Due to be MF by 45, but want it sooner!

NeverEnough

Cat04, I've been reading your diaries with interest. Wish you well on your journey to be mortgage free - I'm trying hard to do the same, albeit I'm a good bit older than you and in different circumstances!

I asked my mortgage company for direct banking details, and then set up a Standing Order to make overpayments, which I can change to any figure to suit me at any time.....I have a mortgage with Accord, and there were no problems getting the details from them, but I've noticed one has to phone and ask specifically for them - I have some Buy To Let mortgages as well on other properties and it was the same with all those banks / mortgage companies as well - Natwest was amongst them. I left my original direct debit for the mortgage in place to be paid as usual with no change.

Standing Orders allow you far more control - you could set up a weekly or fortnightly overpayment of as little or as much as you like, within the permitted overpayments allowed. Most places allow 10% overpayment without penalty in a year - this is cumulative and can be made in small amounts. A few companies limit the minimum amount of overpayment to say, £1000 per payment, and some,as we have found out with one of our buy-to-lets, don't allow any at all, even when you are out the contract period!!

So, once you have clarified the situation absolutely to your satisfaction, see if you can get a Standing Order set up via your online banking as its a really nice way to make overpayments.

All the best on your journey, I'll visit your diary when I can :beer:

cat04

NeverEnough, thank you for your input, it's gratefully received! I really like the idea of a variable SO, that way I can always pay something extra off the mortgage, even if it's only £5 in one month and £10 the next!

I plan to speak to Halifax asap about OP (and now SO details too!) as my mortgage conditions are confusing me somewhat.

It basically says that if I 'repay part or all of this mortgage on or before 28/02/2012' I will be charged 3% of the amount repaid until feb 2011 and 2% until Feb 2012 (we're on a fixed rate till then).

Underneath it then says that 'as a concession, in any 12 month rolling period you may repay up to 10% of the amount outstanding on your mortgage product without having to pay an early repayment charge.'

This is what confuses me until I speak to Halifax - can I start to make OPs now in year one of the mortage upto 10% without being charged?? Or do I have to wait until Feb 2012??

In relation to my previous post about rounding payments up to £500 by setting up a DD of £28.24 a month, using the egg calculator we will save over £1,800 and 1 year 1 month off our mortgage Not masses, but a start.

cat04

Another point about my SOA...I do like to talk don't I??...I know not everything we spend is on there due to the 'limited' (e.g. they could split it up more) number of categories they list, so at some point this next week I'm going to sit down with all my receipts and spending book (for want of a better term) and work out what we spend over a 3 month period, and break it down into lots of sub categories, that way I can see more clearly where we over spend/could save.

OH isn't as OCD as me about saving receipts (I have a plastic wallet, then every so often transfer it into my book to see how much we've spent). I should remember to write down spends which don't get a receipt, and so should OH. Also, I ought to set some kind of spreadsheet up for spending, that way I can see each month how much we've spent cumulativly as the month preogresses. I do have an accounts spreadsheet for incomings and outgoings but it's not as detailed as it should be and I hate to say it but I haven't updated it for a while...

From now on I'm going to try to be much more focused on saving money and making OPs on the mortgage. We moved into our house on my 30th birthday, and would love to have it paid off by my 40th, which gives us 9 1/2 years (mortgage has 14 1/2 years left to run).

Iris_Blue

If you have your reward account on online banking , just add your mortgage account roll number to it. All your accounts can be seen online then. You can see your mortgage reduce but bare in mind that your interest goes on daily too so until your normal MP goes out the balance will go up/down every time you OP.

The HF mort people are very helpful on the phone, I've never had anyone being pushy or anything to alter DD's. they are actually better on the phone than face to face.

NeverEnough

Cat04, it certainly looks like a standard 10% a year overpayment is allowed, but put your mind at rest by contacting them about it - you can increase your DO at the same time and ask about the details you need to set up the SO. I found Natwest and Accord quite readily gave the info when asked, although they did try to persuade me to increase the DO rather than have a SO - just be polite and firm!;) and say you'll do a bit of both!
Some banks and products have different rules about minimum overpayments etc, but you'll get all that info from your call to them. Let us know if you can set up a SO - I always get quite a kick out of paying extra on the mortgage in this way, however small the payments are. :rotfl:and then checking the outstanding amount every few months after making overpayments and hearing how much its come down. Sad, isn't it!! I do also find those mortgage overpayment calculators an inspiration - love seeing how much is shaved off by making overpayments!

The other thing is, when you remortgage again after your fixed rate ends, then try to go for a year or more less than the deal would have run for - in other words, if your current deal has say, 12 years to run by the time you remortgage, try to go for say 10 or 11 years - obviously, only if you can afford the higher repayments on a 10 or 11 year mortgage rather than a 12 year one, but you can shave lots of time and money off your mortgage by doing that whenever you remortgage.....:cool:

cat04

Thank you both for your comments. Iris, I have the mortgage account showing online already thanks Rather annoyingly all it shows is the current balance and what the next payment is...no breakdowns or previous balances etc like you would get with online current accounts. Looks like I might be phoning up instead of going into the branch.

NeverEnough, I thought that I would be able to make OPs straight away, but didn't want to get my hopes up in case I could only do so by paying a fee. When I had a mortgage in my younger days (ha, I'm 'only' 30 now) with my ex we reduced the term when remortgaging and as we also managed to reduce the amount owing with a lump sum after the fixed period our payments didn't go up as far as I remember. Hopefully OH and I can do something similar ourselves

wannabemortgagefreee

I have managed to work out so far that a 10% overpayment can be made in a 12 month rolling period with the halifax, i.e. my mortgage is currently £61k so I am allowed to overpay £6100 per year, so unless you are going to be paying £500 or above per month off your mortgage then you should not need to worry.
I overpay via transfer online, but I noticed also in the small print you have to put CAPITAL REPAYMENT in the box or else it will not all go off your capital, it will combine the interst and capital.
OOOOOhhhh I feel so inspired by reading all these diaries, good luck with all your plans.

cat04

Thanks for that, I'll make sure I put CR in the box. I seriously doubt we will pay off anywhere near £500 extra a month so sould definately be below the 10% threshold.

I love this site, there's always someone who can give you a snippet of information that helps you on your way! I love reading the different diaries too, although I think sometimes I spend more time reading other's diaries then focusing on my finances lol.

cat04

Morning everyone. Thought I'd write myself a list of what I've done and need to do as I think it will help focus my mind and give me a visual reminder of what I still need to do. Seeing all the things I've done already will also motivate me to do more.

Jobs done:
Worked out spends in different categories for June, July and August to see where money is being spent/'wasted'
Looked on OS and up your income boards for ideas etc
Set up spreadsheet for income/outgoings, filled it in for 2010 to date.....then found one by EagerLearner that's way better than mine!
Written list of who I'm buying Xmas presents for
Sorted out kitchen cupboards to see what food items are in there, and to clear out the clutter!

Jobs (still!) to do:
Ring up Halifax re mortgage overpayments
Have a think about what to get for Xmas presents for people on the list and get organised with researching best prices etc
Complete the mass of surveys in my email inbox to earn some more pennies
Meal plans for next 2 weeks (just need to adapt some I did a couple of months ago)
Re-do SOA will new figures (I think some of my spends were guesstimates so were a bit out. Now I've calculated what we've spent over the last 3 months I have a much clearer idea)