Mortgage free 20/20/20

kingster2069

Just moved some money I set aside for tax into my offset saving account. Balance is now down to £168,000, that means my daily interest in now under £17 per day.
This got me searching around on the internet, our LTV could be as low as 67% and I'm sure I could get it down to 65% if needed. I'd love to move onto a better offset rate. I see First Direct are offering 2.29% BBR. This is a whopping 0.9% lower than my current mortgage and a lovely £112 per month cheaper.
My only problem is that I went self employed last year and don't have two full years of accounts. When I re-mortgaged in Feb I was told by a financial adviser that most high street banks wouldn't touch me because of this.
Does anyone know what the situation is like for recently self employed people getting a re-mortgage?

SkintGypsy

It seems your target is similar to ours, albeit it seems you are attacking yours with somewhat more gusto than I! Is your goal date going full steam until 20/20, or is there room for manoeuvre? I have my 40th birthday in mind also, however that also gives me only a decade to clear £168k, which is just too vast to contemplate right now. With a similar earnings and outgoings to us also, I shall be very interested to see you kick my behind with the overpaying! Good luck.

elantan

i know youve had some stick for your gas and electricity but i genuinely wish i was as cheap as you ... i am £150 a month for both combined ... i am with the cheapest supplier i could find... i have all energy saver bulbs etc all the insulation i can have done ... i live in a two bedroom house ( ok it is detached and i do have a few public rooms) but my house is literally freezing in winter and the down stairs not so hot in summer either ... my gas consumption for the month of february was £235 ... i have tried everything i can to get it down and yet i am unable to ... mmmm maybe i need to think some more

kingster2069

SkintGypsy wrote: »

It seems your target is similar to ours, albeit it seems you are attacking yours with somewhat more gusto than I! Is your goal date going full steam until 20/20, or is there room for manoeuvre? I have my 40th birthday in mind also, however that also gives me only a decade to clear £168k, which is just too vast to contemplate right now. With a similar earnings and outgoings to us also, I shall be very interested to see you kick my behind with the overpaying! Good luck.

Hi SG, I've been following your diary and have also noted how close our mortgage balances are I am aiming to clear our mortgage asap, I'm not sure how long I can keep up our current monthly, but every month is a bonus. My target date was arrived at using a similar principle to the 12/12/12 challenge.

My OH is just turning 30 this month, so I would love to clear our mortgage before her 40th. If we had some amazing years financially then the best I can hope for is my 45th birthday on Nov 2008. This would mean OP'ing £1K per month for 7 years straight _pale_

My OH isn't as on board as I am with OP'ing, so I'm guessing as some points during this journey some monies might be used for fun holidays etc.

Thanks for reading

kingster2069

elantan wrote: »

my gas consumption for the month of february was £235 ... i have tried everything i can to get it down and yet i am unable to ... mmmm maybe i need to think some more

Ouch that is massive, we're lucky to have a new house which has great installation. Have you thought about getting a professional to give you some advice. I think your power suppliers would be my first call. I'm not sure but have you had a thought about a home energy survey? There is a good website http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/ which might be able to give you some guidance.

I'm sure you should be able to reduce that amount. Let me know how you get on saving some pennies

kingster2069

So this is going to be an expensive month:mad: My OH is 30 and I have a stag do in Barcelona. Just ordered a pre-pay credit card to avoid Ryan Air's horrid card charges, just hope the card arrives before the prices rise above the £12 I'm trying to save.
Although I also got £5 cashback for signing up for the credit card via topcashback. I have £50 now in this account now :T
OH wants a ipad2 for her birthday and it seems the whole of the UK is out of stock :mad: hopefully they get some more in the next two weeks.

elantan

kingster2069 wrote: »

Ouch that is massive, we're lucky to have a new house which has great installation. Have you thought about getting a professional to give you some advice. I think your power suppliers would be my first call. I'm not sure but have you had a thought about a home energy survey? There is a good website http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/ which might be able to give you some guidance.

I'm sure you should be able to reduce that amount. Let me know how you get on saving some pennies

i've had people out already and they are saying that i am basically doing everything right ... although i think it may have been more to do with the subsidies the government give tbh ...

will try again though as i really seem to be paying alot more than most ... and my house aint that big

kingster2069

Just found out today that my off-set mortgage doesn't work they way I thought it did. My main account and my savings account aren't linked to my mortgage account. Seems strange to me, but the adviser on the phone said I needed to pay the money into the mortgage account. This means the last two months I have lost out on a better interest rate and paid tax on the interest I have received :mad:
Anyways have transferred £14K into the mortgage account tonight so should start to save me £43 per month:j
Also the mortgage is now down to £166K which is ahead of where I thought I would be. Will update my signature now

SJ1

Well done on getting the mortgage down, that is weird as my friend has an offset and anything with the bank in any form offsets the mortgage balance.

Elantan there is definitely something odd with your elec and gas. I have a 4 bed house with a big kitchen diner that has 4 radiators in it to heat it and we pay £105 per month. It's was one of the best buys with Eon but it's very strange to me that we pay less than you. We did, though, have a massive amount of insultation put in when we redid the house and it made a big difference. Have you looked at that as most local authorities will offer grants to do this.

SJ

elantan

kingster that is fantastic that you are down by more than you had planned but it must really be frustrating for you that the offset idea wasnt working the way you had planned

hey sj thanks for the advice .... we have insulated the loft already .... we have a single brick house which apparently cant have the insulation pumped into the walls ( i dont understand the full technical term sorry) ... we have a two bed detatched house ( bungalow with altered basement) we have an very old boiler system that we have been advised not to have replaced so we have to heat the water up for over an hour if we are going to have a bath etc ... hubby isnt at work just now but when he is he has to have a bath every day to ease the pain ( very physical manual job)(although even though he is off he still has his bath every day)

i took a note of our readings today ... this month ( march 15th to april 15th) we have spent £110 on gas and £56 on electricity .... the other month we were £235 on gas ... i tell ya it trully bothers me ....