I love writing about credit cards and, in turn, I also love having solid rewards cards… up to a point, that is. Unlike some other bloggers I follow who regularly apply for and churn rewards cards, I’ve tried to be more selective and thoughtful about what cards I ultimately add to my wallet. But every so often, a card comes along that I feel I really need to check out for myself so that I can dive into it and review it. Previously, that’s what happened to me with the Bilt Mastercard — and, now, it’s happened again with the Mesa Homeowners Card.
When Mesa revealed plans for a homeowner-centric credit card last fall, I was instantly intrigued seeing as I am now a homeowner myself. So, I went ahead and joined the waitlist. My interest only grew from there as the company later offered some more details — some of which left me scratching my head. Cut to earlier this week when my invite to apply came through, taking me off the waitlist and giving me a big decision to make. After some hemming and hawing, I decided that it was indeed my duty to check out the Mesa card for myself.
While I will be doing a full review in the near future once I get a chance to fully inspect and test the product, I do have some early reactions to the Mesa Homeowners Card. First, with the card promising rewards on mortgage payments, I wondered what sort of a system Mesa would employ for this. In the case of Bilt (whose claim to fame is the ability to pay rent with the card and earn rewards), the platform supplies cardholders with an account and routing number that looks like a checking account but actually charges rent to the user’s Bilt card.
That’s not the case for Mesa. Instead, the app has you connect the bank account from which you make your mortgage payments. Then, it will see these transactions and give you points accordingly. This system is fine by me — except it does mean you aren’t putting this spending on your card, so don’t look to Mesa for any “float time” on your mortgage payments. Now is also a good time to note that, in order to earn rewards for these mortgage payments, you’ll need to also make at least $1,000 in purchases on the card in a given month. This is somewhat similar to Bilt’s 5 transactions per month rule… although 5 transactions are usually a lot less than $1,000.
Next, when Mesa’s press release started mentioning all sorts of statement credits but also said the product had no annual fee, I was more than skeptical. However, it turns out that both are true! Despite being a no-annual-fee card, here are the current statement credit opportunities the card offers:
- The Farmer’s Dog: Up to $10 per month on eligible purchases ($120 a year)
- Wag: Up to $10 per month on eligible purchases ($120 a year)
- Home improvement stores: Up to $25 per quarter on eligible purchases ($100 per year)
- Thumbtack: Up to $25 per job booked (up to $200 per year)
- Armadillo: Up to $100 back on a home warranty deductible.
- Big box members: Up to $65 per year for memberships to Costco, Sam’s Club, or BJ’s.
Although cardholders do need to activate these offers, that seems to be the only catch as far as I can see. That’s pretty amazing as these perks are nothing to sneeze at. Personally, I’m most interested in the big box membership and home improvement store credits but the Wag one could also prove useful.
As you can tell, I’m very excited to explore everything my new Mesa Homeowners Card has to offer — which is why I couldn’t help but share the news of my approval now. So, while you wait for my full review to arrive on Fioney soon enough, you can still join Mesa’s waitlist for yourself by downloading their app.