Finding how much you owe on mortgage

agile83

Hi there,

Ive been browsing these forums for a while now and its great to see people sharing ideas and ways that we can save money, and be a bit more frugal.

Myself and my fiance have decided to try to a baby and ive made a decision to reduce my mortage and ensure we can get out of (perhaps) negative equity and move to a larger house.

I need to somehow create a spreadsheet which will calculate my payments going down each month, but firstly i need to find out where i am currently at with my payments. I think i should have had a statement in november which is a year since i started my mortgage but havent had one.

Do i just contact my lender ( alliance and Leicester) and ask them for some internet login details so i can check? Is this possible or can someone give me some pointers? Cheers all

blueberrypie

Some lenders give internet access to mortgage accounts, some don't. Best thing is to ring your lender and ask. They'll all be able to give you a figure for what you owe over the phone anyway, and can send out statements (not sure if some of them might charge for that).

There are several spreadsheets already floating around - you don't need to create your own (unless you really want to, of course!) A very thorough one with lots of options can be found on the Mortgages board at http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1157173

agile83

Thats great, just what i needed - I can now manipulate the overpayment field and see how much we could pay off !:T

Im actually on a fixed mortgage until renewal in September this year. Would it be worth me overpaying for 8 months of the year or should i jusrt wait and see what september brings in terms of deals and rates etc?

thanks again

blueberrypie

agile83 wrote: »

Thats great, just what i needed - I can now manipulate the overpayment field and see how much we could pay off !:T

Im actually on a fixed mortgage until renewal in September this year. Would it be worth me overpaying for 8 months of the year or should i jusrt wait and see what september brings in terms of deals and rates etc?

The sooner you make overpayments, the greater their effect on what you pay overall in the end.

You mentioned that you might be in negative equity. If you are in negative equity when you reach the end of your fix, you won't be able to get a new mortgage deal - there are hardly any lenders even willing to lend 90% now, much less 100% or more. So you might find that you don't have much choice but to accept your current lender's SVR (or tracker, if that's what happens at the end of your fix) - and might well be a higher rate than you're on now, or rise in the future. At least if you have paid off a bit of what you owe, your regular payments will be a bit lower.

Valli

and check your T&Cs you might not be allowed to overpay in which case put it on deposit until your fixed term ends. Some lenders have 'funny' ways of allocating overpayments so you need to check what these are, some say you can only overpay by a certain percentage per annum, some don't credit overpayments until a certain time...so you need to go into this in detail then you will know the most effective (and moneysaving for YOU) way to overpay.
If it were me I would join the Mortgage Free thread - for support and advice.

agile83

There are some details of overpayments on my mortgage offer, but they are not very clear, mentioning an early repayment fee of 3%, then mentioning that payments of less than £500 are "free".

One thing i would like to get clarification is about if the lender thinks you are in negative equity. How do they know? do they just look at the trend in your area and say "its gone down by 10%" or do they actually value the place?

Since owning the property, we have had the kitchen completely gutted and a new one put in, as well as value adding things - Do they take these things in to account, because i put a 10% deposit down so it may be touch and go with regards NE!!!

blueberrypie

If you can't be sure from your mortgage offer about what's do-able and what isn't, it would be best to contact your lender and ask.

If you remortgage at any point, the new lender (or the old one if you're taking a new product with them) will likely send someone to do a valuation. This could be a drive-by or it could be a look around inside too.

If you get to the end of your fix and you *don't* take a new mortgage - i.e. you just go onto the SVR/tracker - there won't be a valuation done, and your LTV (how much you owe compared to the value of your home) won't be an issue.

StuartGMC

Agile
Firstly welcome to the board, and secondly best wishes to you both regarding your plans to start a family.

You've noted need to be a bit more frugal and I'm sure you'll get great ideas from this forum, I know I have! In addition to the spreadsheet for the mortgage, do you also have a detailed household budgeting spreadsheet too so you can see where you are presently and run some scenarios for the time once baby comes along and you have a lower income but higher out-goings etc?
(PM me with your e-mail address if you want a copy of the spreadsheet I've sent to others)

Do you have an emergency fund of about 6months income already set aside?

As noted by Blueberrypie, you may be somewhat limited in options in the autumn, so do see what your costs would be at the SVR, SVR+2% etc just as if you were getting a quote now.

Best wishes to you both

Lynn11

Its my understanding that replacing a kitchen does not increase the value of your property as your are replacing similar with similar but it will help you with the saleability of the property. We did work on our house like monoblock drivewya, new built in wardrobes and redecorate whole of the house when we moved in 4yrs ago but the house price rose due to the trend of house prices rising and not with our work and now no idea what the trend is as there are no houses in our area selling at the moment to have a realistic idea of this.

Valli

I can confirm that if you re mortgage they will revalue. If you think you are in negative equity it might be worth NOT remortgaging - you could always invite an estate agent round if you are considering selling as they will give you an up to date valuation. Improvements won't affect the value - they just make it more saleable. Similarly problems (ie with double glazing units) don't affect the value.
You mention that you can make overpayments of up to £500 - is that a year?
If this is the case then building a savings pot ready to add to your mortgage (in effect increasing your deposit) when you can remortgage would be the answer.

agile83

Thanks for the info - I could probably afford to overpay by a good £200 to £300 per month which makes my predicament that more annoying.

I called my lender some months ago about overpaying and the lady i spoke to advised that i wouldnt incur a penalty if i overpayed by less than £500 per month so £6000 a year, yet my mortgage offer isnt clear and i need to query it again as it mentions this "3%" thing.

I have about £4000 in my bank at the moment, maybe £5000 by september, plus I could ask my parents for a loan to make nearer £10000 if im lucky and if my parents agree. I think this is my only way out of negative equity and my path to a cheaper rate when i remortgage.

Would i be correct in assuming that during the credit crunch, lenders would be more receptive and welcoming to overpayers? Im hoping to make sure that my next deal will allow me to overpay. Cheers