A few updates on earning points for mortgage payments. I wrote the other day about earning transferable points with no fee using the Mesa card. It’s better than I thought.

First, I said there’s no initial bonus. That was wrong. Using a referral link there’s 5,000 points.

Second, I’m already making money on the new annual fee card. They’ve got the ‘coupon book’ model down that American Express pioneered and Chase is copying, but they aren’t using it to justify an annual fee. There is none. I got my $65 annual Costco membership fee rebated pretty much immediately (you can also choose BJ’s or Sam’s Club for this). And I’m getting $10 a month back on the dog food my wife buys anyway.

Here’s the coupon book:

• $30 per quarter statement credit with Lowe’s
  
• $65 big box membership statement credit annually (Sam’s Club, BJs, Costco);
  
• $200 home maintenance credit with Thumbtack (also can be used for house cleaning or Christmas tree removal)
  
• $100 statement credit on Armadillo home warranty purchases
  
• $10 per month statement credit with Wag!
  
• $10 per month statement credit with Farmer’s Dog dog food

Also, I’m discovering surprising points-earning for instance the coffee beans I order online are coding as 2x groceries and I wasn’t expecting that. But I’m still marveling at 3x earn on daycare – that’s an amazing category for a lot of folks and will make the card worth it on its own.

The key with this card is you don’t change how you pay your mortgage to earn points. This isn’t ‘charge your mortgage to the card and they cut a check to your bank’. Instead, you just tell them how much your mortgage is, and they award the points for it.

This makes me regret not escrowing taxes and insurance when I refinanced at sub-3% during the pandemic. But at the time I had a way to earn points on property tax payments at no fee (since killed) and I wanted to pay my homeowners insurance via credit card. Little did I know that escrowing taxes and insurance would be a better play for my miles!

Points can be spent at up to 1.3 cent apiece through their travel portal; at $0.008 apiece towards gift cards; or at $0.006 apiece as credit card statement credits. They also offer redemptions for closing costs on mortgages obtained though their marketplace.

Here are their points transfer partners so far – they say they are adding more:

Partner	Program	Transfer Rate
Accor	Accor Live Limitless	1.5 : 1
Air India	Maharaja Club	1:1
Finnair	Finnair Plus	1:1
Hainan Airlines	Fortune Wings Club	1:1
Thai Airways	Royal Orchid Plus	1:1
Vietnam Airlines	LotusMiles	1:1

So far I’m thinking of the points as Avios, or short haul United redemptions through Air India (which start at just 3,500 points for coach and 7,000 for domestic first class).