Mesa Credit Card review: Earn rewards for your mortgage payments without paying a fee

Effective as of December 12, 2025, all Mesa Homeowners Card accounts are closed. All credit
cards have been deactivated and you are no longer able to make any new purchases or earn Mesa Points.

The Mesa Homeowners Visa® Signature Preferred Credit Card is a unique rewards credit card because it offers the ability to earn fee-free points for paying your mortgage. It also has an impressive array of annual statement credits worth over $600, including for pet care and home improvement.

What's even more unusual is that you get all of this without an annual fee. Just keep in mind, you have to register for a Mesa account before you can apply for the card in the Mesa app.

Here's everything you need to know about the Mesa Homeowners Card.

Through Oct. 31, 2025, new Mesa Homeowners Credit Card members can earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $12,000 or more on eligible purchases within the first 90 days of account opening. You must use the code SEPT50 or CHRIS50 on your application to qualify for the offer.

This is a good sized bonus, however, the spending requirement is large for what you earn.

It's rare to find a no-annual-fee credit card that includes expansive annual credits like this one. Most of the time, you'd need to pay a sizable annual fee to receive this many benefits, but that's not the case here.

To receive any of the following benefits, you must enroll through the Mesa App, and all purchases must be made directly with the retailer rather than a third party. The card's terms state that it may take six to eight weeks for most credits to be posted to your account after the qualifying purchase is made.

Benefits of the Mesa Homeowners card include:

• $200 annual Thumbtack credit: Earn up to $200 in statement credits annually when you pay for a task or service through Thumbtack (up to $25 back per job). Thumbtack is an online marketplace where you can hire local professionals for everything from lawn care to home improvement.
• $120 annual Wag! credit: You'll get up to $120 in statement credits (up to $10 back per month) for Wag! purchases, including walks, drop-ins, overnight sitting or overnight boarding services.
• $120 annual The Farmer's Dog credit: You'll get up to $120 in statement credits (up to $10 back per month) for The Farmer's Dog, which provides premium dog food.
• $120 annual Lowe's credit: You can earn up to $120 in statement credits (up to $30 back per quarter), for purchases made at Lowe's either online or in-store. You need to enroll in MyLowe's Rewards to be eligible.
• $100 Armadillo Home Warranty credit: Get up to $100 in statement credits for your first home warranty claim through Armadillo, a subscription-based plan for when things break in your home. Keep in mind that this isn't an annual perk.
• $65 annual Costco membership credit: You'll receive up to $65 in statement credits per year when you use your card to pay for a Costco membership.
• $60 annual Duckbill benefit: Get up to $5 back in monthly statement credits, up to $60 per year, for a Duckbill subscription. Duckbill is an artificial intelligence personal assistant service that can do everything from managing your calendar to finding you a new doctor and booking appointments.
• Complimentary year of Instacart+ membership: You'll get one free year of Instacart+, a $99 value. You'll need to activate your membership by Sept. 30th, 2026, or be one of the first 24,000 customers to redeem, whichever comes first.

Earning Mesa Points

For eligible purchases you make with this card, you'll earn:

• 1X points for mortgage payments after spending $1,000 on your card in the same statement period (up to 100,000 points annually)
• 3X points for home decor, home improvement, general contractors, cable and streaming services, home insurance, property taxes, maintenance, telecom, utilities and daycare
• 2X points for gas and electric vehicle charging and grocery stores (excluding wholesale stores and discount stores)
• 1X points on all other purchases

The Mesa Homeowners Card earns additional rewards for most expenses a homeowner can expect to make, but it stands out from the pack due to a unique reward category—mortgage payments. However, it doesn't work the way you might expect.

With most credit cards, you make a qualifying purchase and then receive the rewards when you pay it off. In this case, you don't actually pay your mortgage bill with the Mesa Homeowners Card. You add your mortgage payment when you apply and verify it by linking the bank account you use to pay your mortgage or by uploading a mortgage statement. Once Mesa can confirm your mortgage payment, you'll earn the rewards.

You can earn up to 100,000 points annually, at a rate of one point per dollar spent on your mortgage payment. The catch is, you'll need to make at least $1,000 in qualifying transactions on the card each month to be eligible to earn mortgage rewards. You're also limited to earning rewards for a single monthly mortgage payment and only one spouse can qualify for rewards. No double-dipping.

Other notable categories include daycare, property taxes and utility payments. If you can pay your daycare, property taxes or utility bills with a credit card and not incur an extra fee, you can earn a strong return on these purchases that are rarely rewarded with other cards.

