SOA posted, help needed quickly!

mel12

Solar panels are usually fine. The company makes their money by selling the surplus electricity back to the national grid at a good rate. They offer you free solar pannels and electric from them as an incentive as its profitable for them.

You only "lose out" in the sense that if you bought the pannels yourself you could sell the energy and keep the profit yourself. since you're not in a position to do that anyway....

Commentators vary about whether it will decrease or actually add value to your home. IMO once they become more common & accepted & if electric prices rise they prob won't decrease it.


moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-solar-panels

anxious_mum

Thnx Mel, that's how the solar panel explained it to me...they get paid £800 a year for every installation they do, and the home owner takes advantage of using 'free' electricity during the day. Any power that they don't use goes back into the national grid. I haven't completed my 2nd survey yet, but fingers crossed....

HappyMJ

Your mortgage payment is quite high. It should be around a third of your income so 1736/3 = 579. The interest is £328 per month and you are paying off £687 per month and at that rate it will be paid off in less than 12 years. I'd consider extending the term to reduce the payment but you need to ask yourself some questions. How old are you? How many years until you retire? How many years is the current mortgage? Will you feel comfortable paying it off over a longer term? If you reduced the payment to £579 per month it will take 15 years to pay off. If you reduced the payment to £435 it will take 25 years to pay off.

mel12

anxious_mum wrote: »

Thnx Mel, that's how the solar panel explained it to me...they get paid £800 a year for every installation they do, and the home owner takes advantage of using 'free' electricity during the day. Any power that they don't use goes back into the national grid. I haven't completed my 2nd survey yet, but fingers crossed....

Good luck. So jealous cos i really want solar pannels but live in a ground floor council flat so can't (I'm a bit of a green geek)

Your mortgage payment is quite high. It should be around a third of your income so 1736/3 = 579. The interest is £328 per month and you are paying off £687 per month and at that rate it will be paid off in less than 12 years. I'd consider extending the term to reduce the payment but you need to ask yourself some questions. How old are you? How many years until you retire? How many years is the current mortgage? Will you feel comfortable paying it off over a longer term? If you reduced the payment to £579 per month it will take 15 years to pay off. If you reduced the payment to £435 it will take 25 years to pay off.

Might be possible to do this for a while till you get the other debt paid off then put payments up again if u have the cash then and want to clear the mortgage sooner?

anxious_mum

Thank you for all your helpful comments. I finally bit the bullet and went in to see my bank (the girl was lovely, I couldn't have asked for a nicer, more helpful person). I have consolidated all of my debts and extended my mortgage from 10 years to 18 (I know, its a long time, but at the rate this government is going we'll all be working until we're 105 anyway). I have done a new SOA on another post, and I will be almost £1000 a month better off, as in cash after all bills have been paid. For the first time ever I will be DEBT FREE apart from my mortgage. I won't have to rely on the ex either, which is a huge relief. I intend to pay extra off my mortgage to bring the term down, and I will also be able to save money.

I'm very grateful to everyone on here who has given me words of encouragement without being judgmental. I'm now a DFW mentalist, and I will look after every single penny that I have, and I will never use credit cards again. They are the devil's spawn. I'm lucky that I have a good job, and equity in my property. Anyone who is struggling with debt, please listen to these fine folk on this website, they know what they're talking about, and you can get lots of advice. And good luck to everyone x x x