After weeks of teasing a new point redemption option for the Mesa Homeowners Card, the time has come. Now, Mesa members can cash in their points toward mortgage payments… sort of. More accurately, cardholders can redeem points toward a direct deposit into their linked bank account, with the intention to use that money for their next payment.
As mentioned, the Mortgage Payment redemption option has shown as “coming soon” ever since Mesa rolled out its first travel transfer partners. Then, all of a sudden this week, I happened to notice that the banner was gone and the button was tappable. So how does this new option stack up?
Currently, when you select the Mortgage option from the Rewards tab, Mesa displays a conversion rate of 2,500 Points to $20. In other words, this values points at 0.8¢ each. While that’s not great, it is certainly better than the 0.6¢ per point offered on statement credit redemptions. That difference in value is actually pretty funny when you consider that both are basically cash.
By the way, you may notice that the image Mesa included in an email to members displays a different exchange rate from what I just quoted. This email arrived the day after I noticed the mortgage payment option in the app and was initially worried that they’d already nerfed it. Luckily, that doesn’t seem to be the case, but it is an interesting little screw up.
Back to the value of this new Mortgage redemption, if you want to get the most for your Mesa Points, there are still better options. First, booking via the Travel portal will get you upwards of 1¢ per point. Alternatively, if you feel like doing your research and entering the world of rewards travel, Mesa does have some solid transfer partners that could help your value per point soar in the right circumstances.
That said, one relatively easy option I’ve used and would recommend is transfers to Accor Live Limitless (ALL). That’s because, unlike most hotel rewards programs, Accor’s points have a set value. This also means that you can cash in a handful of points toward the price of your booking rather than waiting to cover the full cost. With Mesa points transferring to Accor at a rate of 3:2 and 1,000 ALL points worth 20 Euros, you could get around 1.5¢ per point with this option (with current Euro to USD exchange rates). In fact, that’s exactly why I recently redeemed some of my Mesa Points to Accor for a stay at the 21C Museum Hotel in Bentonville, Arkansas — which you can read about on Tuesday.
Ultimately, even if it’s not the most lucrative option, I’m very glad to have this mortgage payment redemption option in Mesa for a couple of reasons. First, I think it just makes sense given the theme of the product! It’s really an obvious addition. Second, I always appreciate having a practical, “emergency” option for redeeming credit card points. At a rate of 0.8¢ each, while I might not be too happy about cashing out my points in this manner, it’s also not so bad that I’d feel completely cheated. So, congrats to Mesa on continuing to improve their Mesa Homeowners Card. As always, I look forward to seeing what’s next!