Getting Credit Card Rewards for Paying Rent is the Latest Evolution in a Long American Tradition

To say credit card reward points are popular would be an understatement. In 2022, the six largest credit card issuers made $67.9 billion in reward redemptions. But because 23% of credit card holders may not redeem any of their earned points in a given year, that 2022 payout could have been $90 billion if all points-earners had used what they were owed.

It is a massive industry.

Earning points for a morning latte or after booking international flights is one thing. But in 2021, when Camber Creek portfolio company Bilt Rewards made it possible to accumulate points every time a Bilt member paid rent, to some, that sounded absurd. Yet more than a century ago, the idea that you could trade stamps for goods with local retailers probably seemed strange as well.

Today, Bilt and other companies are using digital tools to create new types of currency and expand the ways we can derive value from them. That type of innovation, however, did not begin this decade or even in the last century.

To prove it, here is a short history—and pre-history—of credit card rewards points from the early days of the American republic through Bilt. Events in this timeline were drawn from Credit Card Rewards: Context, History, and Value by Michael A. Turner and The Complete History of Credit Cards, from Antiquity to Today.

1793 – A US merchant issues copper tokens exchangeable for items at the store. The US Mint produced its first ever coins just one year before that, in 1792.

1851 – The B. A. Babbitt Company includes certificates in packages of Sweet Home laundry soap. Customers with enough certificates could exchange them for color lithographs.

1872 – The Grand Union Tea Company gives tickets to customers exchangeable for items in the company catalog.

1891 – Milwaukee’s Schuster and Company department store introduces the first trading stamps in 1891. Subsequently, many retailers follow suit.

1934 – American Airlines introduces the Air Travel Card.

1950 – The Diners Club Card becomes the first multipurpose charge card consumers could use with various merchants.

1959 – Bank of America launches the first nationally licensed credit card program.

1981 – American Airlines creates the first modern rewards program for frequent flyers.

1984 – American Express debuts The Platinum Card.

1986 – Discover Financial Services introduces its “cash back” program.

2021 – The Bilt World Elite Mastercard Credit Card debuts. For the first time, consumers can earn rewards on rent payments without incurring processing fees.

How Can Real Estate Groups Define the S in ESG?

Camber Creek contributed to a working group within the Pension Real Estate Association that produced What is the S in ESG? A Guide for Real Estate Investors. Over the past several years, there has been widespread industry adoption of technology, practices, and metrics around the E (Environment) in ESG, while the S (Social Impact) has been less well understood. The guide’s editors hope to inspire curiosity, awareness, and thoughtful action in this area. The resource is part Why To with a lot of How To and is built on the following premises.

1.      Real estate is always socially situated. The built environment and the greater society in which it operates influence one another.

2.      Because of this, awareness of social impact is not only the domain of those who self-identify as social impact investors. Every real estate asset affects and is affected by society.

3.      You can define, measure, track, and improve real estate’s impact.

4.      Social impact takes many forms. The authors highlight three broad areas: community impact, health and wellness, and human capital.

5.      While there are some methods in real estate for defining and measuring the S in ESG, there is, to the authors’ knowledge, no one-size-fits-all solution. The authors try to equip organizations to identify and act on what is most material and urgent for them.

The guide lists a number of technology solutions that can support social impact, including Camber Creek portfolio companies Bilt Rewards, Flex, and PetScreening.

Photo by Blake Wisz on Unsplash