The Mortgage Free in Three - Take 3 challenge (MFiT-T3)

tattycath

drinkduffbeers wrote: »

Job done :beer: Mortgage balance as of April 2015 big fat zero :T

Just wanted to share my thanks with financialbliss . The spreadsheet was a great motivation for me and your work inputting all the data is really appreciated :T

Chart updated .Participant #153

I wish everyone else in this challenge all the best as its a tough journey . However its a hell of a comforting feeling when you do cross the finish line :money:

Well done. That's fantastic! :j :j :T :T :j :j

ajmoney

drinkduffbeers wrote: »

Job done :beer: Mortgage balance as of April 2015 big fat zero :T

Just wanted to share my thanks with financialbliss . The spreadsheet was a great motivation for me and your work inputting all the data is really appreciated :T

Chart updated .Participant #153

I wish everyone else in this challenge all the best as its a tough journey . However its a hell of a comforting feeling when you do cross the finish line :money:

Well done, I look forward to writing this post. Enjoy your celebrations

Twiggy_34

Just posting as I felt like sharing. We're looking at the option of buying out of our 5 year fix (just over 2 years left) to take advantage of the current low interest rates now that the early repayment charge is low enough to make it worthwhile. Not taking into account the impact of the overpayments we've been making we have just over 17 years left on our existing mortgage. However, I've worked out that we can re-mortgage to just a 13 year term and, including overpayments, the repayments will work out as just an extra £26 a month.

My partner & me have been discussing this on and off for a few weeks now but I only just got around to calling the bank today to check that there aren't any additional costs we need to factor into the equation, so now I'm just waiting for him to get home to share the figures I've calculated and get the ball rolling.

As it happens today's repayment brought us to my MFiT-T3 target. I think we'll probably add the early repayment charge to our balance as it's a fairly low figure (just over £1200) but we should reach my target again by the end of the year - even if we don't, it will still be worth it to have knocked 4 years off the duration!

It seems a bit sad, but I'm quite excited about the prospect! My only concern is about how long to fix for with the new mortgage. I'm tempted to just choose a 2 year fix, but am conscious that rates have to rise sometime so would I be better going for a longer fix and slightly higher repayments? If we stay with our current provider we can get a 2 year fix at 1.99% or a 3 year fix at 2.39%... a 5 year fix would be 2.79 but I'm pretty sure we wouldn't want to fix for that long... decisions, decisions!

Opinions/advice welcome!

Trying_to_be_good

Hi Twiggy - well done for your overpayments, and for keeping an eye on your reducing ERC so you know when it's worthwhile to change!

I'm on a 5-year fix at 2.79%, just under a year in. Even though that might look expensive at the moment compared to some rates (and I'm sure you've already included the upfront fees in your workings), it's a really low rate compared to the last 20 years. I'm not planning on moving in that time, and will hope to have the mortgage paid off a couple of years after that, so it made good sense for me.

Only you can weigh up what's best - the two-year rates are so tempting, though, with huge potential to overpay!

Good luck, let us know what you decide :-)

Lomcevak

Happy to say that I've reached my MFiT-T3 target today, had a cash ISA mature and decided to dump it all on the mortgage - £7.5k off the balance, and 6 months closer to freedom. That takes me to £146k outstanding against a £150k goal for the challenge, so target reached

Decided that i'm now going to switch my focus to getting down to £136k outstanding by the end of the challenge, that would be a nice round £50k paid off in the three years. At that rate it should mean i'm finally done somewhere towards the end of MFiT-T5...!

spidystrider

I won't be making any more payments before the 12th, so I'm going to update while I remember. I am now sitting at £11,571.

Hope everyone else is doing well

666paw

Morning all

#75 here. Have just updated the latest chart as i'll be away when due.

A bit off my figure but anything is better than nothing.

Take care
666

Trying_to_be_good

Hi everyone

I'm having some updating done of the bathroom, and as I'm lucky enough to have an en-suite it's a double whammy of renovation costs! So I've gone backwards from the last chart, but still heading in the right direction overall. And won't be leaking into the flat downstairs - always a bonus.

Keep it up, folks!

norfolkdream

Have updated my balance as I can no longer OP for a few months as hit my 10% limit.
Will definitely not hit my target by about £6k but should be MF by June next year hopefully.
Thanks FB as usual.

Suffolk_lass

Just submitted chart 10 with my update. Very slow the last 4 months but managed one over-payment to keep chipping away at the overall balance. I hope all is well for others on the challenge

Best
SL