilt Cash carrying over into the next year. For example, if you finish 2026 with $300 in Bilt Cash sitting in your account, $200 of that disappears on January 1, 2027. You keep $100 Bilt Cash, and the rest goes poof.
This expiration structure changes how you should think about accumulation. Unlike traditional credit card points that stick around indefinitely, Bilt Cash works on an annual calendar year cycle. If you're earning $1,000+ in Bilt Cash annually from everyday spend, letting it pile up without a plan means you're leaving money on the table. You must find a specific redemption for Bilt Cash or it is as good as monopoly money.
The rollover rule makes December planning important. If you're sitting on $250 in Bilt Cash in late December, you need to decide whether to redeem $150 before the year ends or accept that you're losing it. Waiting until January the next year doesn't help because the expiration already happened.
Track your Bilt Cash balance throughout the year. You need to actively redeem as you go rather than treating it like a long-term savings account.
Calculating Your Optimal Bilt Cash Strategy with nextcard Tools
We built the nextcard Bilt Cash Redemption Calculator to handle the math that other tools skip. A very common question we see is: what's the best way to use my Bilt Cash? And the answer depends on two variables:
How highly you value Bilt Points
How many Bilt Points you would transfer during a relevant transfer bonus
At the end of the day, each Bilt Cash redemption has a monetary USD value associated with it. We designed the calculator to easily help people see which Bilt Cash redemption is mathematically the best for them.
This is the only calculator out there that helps you figure out what the best use case for your Bilt Cash is.
Example of using the Bilt Cash Redemption Calculator
For instance, I value Bilt Points at a conservative 1.75 cents per point (I usually redeem them for Hyatt). I also would be willing to transfer 50,000 Bilt Points if the transfer bonus made sense (eg for Alaska Airlines or Virgin Atlantic).
As you can probably tell, reserving $75 of Bilt Cash for a Transfer Bonus promotion makes the most sense for me. Why?
For $75 Bilt Cash, I can increase my transfer bonus to the next tier (eg 50% to 75%)
By paying $75 Bilt Cash, that means I'd get 25% more points from a Transfer Bonus Promotion
With 50,000 points, that means I'd be getting 12,500 more Bilt points
12,500 Bilt points are worth $218.75 in my book
So for $75 Bilt Cash, I'm getting $218.75 in additional value, meaning $1 Bilt Cash is worth $2.92 USD
You can play around with my inputs here (your inputs are also saved in the URL, meaning it's very easy to share your results).
Final Thoughts on Your Bilt Cash Strategy
Your Bilt Cash usually works hardest when you prioritize 1:1 redemptions for travel, dining, and fitness credits before touching lower-value options. However, if you have enough points, allocating Bilt Cash for the transfer bonus promotion can make a ton of sense.
That said, while the mathematically sound answer is on credits and transfer bonuses, the easiest way to redeem lots of Bilt Cash is by redeeming it against your rent or mortgage. There is a simplicity factor at play here that makes it such that using credits may not always be the best/easiest thing to do.
FAQ
How much Bilt Cash can I earn on everyday purchases?
If you select the Flexible Bilt Cash (Option 2) earning option on your Bilt Blue, Obsidian, or Palladium you earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on all non-rent spending, meaning $1,000 in purchases gets you $40 in Bilt Cash.
What happens to my Bilt Cash at the end of the year?
All Bilt Cash expires on December 31st of the year you earned it, with only $100 rolling over to the next year—so if you have $300 in your account in 2026, you'll lose $200 on January 01, 2027 unless you redeem it first.
Can I use Bilt Cash to pay my full rent without transaction fees?
You can convert Bilt Cash into points for rent payments, but there's a monthly cap—you can only redeem enough to earn up to 1x points on your housing payment amount, which means $60 in Bilt Cash covers a $2,000 monthly rent payment.
Which Bilt Cash redemption gives me the best value?
It depends on how much you value Bilt Points and how many Bilt Points you even have.
For a conservative 1.55 CPP valuation, Bilt Cash credit redemptions give you 1:1 value ($1 Bilt Cash equals $1 in credits), making them the highest value option compared to rent conversion at roughly $0.51 per dollar or Point Accelerator at around $0.39 per dollar. That said, Points Transfer Bonus can give you immense value, but you need to (1) value Bilt Points highly enough and (2) transfer enough points during a relevant transfer bonus.
How can I determine how much Bilt Cash I'm going to earn?
Use the nextcard Bilt 2.0 Calculator, which accounts for Bilt Cash expiration rules, all redemption options with monthly caps, and Points Accelerator calculations that competitor tools like MaxMilesPoints miss.
