September is upon us, and with that there’s a new Bilt Rent Day promotion. I’ve written extensively about Bilt following the grand revamp that led to the recent going-live of Bilt 2.0. While I don’t think trying to earn points on rent or mortgage is worth it for many of us, the credit cards have some merit and the Bilt Rewards points currency are still valuable because of their transfer partners.

Fortunately, one thing definitely stayed the same: Bilt’s monthly Rent Day promotions typically grant some sort of transfer bonus. For September, it’s to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Is it worth taking advantage of?

What is Bilt?

For those not familiar, Bilt is a credit card that allows you to pay your rent or mortgage. It’s been a popular card for renters for a long time given how easy it’s been to earn points on rent for a few years now. Ultimately it was perhaps too good to be true and earning points on rent has been made quite a bit harder since early February, since there are particular spending requirements now for earning points on rent. However, as part of those changes, points on mortgages have now been enabled, so that’s nice. For all the details on how to earn points with Bikt on rent, see my full analysis.

Part of the Bilt ecosystem are also three credit card, from a basic no annual fee card, to the premium Palladium card with a $495 annual fee. Each have their pros and cons, but I have argued that the Palladium card is the most notifying and should allow to recoup the annual fee while also earning Bilt points at a good rate.

In the end, I think that the major point of interest with Bilt is in its Bilt Rewards points currency and specifically the transfer partners that it offers. That brings us to Bilt Rent Day, and the Rent Day promotion for September.

What is Bilt Rent Day?

‘Bilt Rent Day’ is a monthly promo that runs on the first day of every month. Here ‘Rent Day’ refers to the first of the month, since that’s typically when rent is due. The Rent Day promotion usually has a standing component, namely 2x on points earning on top of your card’s usual earning rates on all the non-rent purchases you do on the first of the month, and a revolving component.

These revolving components of the Rent Day promotions have included all sorts of perks, from transfer bonuses and increased points earning rates to credits at select merchants. Typically, the bonuses are tiered, such that those with higher Bilt status will be able to reap greater benefits from these promotions. Importantly, whatever the promotion is, it’s only for the first of the month! So, make use of it while it’s live if it’s something you’re interested in!

Bilt Rent Day Promotion for September: 25-100% Transfer Bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

For the September Bilt Rent Day promotion, live on September 1st, Bilt is offering a transfer bonus to Virgin Atlnatic. The bonus is tiered:

• Those with Bilt Blue get a 25% bonus.
• Those with Bilt Silver get a 35% bonus.
• Those with Bilt Gold get a 45% bonus.
• Those with Bilt Platinum get a 75% bonus.

Note that you can redeem $150 Bilt Cash to upgrade your status by one tier temporarily, for the purposes of getting a better bonus. Those with Bilt Platinum can use the same amount of Bilt Cash to ‘upgrade’ their transfer bonus to 100%.

Normally you can transfer Bilt points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club at a 1:1 rate, so temporarily you could get up to a 1:2 transfer rate (that’s if you are platinum and choose to upgrade your bonus). Note that you can transfer only up to 150.000 points.

Is this transfer bonus worth taking advantage of?

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is one of those programs where the most straightforward redemptions may not be the most interesting. That is because for flights on its own metal. Virgin Atlantic uses a dynamic pricing system with a known minimum for off-peak flights (which I talked about here). This can provide an excellent value, with business class flights between the US and the UL as low as 29.000 points, but with a very high $500-700 in taxes and fees. So, realistically, you may wan tto make those redemptions through other Skyteam programs, such as Flying Blue.

Instead, Virgin Atlantic is known for providing access to well-priced ANA business class flights starting at 60.000 points, though these can be hard to find and require calling Virgin Atlantic, as these are not bookable online. Other uses for Virgin Atlantic can be to book Skyteam partner airlines, such as when my husband and I booked AeroMexico JFK-MEX for last Christmas. Or, Virgin Atlantic also allows for bookings on LATAM, one of the largest airlines in South America. For example, to fly from New York-JFK to Lima, Peru in business class for 50.000 points and $56 in taxes and fees: go see Machu Picchu!

So overall, I think there’s plenty of upside to transferring points to Virgin Atlantic. Points don’t expire, so even if you don’t have plans to use them right now, they are okay being parked there for a little bit. That said, I generally don’t recommend transferring without a clear purpose.

Summary

Bilt announced the September 1st Rent Day Promotion, which is a transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic of between 25-100%. This can be a useful bonus to take advantage of, for example for flights to Europe, South America or Asia, though make sure you can find the flight of interest and only transfer your points when you have confirmed. I’d say there is value in speculatively transferring points as well, though be careful as devaluations can happen and your flight of interest may simply not open up for your dates.