The Mortgage Free in Three - Take 2 challenge (MFiT-T2)

Floxxie

Six months until the challenge starts? :eek:

That's worried me...I haven't been doing much to reduce the mortgage/save pennies as I will hit my starting target of £65.5k without any additional payments this year, but that's not a good attitude is it?

So thank you for bringing it to my attention that I need to get my a** in gear!

Floxxie

gillybean73

:eek:eek six months till we start. I am so hoping we will be ready. i still owe £6800 on various credit cards. Though we did clear one this month AED 17000, I left it in dirhams as it looks more impressive:D. That card was only supposed to have our monthly living expenses on it, but dh broke a tooth (root canal and crown) and our car needed repairing so it was an expensive month leaving not much for sending home. I had hoped to clear one of our UK cards this month. Now I am counting the days to pay day (the 24th) so I can see some more of that debt go down.
I need to do another spread sheet as well. We have been living here six months and we are starting to get a better idea of cost of living. except still have no idea the cost of running aircon non stop the last two months, that will be a fun bill to recieve.:o
I'm so looking forward to starting the challenge, just can't wait to get the cards paid off so I can start on the big one.

GB73

Penny_pauper

financialbliss wrote: »

Hi Penny pauper,
Consider yourself enrolled. We've allocated you as questee no. 55. I'll also PM you.

What's the rate on the 42k part compared to the rest of the mortgage? As with any debt, clear the highest rate first to minimise interest charges.

FB / Maz123.

The 42k is at 6.49 at the moment but the fixed rate comes to the end in Seotember 09. Was planning to use the (currently) low variable rate and the ability to overpay more than £500 a month without any charges to try and clear as much of that mortgage as possible. The other part stands about 112-113K and is at 6.59% (I know, we fixed at the worst time) and is set to run for another 9 years. My thinking was to clear at least one part of the mortgage and then overpay the second one by as much as we are allowed without incurring any charges. Now not sure if I should be attacking the bigger mortgage. Can anyone give advice please?

determined1_2

Penny_pauper wrote: »

The 42k is at 6.49 at the moment but the fixed rate comes to the end in Seotember 09. Was planning to use the (currently) low variable rate and the ability to overpay more than £500 a month without any charges to try and clear as much of that mortgage as possible. The other part stands about 112-113K and is at 6.59% (I know, we fixed at the worst time) and is set to run for another 9 years. My thinking was to clear at least one part of the mortgage and then overpay the second one by as much as we are allowed without incurring any charges. Now not sure if I should be attacking the bigger mortgage. Can anyone give advice please?

Your best port of call is to attack the part that bears the highest rate of interest. From the details above, it would appear best to overpay the 6.59% part as the bit thats goes onto variable is likely to be on a lower rate.

Obviously, you need to find out how much you can overpay by and if there is any charges. If so, it may be possible for you to reduce the term outstanding to up your 'standard' payment and effectively overpay without hitting any charges.

This is what I'm going to be doing soon as we're getting close to our overpayment limit.

HTH

lunar

Thank you for adding me to the challenge. I have loads of debt busting to do before the challenge starts so we can really concentrate on the mortgage. We have set up a direct debit for the overpayment of 20% that we are allowed per month. The rest of the money we will have to keep in savings and pay off a lump sum at the end of the 3 year fixed.

The HSBC mortgage is in my list of accounts for my online banking so I am looking forward to seeing it go down every month. I am looking forward to getting to know everyone over here, 2 years ago I never thought I would be completing on our own home by now.

Hopefuly we will be mostly debt free by the time the challenge begins.

AvidSaver

Many thanks to Chancellor for Car Scrappage Scheme which prompted me to part with my very old but much loved and very costly (both in terms of fuel consumption and garage repairs) Megane Scenic (one of the first made). So now have a very economic new car (£0 road tax) and excellent fuel consumption and with 3 years warranty and no MOTs hopefully my motoring costs will be minimal as average annual mileage only 8K. All savings will of course go to mortgage fund.

LouiseJ

what a good idea making use of the £2k scrapping incentive to opt for a £0 road tax vehicle. Would you mind telling me which model of car you purchased as we are planning to make use of the scrapping scheme in the near future.

AvidSaver

New car is a Ford Fiesta Econetic absolutely fab to drive and really pleased with it. after deciding on model shopped around local dealers and found one in stock with air con which I got for much better deal than "factory order" I was initially looking at. Lots of choice of cars that fall into £35 year car tax (what I was initially looking at). Mine is a second car so does not need to be a large family model now, and needed to be smaller and suitable for my daughter when she turns 17 soon and passes driving test. Happy test driving. Car also came with 12 months breakdown cover so another significant saving - must remember to add that money to mortgage!! :j

maz123_2

good afternoon people, I feel like i've abandoned everybody over the last couple of months just because i've been so busy at work.
Well my nice, shiny new offset mortgage has commenced, and it's lovely:D
I just need to rob a bank to pay for it!
I'm a tad off track for the start of the challenge but have still got time to get it sorted- might have to increase by a couple of thousand, obviously i was a little optomistic when guesstimating, but it's nothing I can't handle. there's time for me to save more pennies.
Hope everyone's well and yes, I am soooo excited at starting this challenge and getting a lovely new mortgage!
maz

gingernutbizkit

blimey Maz, if you're excited about getting a new mortgage how will you be when you've paid it off!!!!!