MFW New Diary (wish I had started years ago...)

misscousinitt

Hi

I have been lurking round this site for nearly 12 months now, but have only just joined.

I have a very small mortgage (approx £23,000) fixed at 6.3% until Feb 2011.

This year we had a large bonus and due to the rubbish interest rates for savers, I decided to pay a lump sum off the mortgage.

Having read alot of threads I realise that I should have started overpaying 10% per annum years ago (been debt free for 8 years). I have always gone for fixed rate mortgages as I like to know what is going to go out every month. Never realised that I could have been overpaying all this time.

My original mortage was £26.5k; first 5 years was endownment and I decided to cash that in and move to re-payment over the remaining term. 13 years to go...

Getting married May 2010 and most of my extra cash is going into savings for the Wedding, but as there is a good chance we might move in the next 2-3 years, I would like to reduce my mortgare as much as possible before that date so we have more equity to put down as a deposit (my house is worth roughly £95-£100k). Would like to buy the new house with a max 15 year term so need as much towards it as possible.

I think I am going to overpay as much as I can until the fixed rate is finished and then pay any extra money I may have saved to the mortgage before deciding whether to go for a fixed rate again or not.

Your thoughts and comments would be much appreciated. I'll keep you up to date with how I'm getting on.

evab_2

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your plans.

setmefree2

to the MF board and Good Luck with your MF journey.

MoneyQueen

Good Luck and Welcome... So keep us updated with your progress

Tesco_points_addict

Good luck misscousinitt, I have found keeping a dairy very useful and everyone on here is so helpful.

There is a problem though......it is very addictive! Now you've found us there is no escape!

TPAx

misscousinitt

Thanks for all the good wishes.

Got my savings review at the Nationwide tomorrow, so hopefully will be getting better interest rates soon.

I think I am going to try and review my Halifax mortgage paperwork, then go and see them about how much and when is the best time to pay off.

Have a good weekend all!

abouttimetoo

Hi there and welcome to the MFW'ers. As the others have said this gets addictive

I completely relate to what you said about starting sooner - wish I had too but at least I'm steaming ahead with it now.

Good luck with your plans

misscousinitt

Hi All

After digging out some paperwork I have the truth about my mortgage!!!

Fixed at 6.69% (not 6.3% as previously thought) and tied in til end of June 2012 (not Feb 2011)!

One revealing thing was the the repayment charges for the last year of the fixed rate are circa £200; so if we do decide to move before the fixed rate is up then at least it won't cost us too much.

The statement also told me that the interest was calculated on a daily rate. Does this mean that I can OP as and when rather than waiting till just before the interest is added to the account (31 Oct each year)???

taka

If they allow you to do overpayments then yes you'd be better overpaying when you can rather than waiting. Different providers have different rules about when overpayments can be made (if allowed at all and when those overpayments get applied) so you may want to check with your provider first...

dimbo61

You could find out about reducing the term of your mortgage to June 2012 !
This would mean you will have a bigger mortgage payment each month but just put the figures into " whatsthecost" to get an idea.
Ring your lenders mortgage centre and ask How much would you charge me ( if anything ) to reduce the term.
Also check if you can still make 10% overpayments each year ( you will have to reduce the mortgage payment in the last year). Good luck

dimbo61

Over 3 years £23,000 repayment mortgage at 6.69% would cost you £707 a month