Maybe that was the plan, but the article makes it sound like the money is flowing the other way: renters can use it to get a bit of money out of Wells Fargo, which is why they lose money on it.
Just because companies are trying to make money doesn’t mean they succeed.
Loss leaders taken too far, sure. They're controlling a lot of float by collecting rent for zillions of apartment complexes and then monetizing relationships with other vendors like Lyft and indirectly through rev sharing with credit card processors used by local merchants like restaurants.
From their app:
Bilt Card $0 annual fee¹, 1x points on rent, 2x travel¹, 3x dining¹, 1x other purchases¹, and no transaction fees for paying rent.
It seems like they're idiots if they're just giving away money when they're a captive platform their users cannot opt-in or -out of, because their payment customers are/should be the mega apartment management companies. It could also be that they over-expanded headcount for the amount of revenue (and lack of profits) they currently have.
Just because companies are trying to make money doesn’t mean they succeed.