Hurrah, my MFW quest has started

abouttimetoo · 6 April 2008 at 11:36PM

Hi all

I only discovered this site two weeks ago (hang your head in shame I hear you cry) but I have been an avid lurker ever since! I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t ever even seen Martin Lewis in action on TV (I work away a lot and don’t get to follow TV very much), but since I’ve discovered this site I’ve been spreading the word to lots of friends. I told one of my friends about the MSE/MFW site and the fact that I intended to over-pay my mortgage; we then got to chatting about her own mortgage and we worked out that she could clear hers in 8 years time maximum rather than the 22 years it still has to run! My friend has even told her hairdresser about it who in turn is going to over-pay on hers – do you think we could get ‘spreading the news’ commission payments from MSE to contribute to our overpayments

I’ve been toying with the idea of making overpayments to my mortgage for a while now but I moved house 10 months ago and you know what it’s like when you first move, additional things to buy and not quite sure what certain bills will amount to. Anyway, I’m happy to report that from this month onwards I just have the normal household bills to pay; this, along with the fact that I’ve just had a nice pay rise (which is also due to kick in this month) means that I’m ready to start attacking the mortgage.

I’ve been inspired by so many of the post on here and I really have the bit between my teeth now. I spoke to my mortgage company last week to find out just how much I could overpay, implications, how interest is calculated etc. and happily I can overpay as much as I want to without penalty. I haven’t yet decided on the exact amounts I’m going to overpay per month but I did make a £50 payment to my mortgage last week by way of a good will gesture and a promise to myself and by the end of the week I’m hoping to have a proper plan worked out. My only disappointment is that I can’t access my mortgage account on-line and watch the numbers come down as some of you seem able to do so it looks like some fancy spreadsheets coming up :rotfl:

Oops, this first message is getting a bit long now, I just wanted to say hi and make my MFW status official so… I think I better press send and get myself off to Bellsbells 2008 MFW thread and add my name.

Very best wishes to you all

poppyoscar_3 · 7 April 2008 at 8:20AM

Good luck and welcome!

Will follow your progress with interest!

PO xx

evab_2 · 7 April 2008 at 8:37AM

Hello welcome to MSE, hope you get on well with your plans.

Ev

abouttimetoo · 7 April 2008 at 12:03PM

Hi Poppy Oscar and Evab, thanks for the welcome - it's much appreciated. I can't wait to get started with the overpaying! :j

JonnyBravo · 7 April 2008 at 6:04PM

Best of luck, and don't be afraid to use the forum as a sounding board. Plenty of overpaying advice here!

mountainlioness · 7 April 2008 at 8:53PM

Hey there and welcome to the club!

As you've now noticed, once you get into it it does tend to turn you into a bit of an overpayment evangelist, out there converting the uninitiated into the ways of the MFi3er

Get yourself a siggy now so you can celebrate your progress with the world!

x ML

financialbliss · 7 April 2008 at 10:46PM

Hi abouttimetoo,

I’d echo JonnyBravo. Plenty of good advice to be had here. I’d always sound out any ideas here first – there’s always someone more experienced / trod that path before willing to share their view.

And if you’re willing to share:

Do you have a mortgage free date in mind?
Are you on a good mortgage rate or could you get a better rate?

I find that if I’ve got a fixed goal to strive for, I’m more likely to give a good try to achieve the goal!

All the best in your challenge - will also try to follow your progress...!

Financial Bliss

abouttimetoo · 9 April 2008 at 1:05PM

Hi Mountain lioness
Thanks for the welcome and your advice; you are certainly right in that I keep finding myself trying to convert people - with some success I might add 8:) - I've noticed on other threads that often the overpaying subject can be a bit of a conversation killer but I think the way the economy and housing market is at present (or should I say the way the press is reporting it...) means that more and more people are thinking about ways to reduce their mortage.

I had to laugh when I read your words saying, "Get yourself a siggy now so you can celebrate your progress with the world!" I'm afraid I'm one of those filthy smokers types (haha, we are such social outcasts now) and my brain interpreted your words as 'go and have a ciggarette to celebrate' - I'm pleased to say I then quickly realised you meant a signature, yes, I must get round to workin gone out.

Regards
Abouttimetoo

abouttimetoo · 9 April 2008 at 1:39PM

Financial Bliss

Hi Financial Bliss

Thanks for the welcome and the advice. I completely agree with you about having a fixed goal to strive for; I’ve been following your own thread for a couple of weeks now and can see what a difference having a goal makes to you as well as some of the other posters I have been following, in terms of being able to calculate the total percentage you have paid off, daily interest etc. as well as the motivation and satisfaction these numbers clearly bring you all.

I’m certainly willing to share information but I still haven’t thrashed out the final details of my plan yet in terms of what I’ll need to over-pay by each month
· Mortgage free date in mind – ideally this would be within a maximum of 10 years time – I need to work it out so that I can build up a plan as you have done
· My mortgage is split in two halves – 50% repayment and 50% interest only
o Both parts of the mortgage are at base rate, currently 5.25. Obviously this has reduced twice recently and I’m making sure that I’m overpaying by the amount it has dropped by (hope that makes sense)

I daresay I could get a bit of a better mortgage deal but I’m intending to change my job within the next 12 months if not sooner - I’ve been with the same company for 19 years so I’m finding the prospect pretty scary but I know it is the right thing to do for me - so I don’t really want to start tinkering with the mortgage arrangements just yet. I also don’t believe there is anything such thing as a free lunch (although having read some of the successful ways people accumulate money on here I’d better revise that to free lunches when it comes to mortgages:rolleyes: )

I've added my name to bellsbells 2008 MFW chain and at present I've said I want to make a £1500 of overpayments this year. Not a great deal I know but I just wanted to get something down in black and white to start me off.

Best wishes

setmefree2 · 9 April 2008 at 2:26PM

Welcome and good luck:j:j:T:T

mountainlioness · 9 April 2008 at 5:53PM

lol! well, however you wanna mark out your progress to the MFW goal! (though of course some dedicated MSErs would point out that giving up would give you even more cash off the ol' mortgage - far be it from me, the same's the case for me with wine, takeaways/eating out, handbags... the list goes on!)

Hurrah, my MFW quest has started

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