Well, it looks like the new Mesa Homeowners Card has caught the attention of one of its competitors.
Belt City is best known for its credit card that allows its members to earn points on rent, but soon homeowners will be able to earn points on their mortgage payments as well.
We’ve heard some rumblings about this possibility for a while, but it never materialized, perhaps because the numbers weren’t concrete.
Now it seems that some good old competition may have proven to be the mother of innovation.
And if you’ve been paying attention, Mesa, which is planning the same thing, was built by some former Belt employees, among others.
Bilt MasterCard will reward homeowners in 2025
In it Message to Belt members “We will be announcing the first phase of plans in the mortgage space, creating an entirely new category of value for homeowners,” said Ankur Jain, CEO of Bilt Rewards, released today.
This includes the ability to earn points on mortgage payments, points when refinancing a mortgage, and is likely a referral-style program.
As I always say with these referral programs, only use a lender if the total cost is lower than other options, even if you can earn points!
Anyway, the fact that you’ll be able to use a credit card to pay the mortgage is the big issue here, at least for me.
This has been very difficult to achieve, and even when it is permitted, there are often exorbitant fees that negate the benefit of using plastic.
I’ve long believed that the math doesn’t work and that mortgage lenders and loan providers are not very keen on their clients collecting on their mortgage. And who can blame them?
But the public has been very vocal about wanting points/cash back on almost all purchases they make, especially large transactions with potentially large profits.
So it looks like Bilt will soon let you pay your mortgage with a credit card. Just stay tuned for the official launch date.
Competition among homeowners in the credit card arena is fierce
Recently, credit card issuers seem to have become increasingly interested in homeowners.
This makes sense because they likely have a lot of expenses (other than the mortgage) and can be strong clients.
As we mentioned, a new competitor (Mesa) recently entered the fray with its Mesa Homeowners Card, which earns one point per dollar spent on monthly mortgage payments.
She is currently on a waiting list, but may have inspired Belt to make the announcement in their letter today.
Especially since some of the Mesa team includes former Belt employees.
For the record, Bilt was floating this idea in early 2024 as well but nothing materialized all year.
They may still be working out the economic feasibility of this, as it may be expensive to allow mortgage payments on their network when no other card issuer allows it without fees.
I also wonder if there will be an annual fee on the card or if it will require cardholders to spend X amount on other purchases as well.
Currently, the Bilt Mastercard offers 1X on rentals but you need to use the card at least five times each statement period to actually earn points.
This may be a requirement for your mortgage payments as well. Obviously, it has to make sense for all parties involved.
Bilt Rewards now offers points on home purchases, too
In late November, Built announced that it had launched 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 they purchase a home through an eXp Realty agent.
So it’s basically a real estate agent referral program where you earn one Belt point for every $2 in the price of the property if you connect with one of their preferred agents.
When you buy a $400,000 home, we’re talking about 200,000 Belt points, which can be redeemed for all kinds 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 most interestingly, you can redeem Belt points for a down payment on a home, and the value is 1.5 cents per point better.
This amounts to $1,500 for your down payment if you have 100,000 Belt points. Really amazing.
Finally, you can apply points to rent as well, although the redemption value is less than 0.55 cents per point, or $55 per 10,000 points.
In other words, it may be better to save these points and use them as a down payment on a new home and deposit the rent!
Read on: 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 work experience in the early 2000s inspired me to start writing about mortgages 18 years ago to help potential (and current) homebuyers better navigate the home loan process. Follow me on Twitter for hot takes.
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