The Mortgage Free Roll Of Honour

Pyewacket338 · 16 October 2008 at 3:56PM

I'm sort of mortgage free! I paid the majority of it off last year (£40,000) but kept it so I still owe £1000, the reason for doing this is that my mortgage deal allows me to take the overpayment back again, I know I'm still paying interest on that £1000, but it's still a repayment mortgage and I pay £9 per month, I've sort of offset that payment with the £300 early repayment fee I'd be stung with if I paid it off in full. As I'm not in employment at the moment, this fall back is always there as and when I sell my house and want another place, I don't have any paperwork to fill in or have to apply for another mortgage, I just make a phone-call and it's back in my account within 3 days.

torbrex · 17 October 2008 at 2:33PM

The date you decided to become a MFW

There were a number of key dates rather than a single date.
I switched my mortgage from a straight endowment to a flexible type April 2001 and started small overpayments straight away.

Next key date was 13 October 2005 when I received the legacy from my mother’s estate; I paid a £6000 lump sum to bring the capital balance due down to a level that would easily be covered by my (reduced) maturing endowment. At this time I left my payments at the same level thus increasing my overpayment each month.

I suppose the actual date of my decision to become mortgage free could be said to be 27 August 2007, after doing a review of my finances following the promise of a permenant position from my employer I made another £6000 capital payment and increased my monthly overpayment to the top of my ‘comfort’ zone.

I have increased my payments this year and made an unplanned capital reduction in August but I put that down to the infectious enthusiasm on the 2008 MFW newbies thread, I got a bit carried away.

Mortgage Debt at its highest

£27,376

Mortgage-Free Date

Date of final payment was 15 October 2008.

Your one pearl of wisdom

Don’t lose sight of the real world.

I made sure that I continued to live a comfortable life with holidays and other treats at the same time as making overpayments to my mortgage. Any extra income that I received was split right down the middle with half into my mortgage and half into my savings.

And if you had a mortgage freedom diary on MFW, a link to it

Sorry no diary but I took great inspiration from all the folk on the 2008 MFW newbies thread.
I started the year with a modest target of £2000 but as the year has gone on and reading of others successes I will admit to becoming more than a little obsessed with getting a final settlement this year.

zavarony · 2 November 2008 at 9:37PM

Hi Tobrex,
Im going to start the 2009 MFW thread later (will post details on the http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=660437) any newbies are more than welcome to join us....

Well done you for becoming MF so quickly - you are an inspiration
Zav

CheapChick · 3 November 2008 at 11:08PM

We are going to be mortgage free on Wed 5th Nov 08. :T

Admittedly it's only on a London Flat and we will be buying a house next year but would like to have a few months of Mortgage-Free Glory!!

First decided to become a MFW when we bought our this our first flat shortly after getting married. Cost of flat was £214,000 and we took out a mortgage for £192,000 after saving for the deposit.

Even though I have sold my soul by working in IT Sales in the City when I long to be living a stress-free life in the country - I maintain that it is all the little things that have helped

Pearls of Wisdom...

Make regular overpayments - however small it all adds up

Take on a reasonable amount of debt - although the banks would lend more - sit down and work out your finances

Use all the hints and tips on MSE + PTS

Shop around for everything - from Energy Suppliers to Restaurant Deals

Use vouchers and coupons - Friends/Family/Colleagues always save these for me no matter how insignificant it all counts

Buy Supermarket Value Items, 2 for 1s and check out the reduced aisles

Think of how much interest you are paying the banks -who are now being bailed out -vow to make it a little less each month

Become a spreadsheet addict

To be fair I am actually a lot more careful on what I spend my money on now then when I was a student.

But don't become obsessed which I have been called on a number of occasions...:rolleyes:

beemuzed · 6 November 2008 at 11:18PM

Hooray! Mortgage-free today! Have been making additional payments for past couple of years - today the endowment came through which sees it all gone. Not particularly early (we didn't find this site early enough!) but none-the -less the bricks and mortar are now ours! And because we'd converted some to a repayment mortgage five years ago we have extra on the endowment, and still have one other due to mature early next year.
Wish we'd found this years ago, but never mind!

t-elle · 13 November 2008 at 6:14PM

Mortgage free as of today and proud of it :beer:
Best wishes to everyone MF and to everyone working on it :j

mortgageslayer · 15 November 2008 at 4:30PM

Sooooo jealous! You guys have all done really well!

Fireflier · 15 December 2008 at 4:21PM

a. The date you decided to become a MFW

Unofficially - sometime over the last few years.
Officially - around this time last year!

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest

£72,000 in June 2000

c. Mortgage-Free Date

15th December 2008 - Over 16 years early!

d. Your one perl of wisdom.

It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it. Around 20% of my overpayments this year have come from alternative sources like ebay, matched betting, cashback, £2 coin savings and so on.

1st post in this section, but I wanted to add my encouragement to those who are wondering if they can do it.

To paraphrase two very influential people - Barack Obama & Bob the Builder - Can we overpay it?

"Yes, we can!"

DarkHorse · 30 December 2008 at 9:37AM

a. The date you decided to become a MFW
The day I brought my first home in 1995.
b. Mortgage Debt at its highest.
£190,000
c. Mortgage-Free Date.
September 2008
d. Your one pearl of wisdom.
Make every overpayment possible, work all the hours possible, and sacrifice the finer things in life for a later date.
e. And if you had a mortgage freedom diary on MFW, a link to it.
Never bothered with this as was to busy paying of the mortgage.

filbert_2 · 14 January 2009 at 1:00AM

Not sure I can post here, given I'm a posting newbie, but I've lurked for so long I would really like to share my story as well.

The date you decided to become a MFW
1 October 2003

Mortgage Debt at its highest
approx £90,000

Mortgage-Free Date
1 October 2008

Your one pearl of wisdom.
Reduce the term at the end of two year fixed periods by at least 5 years, and overpay or save without fail every month. Direct debits into savings accounts should be treated as mandatory payments, just like utilities bills. Go without rather than not save. Have a chart stuck somewhere prominent to count down the balance - count down the monthly balance with smiley face stickers :j

.... we're just about to take out another '20 year' mortgage and start all over again with a plan to pay it off in under 10 years. We are hesitating signing those mortgage papers :rotfl: but we've done it once, we can do it again. Plus, potential redundancy notwithstanding, last time it was the same size mortgage and we were earning half what we earn now. So if I lose my job we're in exactly the same financial position we were in 10 years ago, but hopefully with a much bigger detached house rather than a 2 bed semi.

The Mortgage Free Roll Of Honour

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