The streaming, grocery and gas bonus categories are strong, but they aren't the highest rates on the market. However, you could do much worse, especially when you factor in the lack of an annual fee.

Redeeming Mesa Points

You can redeem your points for:

• Travel booked through the Mesa app
• Point transfers
• Gift cards
• Statement credits
• Mortgage payments

The Mesa Homeowners Card stands out here, too, but not in a good way. 

The industry standard for redeeming rewards for cash back or statement credits is typically one cent per point. However, Mesa only offers 0.8 cents per point toward mortgage payments or gift cards and 0.6 cents per point for statement credits.

That means your best bet will is to use Mesa points for travel. You can use Mesa points to pay for travel booked through the Mesa app at a rate of roughly 1.3 cents per point (based on CNBC Select's test bookings). You could also transfer your rewards to one of Mesa's travel partners, where point values could be higher depending on the partner. 

To calculate your per-point value for transfers, divide the number of points required for the redemption by the travel cost (minus taxes and fees). Anything over 1.3 cents per point is a better deal than redeeming your points in other ways. However, Mesa doesn't yet have a robust list of travel partners, which makes it harder to find great deals.

Mesa points transfer at a 1:1 ratio unless noted and the transfer partners include:

• Accor Live Limitless (3:2)
• Finnair Plus
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Cathay Pacific Cathy
• Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club
• Air India Maharaja Club
• SAS EuroBonus
• Aeromexico Rewards
• Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
• Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles

The Mesa Homeowners Credit Card doesn't charge an annual fee, nor does it feature an introductory purchase or balance transfer APR. It doesn't charge any foreign transaction fees, and has a surprisingly low late payment fee (up to $8) and returned payment fee (up to $25).

Mesa Homeowners Credit Card vs. Bilt Mastercard®

Wells Fargo's Bilt Mastercard® may not offer rewards on mortgage payments (it's coming soon for certain loans), but you can earn rewards for your rent payments.

The Bilt card offers 1X points on rent payments (up to 100,000 points annually), 3X points on dining, 2X points on travel and 1X points on everything else. 

These rewards will also be doubled on the first day of every month, excluding the rent category. There's also no monthly spending requirement to start earning rewards—just use the card five times per billing statement.

It doesn't have the same breadth of bonus spending categories that the Mesa card boasts, nor does it feature any annual statement credits. Instead, it has an incredible list of transfer partners that far exceeds what Mesa offers, including World of Hyatt, Atmos Rewards (Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines), United Mileage Plus and Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank.

Mesa Homeowners Credit Card vs. U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card

If you're looking for a higher rewards rate and more flexibility, consider the U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card. 

You can choose two reward categories to earn 5% cash back in (up to $2,000 in combined eligible purchases each quarter, then 1% back), plus 2% back on one everyday spending category like gas or groceries, and 1% back on all other purchases. The 5% cash back categories include home utilities and streaming, so you could earn a higher rate for certain purchases compared to the Mesa card.

However, with the reward cap on the U.S. Bank Cash+ card's 5% category, you can only earn $100 back before your reward rate drops to 1% back. There's no cap with the Mesa card, so you could outpace the reward potential of the U.S. Bank card. There's also no mortgage or daycare rewards or annual statement credits. 

But, your rewards are worth more for cash-back redemptions than they would be with the Mesa card and it's easier to qualify for U.S. Bank Cash+ Card's welcome bonus.

The Mesa Homeowners Card could be a rewarding choice if your spending habits and lifestyle fit the card.

• Does your spending match the purchase categories? The Mesa Homeowners Card covers a few notable reward categories, including mortgage payments, home insurance, property taxes and daycare. Its perks are also centered around home improvement and pet care. If your lifestyle doesn't match this card, there's one out there that will.
• How do you plan on redeeming rewards? Depending on how you choose to redeem your rewards, they may not be worth as much with the Mesa Homeowners Card as they would be elsewhere. Certain redemptions are only worth less than one cent per point, which means the best value is redeeming for travel. The Mesa card has a limited list of travel partners, so that may not be the most useful option for everyone.
• Can you spend and pay off $1,000 each month? To earn rewards on your mortgage payments, you'll need to spend at least $1,000 on the card each month. Depending on your budget and whether or not you already have a dedicated gas or grocery card, that may be a deal breaker. Keep in mind that any outstanding balance will accrue interest. Interest payments can quickly erode the value of any rewards you earn from the card–don't go into debt to qualify for rewards that you won't benefit from.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every credit card review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of credit card products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

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Information about the U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.