I spent the last several days at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas. While the bulk of the show was about things like regulation, compliance, payment rails, crypto and, of course, AI, I was seeking out anything related to loyalty and rewards.
One notable company I met up with the founder of is Fasten. Fasten launched in May 2025 and seems to be to auto payments what Bilt is to rent (and soon, mortgages) and Mesa is (already) to mortgages.
In other words, it’s reason for being is to reward car payments. Its founder, Jacob Zachs, tells me that the average car price now tops $50,000 and the avg auto loan is $750 a month. Like the opportunity Bilt saw when building a company to reward rent payments (at the time, relatively unheard of without transaction fees – despite a “many, many years ago” attempt by Amex to partner with Related Companies for transaction free rent payments in NYC that didn’t last), Jacob sees a huge market in auto payments.
In fact, in a similar way to the Bilt Alliance, Fasten is building a network of Fasten partner auto dealers where you will be extra rewarded with even more points.
The card, issued by Celtic Bank, rewards as follows:
- 4X at Fasten partner dealers
- 3X on auto leases and auto loan payments
- 3X on EV charging, car washes, ferries, parking, and gas
- 3X on ALL insurance (not even just car payments) – brand and lender agnostic. The website says auto insurance but I’m told it will trigger on all insurance payments.
Notably, most car dealers (if nudged, anyway) will let you charge $5,000 (or more!) of a car purchase. If you were buying a car and had your final negotiated price and they are a Fasten partner dealer, you’d earn 4X on whatever they accept by card. Depending on their eagerness to close a deal, you may be able to angle for a higher amount – and more points. If it’s at a car dealership that is not a Fasten Partner, you would still get 3X.
I will note this limitation on auto loan / lease spend:
Points awarded for up to $1,000 in auto loan or lease spend per month with a Linked Account. Minimum $500 per month spend on the Fasten Rewards™ Visa Card to be eligible to earn points in this Spend Category.
The $500 a month to earn the 3X rewards isn’t ideal, yet I understand the numbers don’t work if you only give out 3X and get nothing else.
The card is still getting its wings. I’m told that travel redemptions via a portal are coming soon and transfer partners are “in the works.”
It would be great to see if they could offer some out of the box transfer partners in the way that Rove Miles does.
They don’t yet have an affiliate program though I’m told they are working on a refer-a-friend program. This will be important for their growth since we all know that people are going to spread the word about a product much more when they are getting something. That’s just the way the world works…
Thoughts?
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