The Mortgage Free Roll Of Honour

Had to pay mortgage off-it was a gift

a. The date you decided to become a MFW
In 2008 our 4.5% fixed rate was coming to an end. We went to a mortgage advisor and decided on a 6.2% fixed rate for 10 years. I had just had a baby and I earnt the most and money was so tight. I called the bank to give them my decision a couple of weeks before and they said that I would have to pay an early repayment charge or wait 2 weeks to confirm. There had been rumours about a possible interest rate drop and the phone call with the bank annoyed me so much we decided last minute just to allow ourself to fall onto our 'tracker' that took over after the original fixed rate ended, 0.9% above the base rate. By the beginning of 2009 our mortgage was £300 less a month and where we had cut back to the breadline for me being off and the news was showing interviews with people overpaying their mortgages, we looked into this and found out we could make unlimited over payments, which we did whilst I was on maternity leave. On my time to return to work I had huge problems with my bosses only allowing me to return to a 48hour week, I didn'y want to be pushed from my job so in august 2009 I returned to work full time with the intention of overpaying our mortgage by my whole salary £2500 a month for as long as I could stick it out, however as soon as this started I had my eye on mortgage freedom and signed up to the MFIT-2 challenge, by nov/dec 2009 I literally thought about nothing else!

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest
£135,000

c. Mortgage Free Date
28-08-2012

d. Your pearl of wisdom
If u are going to push so hard and put pressure on yourself and almost live in misery to complete this challenge then you've gotta do it in a couple of years. We did it for 3 and do still have some interest free debt to clear. We were stressed and unhappy I'm glad its over but if ur finances don't allow you to do it quick then have a longterm sensible plan so you can achieve but don't over deprive yourself life is too short, life is for living.

That early repayment charge greed cost them loads--nice dodging that bullet.

Yeah 2nd year into paying off mortgage I decided I needed my yearly holiday--provided I didn't take a loan or go overdrawn


enjoy your financial freedom gerbilo

Date I decided to become M free= may 2001
M debt at its highest= 95,000
M debt 'be gone' date= 2nd July 2012

I didn't think I would do it by 40, but I did. Such a surreal feeling when you delete those direct debits. By having my own roof I have been able to give up a stressful job, as I don't need to earn as much anymore to still have a good standard of living.
Words of wisdom= have what you want but be clever as to where you source your stuff from, use MSE alot, never be wasteful and always be thankful.:A
Good luck to all those paying it off. I find I am so much happier now the pressure to meet those payments isn't there.
Stay frugal and coupon crazy!:T
Mongy

Became mf 2 years ago, regularly overpaying even £50 at a time. Used a mortgage calculator to help me called Karl jeacle to see how much difference each amount would make. Pearls of advice, become more frugal, gather tips on saving from debt board and oldstyle was useful too. A word of advice, please have an emergency fund set up 3 months single person and 6 months for a family first or do a combination of overpay mortgage and emergency fund. I thought once our mortgage was clear we could jet off on a lot of holidays, but fate stepped in with a lovely new baby and then rather suddenly my hubbie lost his job after 20 years. Unfortunately he hasn't found anything yet but we are cushioned because of lack of mortgage and an emergency fund.