Small op's worth it? Advice needed please!

juicygirl

Mintedmatty,

My offer document says I will pay £2.36 for every £1 borrowed. Makes me all the more determined!

CathT

Good luck on your mortgage free journey Juicy girl - are you starting a diary. I did and my first ever OP was only £57!

mintedmatty

juicygirl wrote: »

Mintedmatty,

My offer document says I will pay £2.36 for every £1 borrowed. Makes me all the more determined!

I'm sure ours was similar whwn we first took it out, now by overpaying £250 a month it is something like £1.65???????

I like to work in monthly payments, i.e work out I have 131 payments left at £230 ish, and every £230 overpayment i make is 1 less month I have on the mortgage!

pavlovs_dog

we took out our mortgage in Sept 10 and made our first OP in Jan. What we overpaid is, at the moment, barely worth 0.14% of the outstanding balance. When you look at it like that, it's very easy to think 'what's the point?' Assuming OPs stayed at the same level, I could clear £25k off the capital, and the OP would still be less than 0.2% of the outstanding total. However, being a geek, I like to see that percentage creep up because every number that clocks around is a step closer to getting rid of the biggest debt I've ever had in my life. Because that's what a mortgage is, I don't like it and I want it gone!

Just imagine the lifestyle I could have with a spare £710 to my name every month. £8500 would buy me at least 2 decent holidays a year. For me, OPing and getting rid of the mortgage is making a longer term investment in the type of lifestyle I want to have. The freedom to have a decent retirement, in spite of the cockups the government makes with our pensions. a very comfortable safety cushion should times get hard again in the future. having the option of funding any future offspring's university education. the flexibility to cut hours at work to spend more time on whatever it is I may want to spend more time on.

if you have a vision of LATM (life after the mortgage), i think it's much easier to make those overpayments because you are investing in your dream, your future.

juicygirl

Thank you for all the new replies!

CathT, I am planning a diary, might make a start on that this weekend. You guys are all so friendly and supportive, it's easy to see how a diary could seriously motivate me!

Pavlos_dog, I totally agree with your post! The earlier the mortgage is paid off the better the lifestyle and freedom that awaits. And cutting working hrs def sounds like a bonus!

Can't wait to get started now and will get a diary started asap! X

cha97michelle

I must be the queen of little overpayments. I sell something for 99p on ebay, and that 99p goes to my mortgage. I have managed to get mine down to £28.6k and quite a lot of that is the little things adding up. I for one definitely think it is worth it.

For us is allows me to stay at home with my 2 kids while my DH is free to work whichever hours are asked of him. Hopefully as well as having lower payments, i will also manage to get it gone within 10 years of taking it out. That is my goal.

juicygirl

cha97michelle wrote: »

I must be the queen of little overpayments. I sell something for 99p on ebay, and that 99p goes to my mortgage. I have managed to get mine down to £28.6k and quite a lot of that is the little things adding up. I for one definitely think it is worth it.

Do you pay those small amounts right away or save them up til you have a larger amount? Does your lender allow this? Wil have check if there is a minimum payment I can make...

cha97michelle

I do a mix of both to be honest. I have paid of as little as 50p.

Recently i have been saving up though as my conditions are when you OP £500+ in one go, they will either change the length of your mortgage or the amount you pay (whichever you ask them to). Currently i am trying to get the length down to under 10 years as there is an early redemption fee if you pay it off with more than 10 remaining.

mbbetter

Go for it! Its great that you have discovered that you can make a difference big or small.

For me some weeks a £5 overpayment feels like a top top win. My best laid plans are somewhat dwindling, but I know something is better than nothing.

cha97michelle - makes a great point though. Make your extra money work, little tips here and there will help. Change your style and your payments to work for you as you go along. Small steps equal great leaps in the end.

Good luck!

rigsby1967

cha97michelle wrote: »

I do a mix of both to be honest. I have paid of as little as 50p.

.

Do you pay this via the internet? My reason for asking is that i would feel an idiot going into my mortgage company and giving them 50p as an o/p, i can't pay via internet as C&G don't have that option.

Thanks
rigs