Mortgage-Free Wannabe Welcome and Explanation

Crossie1

Hi all,
I decided to join after reading the complete forum and was inspired by peoples progress. After Feb 2013 I should have an extra £275 as my car loan will expire. I will then be able to make over payments of £300 pcm. Possibly £400

• Starting Balance Dec 2010 £108678

• Current Balance Nov 2012 £103986

According to the calculator if I were to pay an extra £400 per month I could complete my mortgage in 10 years and 3 months. Can't wait till Mar 2013 to get started.:A

Collette50_2

Would like some advice please. Do I pay off credit card/loan debts or instead pay a lump sum off my mortgage to get out of negative equity. I have been given a lump sum so am thinking carefully of which way to go.
Would love to hear your opinions please.

RevolvingDoor

^ I don't know Collette, I think it's mainly better to pay off the debt with the higher interest rate, hopefully someone else will advise you.:)

I am joining the MFW challenge. We had a mortgage around £120,000 in 2003 and it's now around £85,000. We have been overpaying by £500 a month for about a year but I am trying to look at where we are spending too much and trying to add to the overpayments.

We are thinking of getting an instant access ISA to put the extra cash rather than overpaying straight into the mortgage account as we have a very low interest rate.

We are not really sure which is the better option.:p

I realised I was paying around £550 a month on groceries so that needs to be slashed immediately!!!

millkins

Hi Collette50, I would be inclined to pay off the credit cards and loans with the lump sum as these are likely to be a higher rate of interest than your mortgage. If that pays them off in full then you can use the money you would otherwise pay into these to pay more off the mortgage.

Although it'd be great to be mortgage free (I won't be for a long while yet), there's little point if you're stuck with debts on higher interest rates instead.

NPowerUser

Having been mortgage free at 43, I liked the sound of being mortgage free again at 50

Having borrowed again to move house and not just due to it rhyming nicely with my age.

I must admit I sometimes wish I had perhaps socialised a bit more or taken a few holidays or bought newer clothes or furniture but I prefer the thought of doing all that in my fifties without the burden of a mortgage. Perhaps time will tell when I reflect on whether perhaps, I should of splashed a bit more cash on having fun, who knows?

Aiming to get rid of it sometime in 2013 I have joined the MFW 2013 thread. All that overpay on this thread inspire me to do my best.

I am not a big fan of Santander bumping up their SVR to 4.74% - another reason for wanting rid although I appreciate its nothing compared to the eye watering rates of yesteryear.

Good luck one and all.

Thrifty_Pixie

i am new to mortgages, having taken out my first with my husband last year, but we are keen to try to pay it off as fast as we can. luckily we had a decent deposit (52%), are otherwise debt-free, child-free and on decent incomes. i'd really like to formalise a plan here but i need to collate all our paperwork and figures so this is just an introduction until then.

i can state that we took out an offset mortgage, as we'd come into some money and didn't want to use all of it as a deposit, but rather keep some of it in savings for all eventualities. however we wanted to get the benefit of offsetting it against our mortgage considering that savings accounts are so pants at the moment. the offset benefit beats all instant access savings, including ISAs, until they reach around 4/5% again (if ever?)

at the moment we have a substantial amount in the offset saver for emergencies, but have been using it to lower monthly payments on the mortgage instead of overpaying as we've had a lot of things we wanted to do to our new cottage. then, last week, my husband's car died, so we've had to plunder the offset somewhat for a new car. we have some 'floating' savings in another account for some current building work and bills, but then we plan to hop determinedly back onto the wagon and start overpaying in earnest - hopefully around £500 per month.

so anyway, it's nice to meet you all, and i look forward to joining you all on your MFW journeys


*meep*
TP
:coffee:

Thrifty_Pixie

ok so i found out some more details today, including my interest rate - 3.49% [although i can't remember if that's fixed or what...need to check that later].

i also called them to change back to term reduction payments rather than payment reduction and they're sending me a form to fill out. this should be in place for our next payment.

so this means we can just concentrate on scooping as much excess cash into the offset and transferring lump sums into the mortgage side if/when it starts building up too much. not for any other reason other than that it keeps it tidier.

i am so chuffed to be able to join this thread. having been around £12k in debt in 2009, working hard to pay it off and longing to even have a mortgage, let alone be in a position to pay it off early...well, this is a real achievement for me.

i can't wait to see that term start coming down! :j

TP
:coffee:

MrsX_2

Hi folks, can some one tell me where to start please?

I have two mortgage accounts, on is £30,000 interest only the other is £35,000 on repayment.

In a couple of moths I shall be in a position to start overpaying by about £200 per month.

Which account should I be overpaying? I have an endowment for the interest only account, but this is forcast to underpay, does this make any difference to the answer.

Should I pay monthly, or save the cash and pay it in a lump sum once a year? The interest on my mortgage is 2.5%.

Also, where can I find a calculator to show me what a difference my overpayment will make - would be nice to see it come down.

Any advice will be much appreciated, I'd love to see my mortgage disapear quicker!

blushred2

Hi guys

Newbie to mortgages here

mortgage is 41,000 with 18 yrs left
£305 per month

i have checked and can make overpayments.

am i right in thinking u can make overpayments every day of pence?
just working my way through the threads on mortgage free, and noticed that someone transferred the odd pence into her mortgage every day from her current/ savings account.

many thanks, sorry for being an idiot

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Blushred, I move any pennies from my current accounts straight to my mortgage daily. I would suggest you contact your mortgage provider though to check.

Mine is all on line plus offset, so whilst I build up a cash reserve, I also do a variety of OPs each month.

Good luck

Tilly