Five years for Spigs to be Mortgage Free!

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Morning Spiggle, I completely understand wanting to clear the second mortgage and. Bet your head will feel much clearer now you have made the decision.

Have a good week and you will be enjoying March as much as the Tiily household, as we switch to FD offset.

Tilly x

Spiggle

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS wrote: »

Morning Spiggle, I completely understand wanting to clear the second mortgage and. Bet your head will feel much clearer now you have made the decision.

Have a good week and you will be enjoying March as much as the Tiily household, as we switch to FD offset.

Tilly x

Good luck with your offset Tilly!

I've been very attracted to the theory of an offset mortgage (I'd have fewer sleepless nights) but we're so lucky to be on the rates we are and have unlimited OPs that it just isn't worth the move.

Don't know if you're already with FD for banking but if you're just switching you are in for a real treat. Phone is answered within two or three rings by a real human being, no punching numbers in or shouting down a phone at a machine that seems to be deaf to your accent (Welsh in my case), and the representatives are so polite, helpful, knowledgeable, just brilliant really. :j

I've tried to be MS and be an account tart in the last couple of years (well if they're going to give me free money, why not? :cool:) but I can honestly say I'm not leaving FD for as long as their service remains this good.

Rambling again ... sorry.:o

Thanks for popping by Tilly, I really appreciate your support. :beer:

Take care,
Spigs

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi, having experienced the joys of BT and Orange customer service today it is an absolute DELIGHT speaking with FD. We switched bank accounts back in November in readiness for our offset mortgage and they have been exemplary in every way.

You are so close to reaching your goal, it must be fantastic to be so close.

Have a good night Tilly

Spiggle

Hiya All,

Just a quick update before I go and watch the rugby.

So the normal payments and the last of this year's MOS have gone out and we now stand at:

Mortgage one - £38,815.64
Mortgage two - £ 4,808.12
Mortage Total - £43,623.76

Credit Card - £611.69

Total Debt Outstanding £44,235.45

We have in our MOS £6,600 leaving us with a net debt of £37,023.76. This figure will actually rise again later on as some of the MOS will go on our holiday at Easter.

I'll be ringing up the bank sometime this week, probably Friday, to get a settlement figure on the second mortgage, I'm sooooooooooooo excited! :rotfl::dance:_party_

We've booked a holiday for a week in Easter and we really need it. Haven't been away for two or three years now and need to recharge the batteries with sun, sand and sea. I did book on a MSE basis, got the Cap One cash back card through Quidco so got £15 for that plus will get the CC cash back later in the year. The total amount will be paid off the card in a couple of weeks out of the MOS and so won't pay any interest. Booked the holiday through quidco too so will get £15 cash back for that too.

Looking now to book something for a week away in summer and put that through the CC to maximise the cashback after which it will be cut up and I'll sit back and await the cashback. I may hold off on opening the reg saver for a month or so to enable me to fully cover the cost of the summer holiday too when added to what remains of the MOS.

This may seem extravagant but it only means taking a month or two off living really tightly to enable something that we'll enjoy the memories of for the next three years which will be the longest I think as we work towards the end goal. All about balancing living and OPing!

Anyway, better go as the rugby is starting.

See you soon,
Spigs

Spiggle

So that was a letdown, can't remember a time when a full blown six nations international has been pulled for weather!

Ahh well, we've got the Wales game to enjoy today.

See you all later,
Spigs

Spiggle

Well, it seems like a lot longer than a month and a half since I wrote in my diary!

Since then Wales won the six nations with the grand slam :j:beer::T and I've been through a lot more thought on the matured reg saver (MOS)! The weird thing is when I didn't have anything saved and was buying on credit I never took so long to make up my mind on how to spend money. Odd, eh? :think:

Anyway, long and short is I changed my mind when I had a statement on my mortgage that put in £ and pence terms how much I'm paying in interest on the second mortgage and an ISA became available at 4% fixed for 18 months. The difference was too much to bear and so I did the sensible thing and filled a 2011-12 ISA with £5,340. :cool:

Also, I have had a change to my contract at work which means I have slightly more coming in per month. Some backdated pay last month meant that I paid off the holiday with that more or less and with a bit of fiddling around between accounts I managed to open two more reg savers in March (not delayed as in my post above) with the full £600 going into them! :dance: That means they'll mature before the end of the 2012-13 financial year and I can bung £5,640 of that into another fixed rate ISA for me and the remainder into an ISA for OH. Providing, of course, that will earn me more than if I pay it directly off the mortgage.

