Downside to paying off mortgage

englisho

I'm in the lucky position of being able to pay off my mortgage.

I have an offset account with EGG (which has been fantastic and saved me a fortune).

The balance of my mortgage has now come down to pretty much the same as the savings I have been using to offset interest. So in theory I have no mortgage.

I have no need for this money and was just about to call egg and instruct them to pay off the mortgage in full, when I suddenly wondered as to the downsides of not having a mortgage.

Anyone any tips on whether there are negatives to not having a mortgage? one that comes to mind immediately is that it may affect my credit worthiness (although I dont have nore want any debt, but who knows what the future may bring).

Any advice greatly received

alex_p

Bahahahaahha! Downsides? Bahahahaahha!

littlemissbossy

When I repaid my mortgage I left £1 outstanding, that meant I could reborrow what I'd overpaid and still be classed as an existing customer if I moved house and want to borrow again.

HTH

wynnvegas

The credit worthiness hasn't been a side effect for us at all. Since paying the mortgage off, I've gotten two new cashback credit cards without any problem. I think the total credit card run I could go on now exceeds £60,000 but, like you, I'm not overly worried about getting more credit down the line. Any reasonable lender will be able to see that we have enough collateral to play with as and when we do need to borrow again for the big house.

The only downside I've found (and it may be specific to Scotland) is that I need to instruct a lawyer to take the deeds of the house from the lender. I'm a bit annoyed at this as I went into the bank to ask about this and they said the deeds would be sent directly to me to do with asn I pleased. There's likely to be a bit of extra cost involved there but, stupidly, I'm happier with a fee and no mortgage than I would be with a £1 balance. Mortgage free in principle isn't quite the same as properly mortgage free in my brain!

I may have considered the borrowing back into the mortgage aspect but it wasn't available on the product we had. Other than that, can't see any downside.

Cheers,

Billy

hastie

I would jump at the chance! Its where we all want to be.
The reason the old timers used to keep their mortgages was mortgage tax relief, and high inflation. Neither of which currently apply today.
You could always use the increased equity in your house to buy up to a bigger home; excellent buyers market, and long term, good money making potential.
Then you could start a new MFW journey!