Fintech startup Mesa has shut down its Homeowners Card. This card was unique in awarding points to cardholders specifically for paying their mortgages. A message on the Mesa website states that as of December 12, all Mesa Homeowners Card accounts are closed. It confirms that all credit cards have been deactivated and cardholders can no longer make new purchases or earn Mesa Points.
An FAQ from Mesa described this move as a business decision to close the Mesa Homeowners Card Program entirely. TechCrunch has reached out to the company for additional comment on its future plans.
The startup launched just over a year ago, in November 2024, with $9.2 million in funding. It offered two primary products: mortgage loans with 1% cash back and a credit card with rewards including cash back, travel, and offset mortgage payments. At the time of launch, CEO Kelley Halpin explained that the startup had taken the popular concept of travel and dining cards and re-contextualized it for the homeowner.
The card was designed to incentivize spending related to home ownership. Instead of rewarding travel and dining, it rewarded spending on gas, groceries, HOA fees, utilities, home goods, and mortgage payments.
Following the shutdown, travel deals websites report that Mesa cardmembers had been complaining about declined transactions for the past week. The company initially suggested this was a temporary outage. Now, it appears the only remaining way for customers to redeem any points earned on the card is through a statement credit at a reduced rate of 0.6%.
In related news, Bilt, which has a rewards card for earning points on rent payments, has announced plans to expand its program to include points for mortgage payments when it launches a revamped card next year.