I still have a few hundred floating in easy access savings accounts at the moment. It can remain floating until we get back from our week in the sun which is now only a week and a few days away. I can't wait.

We also decided against getting a second holiday for later in the year too. It didn't really make sense. If we're going to have a holiday in the Easter break then we can concentrate on home and our garden when we're off in summer and then go again maybe next spring or summer (2013).

So, the figures at the moment are:

Mortgage one - £38,441.64
Mortgage two - £ 4716.12
Mortage Total - £43157.76

Credit Card - £516.69

Total Debt Outstanding £43,674.45

We have recorded MOS of £5,940 leaving a net debt of £37,217.76. I'm not accounting for floating funds here for the time being and will sort that out next month.

So, that's my war and peace for the time being. If you've read this far, thank you.

See you soon,
Spigs

SmileyG_2

Spigs

Well done on the rugby, fully deserved, England were second best this year (although that was better than I expected....)

Spiggle

Hi SmileyG,

Thanks for dropping by.

We were very hoarse, and eventually hungover, _pale_ last weekend I must admit! A few of my friends who are from the other side of the border said the same as you. They were pleasantly surprised at the England performance and it was better than expected. You also have a positive in that you have a young side that can develop over time.

Your mortgage numbers look great, good luck with the last smidgeon!

Take care,
Spigs

Spiggle

OK, April update time. :wave:

The normal payments have gone out and the £600 has gone into the reg savers as offset. At the moment I haven't amended any of the monthly mortgage payments due to the change to my contract and the changes that will arise for both of us with the tax allowance increase. :think:

I won't really have a clear picture on the regular income until the end of May when I get my salary paid for a full month at the new contract rate and with new tax allowance. Once those figures are in I'll have another play and see what is best to do with any excess. At the moment I'm quite attracted to the Monmouthshire Flexible Saver for any excess we may have. (See I am getting better at assessing rates that earn versus what we're paying out!;))

So, here's how we stand at the moment:

Mortgage one - £38,067.64
Mortgage two - £ 4,624.12
Mortage Total - £42,691.76

Credit Card - £421.69

Total Debt Outstanding £43,113.45

We have recorded MOS of £6,540 leaving a net debt of £36,573.45.

I still have some floating funds around but won't sort that out this month as we have holiday spends to pay off at month end. These are fully covered though. :cool:

I hope everyone is doing well and keeping on the MFW tracks.

Take care,
Spigs

Spiggle

Well hello,

I missed doing a May update sorry. I did keep thinking that I should do it but just never seemed to have the time.

In late April I opened two of the Monmouthshire Flexible Saver 2 accounts, one for OH and one for me. The standard interest rate of 2% is boosted by a 2% bonus at the end of 12 months meaning a net interest rate of 3.2%. The maximum we can pay into each account per month is £1000 (yeah right now that would be nice!!! :rotfl:). Also can make up to 4 withdrawals per annum hence having an account each instead of just the one - just in case.

The savings in here are for excess funds left at month end and not allocated to other purchases. In a new savings worksheet, they are collated as mortgage offset savings (MOS) alongside the regular savings going to FD. Anything that is due to cover other payments, e.g. the monthly balance on the Hx Rewards CC, is kept in the Hx Online saver at 2.8% gross. I put all purchases through the month - petrol, groceries, etc. - on that and then get the £5 reward every month as it tops £300+.

Had some good news on the PPI front as I had £317 refunded by NRAM. Coincidentally that is almost the amount outstanding on the 0% CC! :T

I spent a whole day recently going through to every bank/building society/finance/credit card company I remember dealing with to check if I'd paid them any PPI. Due to the type of employment OH and I have had we would never agree to pay for PPI and so if we had it we hadn't been given an option to decline and were thus missold. Of all the companies we have borrowed from/had credit with only one has a record of having PPI. I'm now awaiting some detail in writing but as it's now owned by Santander I won't hold my breath! But I also won't give up chasing them either!

So, update on the mortgage as it stands today:

Mortgage one - £37,320
Mortgage two - £4,440
Mortage Total - £41,760

Credit Card - £327

Total Debt Outstanding £42,086

We have recorded MOS (FD+FRISA+M/shire) of £8,440 leaving a net debt of £33,646.

After the reg saver payments go out on the 10th and the payment to the 0% goes out on the 12th, we should have a net debt position of £32,951. :dance:

We couldn't have got this far and have the drive to continue without all of the help and support on this forum, you really are inspirational. Thank you.

All the best,
Spigs