Mesa has discontinued its credit card that rewarded users for making mortgage payments.

Mesa discontinuing its credit card that rewarded mortgage payments.Fintech startup Mesa has abruptly shut down its Homeowners Card, which rewarded cardholders for paying their mortgages, effective December 12, 2025. Launched in November 2024, the Austin-based startup’s card operated for just over a year before being discontinued without warning, with the $0 annual fee product offering 1x points on linked mortgages capped at 100,000 points annually. Cardholders first complained about declined transactions for the past week, with Mesa initially claiming this was only a temporary outage before ultimately announcing the permanent closure. The only remaining redemption option for accumulated points is through statement credits at a drastically reduced rate of 0.6 percent, with transfer options to airline miles and hotel loyalty programs completely eliminated. Mesa had raised $9.2 million in funding, comprising $7.2 million in equity and $2 million in debt, but ultimately couldn’t sustain its business model.

The card’s economics faced fundamental challenges rooted in interchange fees—the fees merchants pay on card transactions that typically hover around 1.5 to 2.5 percent for U.S. credit cards. Credit card companies treat mortgage payments as quasi-cash transactions or route them through third-party bill pay, structures that don’t generate much revenue for card issuers, making it economically difficult to offer rich rewards on large, low-margin payments. Mesa didn’t actually process mortgage payments through the card—users simply uploaded their mortgage statement and received 1x points for putting at least $1,000 of qualifying spend on the card elsewhere each billing cycle, essentially creating a data play to acquire customer information and offer refinancing opportunities. The card also offered 3x points on home and family expenses including home improvement, utilities, insurance, property taxes, maintenance, and daycare, attempting to be for mortgages what Bilt is for rent.

Competitor Bilt, which has a rewards card allowing customers to earn points on rent payments, announced it will expand with points for mortgage payments when it launches a revamped card next year, demonstrating continued market interest in housing-related rewards despite Mesa’s failure. Mesa’s company statement emphasized the closure was a program-wide business decision not reflecting individual cardholders’ credit status or payment history, with cardholders still legally obligated to repay outstanding balances through continued minimum monthly payments under unchanged terms. The shutdown illustrates a broader truth in the credit card industry: not all spending categories can underwrite generous rewards, as payments for utilities, taxes, rent, and mortgage-type obligations frequently involve lower interchange or frictions that undercut sustainability without achieving scale, cross-selling, or charging fees. The Mesa collapse raises questions about whether similar niche rewards products can survive in an increasingly competitive fintech landscape where housing costs represent customers’ largest expenses but generate minimal issuer revenue.