Mesa shuts down credit card that rewarded cardholders for paying their mortgages

Fintech Startup Mesa Shuts Down Homeowners Card Program

The Fintech startup Mesa has made the decision to shut down its Homeowners Card program, which previously awarded points to cardholders for making mortgage payments. This announcement was made through a message on the Mesa website, indicating that as of December 12, all Mesa Homeowners Card accounts have been closed. This means that all credit cards associated with the program have been deactivated, and cardholders are no longer able to make new purchases or earn Mesa Points.

The shutdown of the Mesa Homeowners Card program was described as a business decision in a FAQ on the Mesa website. The startup initially launched just over a year ago in November 2024, with a total of $9.2 million in funding. This funding was split between $7.2 million in equity funding and $2 million in debt. Mesa offered two main products to its customers – mortgage loans with 1% cash back and a credit card that provided rewards such as cash back, travel perks, and the ability to offset mortgage payments.

CEO Kelley Halpin had previously explained that Mesa aimed to cater to homeowners and parents by offering rewards specifically tailored to home-related expenses. While other credit cards with rewards programs exist, Mesa structured its points system to incentivize spending on home ownership expenses such as gas, groceries, HOA fees, utilities, and home goods, in addition to mortgage payments.

Following the shutdown of the Mesa Homeowners Card program, Bilt, another financial services company, announced plans to expand its rewards card program to include points for mortgage payments. This expansion is expected to coincide with the launch of a revamped card next year.

News of Mesa’s card shutdown has been covered by various travel deals websites, including One Mile at a Time and Upgraded Points. Cardmembers have reportedly been experiencing issues with declined transactions for the past week, with Mesa initially attributing these problems to a temporary outage. However, it has now been revealed that the only way to redeem points earned through the Mesa card program is through a statement credit at a rate of 0.6%.