Do you admit to overpaying?

uzubairu

I've only told a few people at work and they are either not interested or think I am mad.
Some think you have to have a large income to be able to do this, but that is so NOT true.

I used to tell them about Moneysavingexpert.com, cashback sites, Tesco Clubcard points etc, and they said it was too much hassle.

I don't bother telling anyone now (even family), I just read the posts in this forum and hope that I can be mortgage free 15 years early.

ALIBOBSY

Over the last few years been concentrating on paying off loans and debt. Now thats done been saving like mad, proud to say holiday paid in full and have savings ready for our spends away. We are not splurging either just a lovely week together in a caravan in the south west. With 3 kids (11, 6 and 1) a beach and a few days out is all we need .
Luckily OH and I prefer this type of family holiday anyway lol.
Next on the list is to overpay the mortgage, this is to enable the long term goal of selling up to buy a house with big garden or even a smallholding. We are growing our own and going to get chickens shortly, but the dream is to do that on a bigger scale. To me it all makes perfect sense, but when I mentioned it to mum she said "why, everyone has a mortgage its not REAL debt".
Not going to tell anyone again except maybe MIL as she is lovely and understands all about menu planning saving and paying off early (she had 4 kids and FIL ended up in a wheelchair in his 40's).

ali x

ALIBOBSY

Forgot to say I am a SAHM at the moment, and paying off the mortgage early may mean I can delay going back to work or even make the smallholding my job.

ali x

Scarborian_2

I tell anyone, because with saving interst rates so low it makes no sense not to overpay as much as you can do without penalties, and with mortgage rates haveing dropped so much then anyone who's not had a "change of circumstance" should be able to do do

The way I see it is that I'm reducing my proportion of the national debt and recapitalising the banks whether they want it or not !

RosieTiger

Tell everyone you can, I am proud to say that others have folowed my lead, including one who then brought their friend on board.
It's the best advice you can give them - if they are in a position to OP

Mini_Bear

Boyf and i are bustin our guts savin to pay the mortgage off in full by Apr 2011 and move to a bigger place mortgage free!
i have told some people at wrk and i am often startled by their negative responses:
"why bother", "can you over pay" etc etc.
it strikes me that surely everyone should be able to overpay if they want in the current climate, even if they are on fixes (which are still lower rates than the historical average). no one seems to look at mortgage affordability anymore by looking at interest rates if they were 5%, 10% and 15%.
Im concerned that when the bank of england base rate goes bak up, how will these people continue to pay a mortgage.
I have drummed into my sister the need to save a huge deposit and then pay all you can off every month when you do buy a place. no one wants to be payin a mortgage off in their 60s.

TallGirl

This is so true I constantly find myself telling people about this site, Quidco , Mathc betting and MS but some just don't take it in they think it is a scam. However I have converted quite a few and that is so satisfying. My old neighbors now very good friends sold at the top of the market in 2007 and have lived in Army Quarters since. They are looking to buy now and will only have a small mortgage as they have been overpaying for years. My other neighbors are mortgage free in their early 50's due to redundancy and their little business is not doing well so they are pleased to be able to manage on 1 Navy pension. We have chats about MFW and they are cool about it.

My family is also cool about it. My sister has a large barn conversion and so does my mum so we are the ones with the dolls house as they call it. In Denmark property prices are much lower so ours is actually more expensive than theirs combined. My mum has just given us some money to pay towards our mortgage and given my sister the same to renovate their kitchen so fully supportive.

Also I am happy to offset everything we can and have been doing that since 2004 when we last remortgaged. We shall be MF 9 years early but have managed to get married, extent the house, refit 3 bathrooms and taken nice holidays. However we do not have any kids.

Now we are almost there which is great as DH's business is doing badly so it is a great comfort to know that we can sit out the recession with reduced wages for him.

MORPH3US

The amount of times I have tried to help people save money in general... family, friends, work colleagues....

They either switch off and stop listening, listen and then don't bother to act on it, or can't be bothered to go and research what I have told them so it all falls on me to do it for them which takes up my time.

I very rarely bother helping anyone anymore unless they ask me for help and they make an effort to help themselves.

So who do I tell about overpaying my mortgage...? Only my MSE family of course

Pee

It really worries me as their is a very nice young girl at work, only earning minimum wage and her boyfriend earning a bit more than that, they are so pleased the rate has come down as they were struggling to pay a £1,000 a month... I wouldn't or couldn't pay that a month and I am earning twice what they are. I have tried to tell her that interest rates can go up again... that is the bit that worries me and so any overpayment at the very worst is a cushion for if and when times get hard.

bluffer

my money is my money and my money is my business. you just dont know how "friends/relatives" will react. I dont bring it up and try to refer to questions in general terms - "yes of courses it is ideal to overpay your mortgage....."