One day i'll make it!!!

evab_2

Hi, we've got the Together mortgage too but until recently our secured loan part was on a different rate however we are paying this part off first as there is definitely no penalty for overpayments on this. If you just make a payment it will be spread across the whole amount (not entirely sure how much would go off each) however you can specify that you just want it to go off the secured part and they will do this, I normally send a letter with my payment as I can't send regular amounts at the mo. It has been good to see this figure go down and as dimbo says a good motivator as it's less than your main mortgage.

When are you tied in until? And did you get the £1000 help with costs bit too? these would affect any future remortgage plans if you were looking for better deals, I'm sure you've seen this on the website.

Ev

needtopaymydebts

Hi
our fixed rate ends on 1st October but as our house is worth less than the amount borrowed, we really consider ourselves stuck until we can pay off a fair chunk of the mortgage and houses start selling again. Although our house is lovely, i think we really need a single person to buy it as we started to get cramped with the two of us even before we became 3 and i only hope we never have to experience 4 of us living here!

NR said if we carry on paying by SO then we need to ring every month and specify where we want OP's to go to. But... if we pay by DD we can send one letter and get this set up as a regular thing, so we don't have to keep ringing or calling in to the branch.

Ideally, once we have nearly cleared enough to sell and pay the lot off, we will put the house up for sale and maybe attempt to live with the inlaws for a few months while we can try and get a deposit together to start again! Although I don't think I could cope for longer than 3 months with either of our parents so we wouldn't be able to save a massive amount doing things this way.

I hadn't heard anything about £1000 although that is probably because i haven't looked given that we really can't afford to remortgage or move home until we can pay a decent amount off.

sorry for waffling

evab_2

We're the same, we were very stupid and didn't save a deposit so got the 100% but now the price of the house is only just above what we owe so not quite in neg equity. We are tied in on the £1000 until March 2010 otherwise we would have to pay this back, so then we can shop around for deals. We're trying to overpay to put us in a better position of LTV.

Luckily we've got the house we want to stay in for a long time and have 2 kids (no more!) so any payments just means more of the house is ours :-)

needtopaymydebts

Hello everyone,

I've been reading everyone elses posts and it's keeping me motivated! We've managed to sort out a regular overpayment with Northern Rock and it's quite exciting seeing the confirmation letter of the total amount each month. I'm now actually looking forward to getting our next mortgage statement!

I've had a few changes at work which mean my petrol expenses should be a little lower each month which is a help. I also feel as though I have control over my spending, which has left me able to treat myself and my son and still have plenty left over to pay the bills. Although we ended up on a holiday that we really couldn't afford (long story!) it was a much needed break and has given us something to focus on as we both know this really was our last holiday for a few years.

I'm going to try and keep updating my posts and we'll see how quickly we can get this mortgage under control and fingers crossed get a lovely new family home for us all to enjoy!

ooo, off to watch John and Edward !!!
xxx

needtopaymydebts

I would love to say that I want to be completely mortgage free. However, we really do need to move to a bigger place before that dream becomes reality. But hopefully we can take the opportunity of being in a nice cosy little home to get used to making overpayments on our mortgage!

I've arranged a DD with Northern Rock and we're making regular overpayments of about £300 each month. We've also really started cutting back on the weekly shop and instead of spending around £85-90 each week we've spent £55 & £47 the past two weeks. The money remaining each month in our joint account is going to go into the mortgage.

I've also restarted doing surveys, dooyoo etc and am planning on using the money earned from these to buy premium bonds with. Now I know these are fairly rubbish interest etc etc. However, as I see it, i'm spending money that i've earned for fairly little effort and I could actually win something. I also think they're a better way of stopping me dipping into the savings like i might do with another savings account. You never know, we might win a million!:rotfl:

I've sent away for a 'gold' envelope after the email from Martin this afternoon, and if i have a big clearout this weekend I might also find an old mobile that I intended to sell but managed to lose first!!!

I'm hoping that if I keep this post updated it'll spur me on to continue making bigger OP's. I know where I want to live, it's just a question of clearing the negative equity and saving a deposit before all the houses are sold!

dimbo61

Are you using quidco or any other cashback websites ?

gallygirl

needtopaymydebts wrote: »

I've also restarted doing surveys, dooyoo etc and am planning on using the money earned from these to buy premium bonds with. Now I know these are fairly rubbish interest etc etc. However, as I see it, i'm spending money that i've earned for fairly little effort and I could actually win something. I also think they're a better way of stopping me dipping into the savings like i might do with another savings account. You never know, we might win a million!:rotfl:

Well, you certainly won't win a million if you DON'T buy any so your odds will be much better if you do!

Re the books, I ask for some (or look out for them) on Freecycle every now & then. Also, one of our local charity shops sells all books for 10p twice a year, I but tons that way.

needtopaymydebts

Thanks everyone,
dimbo - I used quidco a lot last christmas and for buying pushchairs and baby things etc but for some reason I got out of the habit. We're trying to do our shopping online this month to see if it saves us some money, by helping us stick to what we actually need. I noticed yesterday that I can now get cashback from ASDA on quidco so that should come in useful.

I think i'll have a search in the charity shops and get back on freecycle again, if i'm sitting in the house reading books then i'm not out spending money! I just find it ridiculously addictive trying to see how little money I can actually spend in a month!!! Also I've been really lucky to get a little pay rise this month so that will definately come in handy.

needtopaymydebts

mmm...today hasn't been the greatest day ever. after trying since the day after the car was stolen to get a refund for my car tax i have now received a letter saying that as i haven't informed them that i no longer own the vehicle that I have now committed an offence and owe them a fine of £55!!!!!!!!!

now fair enough if i hadn't but i've rang them three times and written to them twice, even including the old car tax disc that was returned from the insurance company when the car was eventually recovered. I'm so stressed with this that i've sat in tears half the night as I can't speak to anyone until tomorrow. They owe me money!!!! but... i didn't write down the names of the people that i spoke to and i'm not even certain of the dates that i rang although i could tell them the week that it was!!

my new car has also developed a fault and needs to be fixed too, we need to see if this is still covered by the warranty?

setmefree2

needtopaymydebts wrote: »

mmm...today hasn't been the greatest day ever. after trying since the day after the car was stolen to get a refund for my car tax i have now received a letter saying that as i haven't informed them that i no longer own the vehicle that I have now committed an offence and owe them a fine of £55!!!!!!!!!

now fair enough if i hadn't but i've rang them three times and written to them twice, even including the old car tax disc that was returned from the insurance company when the car was eventually recovered. I'm so stressed with this that i've sat in tears half the night as I can't speak to anyone until tomorrow. They owe me money!!!! but... i didn't write down the names of the people that i spoke to and i'm not even certain of the dates that i rang although i could tell them the week that it was!!

my new car has also developed a fault and needs to be fixed too, we need to see if this is still covered by the warranty?

That's horrible and totally sucks. It must be totally frustrating. Can you believe these people! Could they be any more inefficient. All I can do is send a But that is totally :mad: