Bilt, a New York-based startup, has teamed up with property managers including Blackstone, Starwood, and Equity Residential, to launch a fee-free credit card that allows customers to earn rewards from rent payments that go toward mortgage payments. The company said it secured approval from Fannie Mae and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the product offering.

Why should we care?
Bilt wants to turn rent payments into activities that generate rewards, which is an effort to help renters become future homeowners. “Rent is the single largest expense for the vast majority of Americans, and yet...you can’t earn points, even though you can earn points on everything else,” Bilt founder Ankur Jain said in an interview. The company also allows for the reporting of rent payments to credit bureaus, a concept that isn’t entirely new with companies like Esusu, MoCaFi, and LevelCredit offering the service to their customers. While some rental payment platforms offer credit card payments for a fee, what’s unique about Bilt is its no-fee model for both landlords and renters. It makes money on card swipe fees. Customers can also use their points for flights, hotels, and workout classes. Time will tell if the product will help a significant number of renters become owners, but Jain suggests getting agreement for the range of parties involved was quite the feat. “Three years ago, if you asked us if we could bring together an alliance of property owners to work together under one unified rewards program, it would have been hard to imagine,” he said.