Five years for Spigs to be Mortgage Free!

Spiggle

sarahevie wrote: »

A lot of your interest rate dilemmas resonated with me.

I'd like to stooze but not sure whether the gains are worth the risk - credit cards scare me a little, gains can be wiped out so quickly with interest.

Currently just overpaying the mortgage - that's hard enough for me:rotfl:

Hi Sarah,

In all honesty, I think my dilemmas were resolved by the regular saver interest. If I was looking at just the rates available for ISA and normal easy access saving then I'd probably still be chucking every spare penny at the mortgage on a monthly basis. And it's not easy, as maxing the reg saver means I've cut us to the bone in terms of expenditure to such an extent I feel like I'm a banker at the moment 'cos I spend so much time on my online bank accounts shuffling amounts back and forth to make sure no charges are ever incurred!

Credit cards are scary, aren't they? _pale_ And stoozing even more so! :eek: I've been a 0% tart for a long time (and I'm very bored with doing it, I want it gone really ) but that's as far as my nerves will allow me to 'play'.

I honestly believe that overpaying, no matter at what amount, is one of the most sensible things we can do. And in these hugely difficult economic times we all deserve a pat on the back for anything we manage to overpay. So good on you Sarah, keep up the fantastic work. :T

All the best,
Spigs

Spiggle

So it's the 1st of May and I eagerly await the next mortgage payment going out. :huh: It may seem sad to be anticipating that but as such a high proportion of that payment goes against capital it is rather reassuring when it goes out.

I'm very pleased to see the back of April 2011. On a personal level it has been quite hellish. I'd been scheduled for two operations: the first didn't find any reason for the bleeding that landed me in A&E and the second never got to the 'operation' as I had full blown anaphalaxis when anaesthetised and so ended up in intensive care.

That the first op found nothing is ok but still leaves the reason for me coughing up blood unknown. The second op was to biopsy for possible lymphoma which was seen as a slightly enlarged lymph node on an xray and CT scan that I had taken. Thing is I have absolutely no symptoms of that disease whatsoever. I am therefore sceptical that there is anything serious happening to me. Unfortunately, the only way to confirm or deny the presence of the lymphoma is a biopsy of the 'enlarged' lymph node. That node resides behind my sternum between my heart and lungs. Not really a place I want them cutting when I don't even believe myself to be ill. And, if it is confirmed, the treatment, well, I don't even want to go there. Sorry off on one then, please forgive me.

Anyway on the finance front. I got home from my first op still very groggy from the GA to a letter from the company from whom the 'forgotten about' 0% loan was taken. Suffice to say that they were giving me a few days to pay the unpaid monthly instalment or notify/report to credit ref agencies a default! :eek:

Now as I have never missed a payment, it goes by DD monthly and have a cast iron credit rating I was rather alarmed. I checked both banks and saw that it hadn't gone from the FD account and wasn't listed so thought it must be one left at satander. But nope, it wasn't listed there either. The company were closed so I couldn't pursue it with them and rang FD. They assured me that they had notified the company of the bank change/switch but had not had a confirmation back from the company.

As I was really concerned about a default being listed, I went on to the company website and made the payment including the £25 default charge by debit card. Got to the end of the process and the screen said 'We cannot complete your transaction at this time.' So, back to the first screen and it all went through at the second attempt.

Next day, a Saturday, and I got hold of the company and the girl said yes they had been informed but it had not been actioned. :mad: I reasonably suggested that they had better refund my £25 then. She agreed. On Monday I discovered that the first web transaction had completed and as a result I had paid the company twice. :eek: Back on the phone. Spoke to a shirty guy who said no, he couldn't see that they'd been informed of the switch but yes he could see that I'd paid twice so he would return one of the payments to me. No, I said, one payment plus the £25 default charge as it was not my fault it had not been paid on time. After some argy in which I got him to check back the previous phone call he agreed to refund what I'd asked.

"Do you want my bank details to transfer it back or do you still have them?" I asked politely. "Oh no," he said, "we'll be sending you a cheque in the post." "Aaaaarghhhhhhh........" I said! :rotfl:

I've now had the evidence from FD to prove the company were informed on 11th March of the switch and therefore had plenty of time to make the amendment. With everything else that's been going on, the stress of this was not good and I will be writing to the company with the evidence to put in a formal complaint.

In other finance, the new tax code change has meant that we can now open the Halifax Reward current account as we'll put OH salary in there to get the £5 per month. This will just be a straight switch from satander taking his salary as income and the existing DDs & SOs. I've also opened the Web Saver Reward for 'holding' balances until they're needed and it'll increase the ISA interest too.

I'll be back in a day or two to update on the mortgage. until then take care and have a great Bank Holiday.

All the best,
Spigs

Spiggle

Hiya,

Ok, the mortgage payments went out a day or so ago and so we may now stand at £47,809.18 left to pay on the mortgages.

On Monday the MOS of £600 will go out bringing the total down to maybe around £47,209 but I'll update that later.

I still can't get my head around the differences in my figures and the mortgage company. According to my spreadsheet those figures are just plain wrong. :huh:

:idea: Actually could this be something to do with when the payment hits the mortgage account or, rather, when the payment is allocated aginst the mortgage balance? :question: Hmmm, :think: I have to try and get to the bottom of this as every time I look at my figures I get confused - not a condition I enjoy!

Right going to get off now but will be back later to let you know if I find anything out.

All the best,
Spigs

Long_tall_sally

Spigs - could the descrepancy be due to when the capital part of the payment is calculated - like you say. Maybe this is done at the end of the month by the mortgage company rather than than the day of payment? Bit naughty if this is how they do it, mind.

Hopefully May will be a far better month for you than April was!

Spiggle

Hello All,

Life has been to hell and back in recent months and I'm only now getting fully back into the swing of things. I've decided to ignore the numbers the mortgage company gave me previously and carry on with my own spreadsheet especially as that includes the OPs being made into the reg saver each month that will be paid against the mortgage at the end of twelve months.

So as of today, my spreadsheet figures look like this (all rounded):

Main mortgage - £40,790
2nd Mortgage - £5,277

Total mortgage - 46,067

Less MOS - 3,000

Mortgage Balance outstanding - £43,067

The tarted card has been paid regularly @ £95 per month and now stands at £1,182.

Total debt therefore is £44,249.

So it's still reducing. :T

Hope everyone else is ok. Keep up the good work!

Take care,
Spigs

Long_tall_sally

Hi Spiggle - nice to see you back & updating your diary!

CathT

Good to see you back, sorry things have been so tough in recent months.

Spiggle

Hi LTS and CathT,

Nice to see you two too!

It has been a trying year to be honest, since last August when OH got a DVt life has not really been very pleasant. We're hoping it's all over and done with now and can move forward in positive mode with both of us being healthy and happy. Those two Hs are always good targets I find!!!

Thanks again and all the best,
Spigs

Lois_E

Good to have you back. Sorry things have been so tough. Hope you're right and thinks look up from here on in.

Spiggle

Thanks Lois,

Your good wishes are very much appreciated.

All the best,
Spigs