Well, it looks like the new Mesa Homeowners Card has caught the attention of one of its competitors.
Bilt is best known for its credit card that allows members to earn points on rent, but soon homeowners will also be able to earn points on their mortgage payments.
We heard about this possibility a while ago, but it never came to fruition, perhaps because the numbers just didn’t add up.
It now seems that good old competition has proven to be the mother of innovation.
And if you’ve been paying attention, Mesa, which plans the same thing, was actually built by former employees of Bilt, among others.
Bilt MasterCard will reward owners in 2025
In his Letter to Bilt members Published today, Bilt Rewards CEO Ankur Jain said: “We will announce the first phase of plans in the mortgage space, creating an entirely new category of value for homeowners. »
This includes the ability to earn points on mortgage payments and points when refinancing a mortgage, likely a referral-type program.
As I always say with these referral programs, don’t use the lender unless the total cost is lower than other options, even if you can earn points!
Either way, the fact that you can use a credit card to pay the mortgage is the problem here, at least for me.
This has been very difficult to achieve, and even when permitted, high fees are often imposed that negate the benefits of using plastic.
I’ve long thought that the math just doesn’t work and that mortgage lenders and loan servicers aren’t very keen on their clients charging for the mortgage. And who can blame them?
But the public has been quite vocal in wanting points/cash back on virtually every purchase they make, especially large transactions that have significant earning potential.
Apparently, Bilt will soon let you pay the mortgage with a credit card. Just stay tuned for that official launch date.
Competition heats up for owners in the credit card space
Lately, it seems that credit card issuers are becoming more and more interested in homeowners.
This makes sense because they probably have a lot of expenses (other than the mortgage) and could be solid customers.
As noted, a new competitor (Mesa) recently entered the fray with its Mesa Homeowners card which earns one point per dollar spent on monthly mortgage payments.
He is currently on a waiting list, but that may have inspired Bilt to make the announcement in his letter today.
Especially since part of the Mesa team includes former Bilt employees.
For the record, Bilt also floated this idea in early 2024, but nothing came of it all year.
Perhaps they are still studying the economics of this, as it could prove costly to allow mortgage payments on their network when no other card issuer allows it without fees.
I also wonder if there would be an annual fee on the card or if it would require cardholders to also spend X amount on other purchases.
Right now, the Bilt Mastercard offers 1X on rent, but you must use the card at least five times per statement period to actually earn points.
This could also be a requirement for mortgage payments. Obviously it has to make sense for all parties involved.
Bilt Rewards now also offers points on home purchases
In late November, Bilt announced the launch of the industry’s first program to earn points on home purchases.
What they meant by that is that Bilt members will now be able to earn Bilt points when purchasing a home through an eXp Realty agent.
So it’s basically a real estate agent referral program where you earn one Bilt point for every $2 in property price if you partner with one of their preferred agents.
On a $400,000 home purchase, we’re talking 200,000 Bilt points, which are redeemable for all sorts of things like shopping, fitness classes, and travel.
In fact, you can transfer points to frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs at a 1:1 ratio to maximize value.
Perhaps even more interesting, you can redeem Bilt points for a down payment on a home, and the value is an even better 1.5 cents per point.
That works out to $1,500 for your down payment if you have 100,000 Bilt points. Pretty cool.
Finally, you can also apply points toward rent, although the redemption value is less than 0.55 cents per point, or $55 for 10,000 points.
In other words, it might be better to save those points and use them as a down payment on a new house and say goodbye to rent!
Continue reading: Should I rent or buy a house?
Before creating this site, I worked as an account executive for a wholesale mortgage lender in Los Angeles. My hands-on experience in the early 2000s inspired me to start writing about mortgages 18 years ago to help potential (and existing) buyers better navigate the home loan process. Follow me on Twitter for hot takes.