Earn Bilt Points Through Rakuten

There were rumors last month that you would be able to choose Bilt points as a payout option when shopping through Rakuten. It all started with someone noticing on the Rakuten FAQ page that Bilt was listed as a cash out option

Someone Published an Update Too Soon

The details said: “Have your Cash Back sent as Bilt Points if you’re a Bilt Rewards member. You’ll see Cash Back deals when shopping, and will be paid in Bilt Points. Bilt Points will be sent to your Bilt account every 3 months.”

That language wasn’t a mistake but it obviously was published a month too early. There wasn’t a peep out of either company until today, November 6th where they officially confirmed their partnership.

Earn Bilt Points Through Rakuten

What is Rakuten and Why Should I Care?

For those that don’t know, Rakuten is an online shopping portal with hundreds of stores. All you have to do is follow Rakuten’s link for the store you are going to shop at and you’ll earn a certain percentage of cash back after checkout. Better yet, you can choose to be paid in American Express Membership Rewards points and now Bilt Rewards points.

If you don’t have a Rakuten account, you can join here with my link and get $50 cash back after spending $50. Basically a free shopping trip! Signing up through Bilt only earns half of that.

I value both Membership Rewards and Bilt Rewards points at 1.7 cents each. So if I spent $100 somewhere that got 2% back, I would earn $2 cash back. But because I have selected points instead I will earn 200 points which to me is worth $3.40. I’m not great at math but I do know that $3.40 > $2. It might not sound like a lot but it certainly adds up.

We’re all shopping online today, so why not earn a little extra for what you are already doing? You can also double or triple dip on these purchases. You’ll earn your credit card points which hopefully are 2x with the Citi Double Cash or Capital One Venture X. Then you’ll also earn the points through Rakuten. And if you have a card linked offer, you can each a statement credit or bonus points for the triple dip!

Lifetime, I’ve earned almost 90,000 points through Rakuten! That is more than enough for a business class flight to Europe, all by shopping online.

$895.64 equals 89,564 points! And yes, my real name is George.

Should I Earn Bilt Points or American Express Points?

There’s no one size fits all answer here. But for me, I don’t rent so I am limited on how I can earn Bilt points. I mainly do by shopping at Walgreens, on Lyft rides, and on certain dining when the restaurant is partnered with Bilt.

They also have some pretty unique transfer partners like Alaska Airlines and Japan Airlines.

Bilt also doesn’t have a huge sign up bonus on their card. That could change in February when they switch to Cardless and have three different offerings.

Lastly, as a lowly Bilt Blue member, I will only get the full amount of Bilt points for the next 6 months. After that the value is cut in half. Before that happens, I’ll switch back to earning Amex points.

Even if you already have the Bilt Mastercard, rent, and have higher than Bilt Blue status, I think it makes sense for you to earn Bilt points from Rakuten long term. Bilt points are still harder to come by than Amex. Additionally, Amex has better bonus categories than Bilt, making it easier to earn more points faster.

Wrapping Up

Raktuen has just launched a partnership with Bilt where you can earn Bilt points by shopping online through Rakuten. If you haven’t signed up for Rakuten yet, you can earn $50 cash back after your first purchase of $50 through my link. You can then choose to earn 5,000 Bilt points instead of the $50 since those 5,000 Bilt points are worth $85.