Brand spanking new to money saving and to my MFW diary

Penny_pauper

Hi All
It's very cold and snowy up here in Scotland so I've been browsing the Forum for hints and tips and came across one about Nationwide Mortgages. Apparently if you overpay a Nationwide mortgage and you need the money back you can request it in writing and they'll give it back to you. I'd always thought that if you over pay that's it, that money is gone for good. So I immediately called and had a chat with a very nice lady at Nationwide's mortgage call centre who confirmed that this is indeed correct. As our mortgage rate is so high and saving rates so low, I'll be transferring all our rainy day savings into the mortgage and only keeping a couple of thousand aside for emergency use. I'm well chuffed with this bit of news and I hope it's of use to anyone else out there who like me was blissfully ignorant of this fact.

clearmydebts

Penny_pauper wrote: »

Hi All
It's very cold and snowy up here in Scotland so I've been browsing the Forum for hints and tips and came across one about Nationwide Mortgages. Apparently if you overpay a Nationwide mortgage and you need the money back you can request it in writing and they'll give it back to you. I'd always thought that if you over pay that's it, that money is gone for good. So I immediately called and had a chat with a very nice lady at Nationwide's mortgage call centre who confirmed that this is indeed correct. As our mortgage rate is so high and saving rates so low, I'll be transferring all our rainy day savings into the mortgage and only keeping a couple of thousand aside for emergency use. I'm well chuffed with this bit of news and I hope it's of use to anyone else out there who like me was blissfully ignorant of this fact.

That is great info to have. Unfortunately I am not with Nationwide anymore but must check with Bank of Ireland if I can do the same thing. I have a high interest rate as well so makes sense to have it in the mortgage! When my debts are paid off of course!

gallygirl

Penny_pauper wrote: »

Hi All
It's very cold and snowy up here in Scotland so I've been browsing the Forum for hints and tips and came across one about Nationwide Mortgages. Apparently if you overpay a Nationwide mortgage and you need the money back you can request it in writing and they'll give it back to you. I'd always thought that if you over pay that's it, that money is gone for good. So I immediately called and had a chat with a very nice lady at Nationwide's mortgage call centre who confirmed that this is indeed correct. As our mortgage rate is so high and saving rates so low, I'll be transferring all our rainy day savings into the mortgage and only keeping a couple of thousand aside for emergency use. I'm well chuffed with this bit of news and I hope it's of use to anyone else out there who like me was blissfully ignorant of this fact.

Great news, we do the same with Egg, but did you make sure you do not have a ceiling on what you can overpay without penalties?

Penny_pauper

Gallygirl
You're right on the penalty front. can only put in £500 per calender month for the fixed part of our mortgage, but even so, I'd shied away from putting in large amounts like £500 at one go incase I needed the money at a later point. It's making more and more sense to whack it all into the mortgage once I've got emergency bathroom and maternity leave funds in place.

abouttimetoo

Penny_pauper wrote: »

Hi All
It's very cold and snowy up here in Scotland so I've been browsing the Forum for hints and tips and came across one about Nationwide Mortgages. Apparently if you overpay a Nationwide mortgage and you need the money back you can request it in writing and they'll give it back to you. I'd always thought that if you over pay that's it, that money is gone for good. So I immediately called and had a chat with a very nice lady at Nationwide's mortgage call centre who confirmed that this is indeed correct. As our mortgage rate is so high and saving rates so low, I'll be transferring all our rainy day savings into the mortgage and only keeping a couple of thousand aside for emergency use. I'm well chuffed with this bit of news and I hope it's of use to anyone else out there who like me was blissfully ignorant of this fact.

Hi Penny Pauper, yes, that's a great bit of news; I always think it's worth everyone who is overpaying to ask their mortgage provider if they can access their OP's if needs be as I've read of other systems as well as yours e.g. my own mortgage provider won't give me the money back but they will let me stop making the normal payments until the total of my OP's are used up - a different type of payment holiday I guess. I've read others who are allowed to get back a percentage of their OP's.

PS congratulations on being pregant with your first baby :j :j

Penny_pauper

Bah!
Still so cold and snowy here, am getting a bit bored with this weather. Still waiting on quote from bathroom installers to find out how much they think it'll cost to sort it all out. At least if I have a figure I've got something to aim for when saving.
Bought something for the baby for the first time yesterday. The room that will be the nursery needs to get it's walls stripped, plastered, painted and re-carpeted (house is after all a bit of a project). Realised looking in the mirror, my belly is popping and that I'll struggle to comfortably work at a sewing machine in about a months time so went and got curtain material, fleecy blackout lining and a rail (as the old one was chucked by the window fitters) £53 in total. Feel a bit funny about making something for the baby as it makes it all seem so very real (as if pucking your guts up for weeks on end wasn't real!). A family member has offered us their feeding chair, baby bath and baby changing stand and we said, yes please. Will be touting for more loans of items from family as time goes on.
Need to sort out car insurance and do my first tax return because of the flat. Don't know if I'd said but we couldn't sell our flat and have had to rent it out to be sold when the market improves. We have a very nice tenant but I hate being someones landlord and rather just have my own house to look after. I guess I should get on with everything then and stop wittering on.
PP

Penny_pauper

Little extra OP of £37.90 today. So bad at being a landlord that we actually got a little money back (wear and tear) when doing the tax return. Managed to get the car insurance for £241 (do a huge commute and also drive as part of my job so this was really good for me). Down to the last £45 in the bank but fortunately OH getting paid on Friday so if anything left in the account on Thursday night will be going to the OP.

PP

Penny_pauper

Hmmm
No money at the end of the month to make another wee cheeky payment
Have been out to two birthday meals this month and am shocked that on both occassions the bills were wrong (an extra 2 course meal added to one and the other just ignored the 2 for 1 deal and charged everyone seperately despite us having specifically asking if the deal was on before ordering). Not sure if it's because I'm sober and am picking up on these things for the first time or if there's some underhand shenanigans going on due to the recession and restaurants are trying everything to get a bit more cash. Needless to say I got both bills corrected.
Feeling very pregnant today, belly popped this week and it's like 'hey, look at me, I've not been overindulging this christmas, I'm preggers' as for a long time I just looked weirdly frumpy and a bit fat (I miss my waist:o). Have twenty week scan this week and am very keen to see this person that is doing grotesque things to my stomach
Still waiting on some quotes for the bathroom renovation although the average so far seems to be £5K:eek: which seems an awful lot to me. I'd naively thought it'd be in the region of £3k.
PP

wantabetterlife

Well done Penny Pauper on the overpayments so far :j and a big congratulations on the pregnancy:j. The 20 week scan is amazing, its unbelievable how clear everything is. I know what you mean about the waistline.....i am expecting baby no 3 so i can only imagine the shape i will be in after that...:rotfl::rotfl:. Well done on sorting out the restaurant bills...bet you wouldnt have noticed if you'd have had a few glasses of wine...........the advantages of being pregnant:rotfl::rotfl:.
WABL

clearmydebts

Good luck with the scan!!!

I am 37 weeks pregnant now. I have loved my body changing shape but not looking forward to having to lose weight after the baby is born