Update 5/16/26: Just a reminder to switch your account from earning Bilt points if you are no longer earning 1:1. The transfer fee area is as follows:
- Bilt members with Blue status will receive 50 Bilt Points for every $1 in Rakuten Cash Back.
- The silver, gold and platinum bilt member rate will remain 100 bilt points for every $1 in Rakuten Cash Back.
The payment of 15.05.26 was the last one that was given at 1:1.
Update on 11/16/25: Bilt has CLEAR that the 6-month promotion period where everyone will receive the 1:1 conversion will include the May 15, 2026 payment from Rakuten. The 5/15/26 payment is for portal rewards earned during Q1 2026, so basically if you convert to Bilt earnings, you’ll end up with your Q4 2025 payment and Q1 2026 payment. Any rewards earned 4/1/26 through 6/30/26 will be paid on 8/15/26 and I assume will no longer qualify for the initial 1:1 promotion rate.
Original post 11/25/6:
Bilt Cardholders and all Bilt Rewards members can now earn rewards in Bilt currency instead of cash or as AmEx Membership Rewards Points. (As we were waiting.)
Existing Rakuten customers can convert their accounts to earn Bilt points instead of cashback/MR. (Click the “Create and Connect” option and enter your existing Rakuten email address; then the system will ask you to convert the account to a Rakuten-Bilt account.)
Bilt-Rakuten conversion rates
Profit rates:
- Temporarily, for 6 months, everyone can earn 1:1 conversion rate. For every $10 cashback earned from Rakuten, you’ll receive 1,000 Bilt Points.
- Longer term:
- Bilt members with Blue status will receive 50 Bilt Points for every $1 in Rakuten Cash Back.
- The silver, gold and platinum bilt member rate will remain 100 bilt points for every $1 in Rakuten Cash Back.
Our verdict
Many people value Bilt points more than Membership Rewards points and more than cash back. This makes the temporary promotion quite interesting.
Those with higher Bilt status will consider holding Bilt long-term as their Rakuten Points currency. Those with basic Blue status are likely to prefer membership rewards or cash.
For most people, this is likely to be only a temporarily interesting arrangement. (Note: You can change to Bilt now and then switch back to Membership Rewards after paying on 5/15/26.) But remember, Bilt has a $95 credit card and $495 going out; it is possible that those cards will receive higher status or that the status qualifications will change when new Bilt card data is released.
Except for future earnings, all your pending rewards will be paid out as Bilt Points instead of Cashback. For example, today is November 6th: if you have $1000 in Rakuten cashback set to be paid on November 15th, you can convert your account now to Bilt and it will be paid out on November 15th as 100,000 Bilt points.
Registration Offer
Note: if you are new to Rakuten, you may prefer to sign up with current $50 referral bonus offer (valid until 12/31/25) instead of the 2500 point offer from Bilt. (If – before payment – ​​you convert your account to earning Bilt points, the $50 will be paid as 5000 Bilt points.) I would also appreciate it if you use the referral option in the linked post. 🙂
