Can I join you???

bedhair

Hi there,
We have just moved house (in Dec 2006) and received our first quarterly mortgage statement. After paying roughly £4000 in the last 4 months we have managed to cut £200 off our mortgage:mad:
Don't want to be doing this for the next 25 years so I have made a decision to make overpayments (however I can get my hands on the money!) each month.
I find some of the posts on this board inspirational and wondered if I could come and join you?
I have £152, 496 outstanding on a house which is valued at £205,000 and no other debts (apart from a £200 overdraft facility ~ which I tend to use quite frequently:o )

So here goes ....................

sparklymessygirl

Hello bedhair, welcome to th MFW board - have only just found it myself. Why don't you join the Mortgage free in three years thread - no need to pay off the whole thing but you could think of a short term goal and it might help to keep you focussed :j

Sparkly

Kaz2904

^^^^^
What she said!

alanobrien

Good for you, go for it!
Whatever you pay off reduces the term and interest you pay.
Thats less money overall you are paying to them.....and more in your pocket.
we all know it makes sense....and welcome.

bedhair

Thanks for the encouragement folks.
Have already sent off a cheque for £120 for overpayments and have set up a standing order to pay £100 ever payment each month and can increase this if I find I can afford it. Any spare cash (boot sales and Ebay etc....) I can send off the odd cheque.
I feel really motivated ~ thanks.

firesidemaid

i too have an aim to pay off as much as we can in the next 3 years - as life begins at 40!

by increasing our payments by £150 a month we have cut the term from 28 to 17 years (started off again at 1st march with approx. £105300)

and whenever there is any spare cash i pay that off using internet banking - it really is motivational to see that balance go down, especially as it dips below the next £1000 mark.

just waiting for £200 from quidco, so that will join in too! the best thing is that the more you pay off, the more you pay off! IYSWIM.

i put all my loose change in a pot - don't notice it going. buy supermarket savings stamps and/or use coupons in asda - and use this to buy shopping and then the shopping money goes off the mortgage.

as they say, every little helps. stoozing from credit cards if you are able to put into premium bonds, offset or just save - all to earn that little extra...

i so wish i had decided to do this 2 years ago! better late than never!

jamesd

Welcome! Remember that the idea is to get free of the mortgage, not only by overpaying. Savings accounts can have higher interest rates than the mortgage rate after tax, particularly tax free ISA accounts, so using those can be better than overpaying - you go wherever the interest rate (after tax) is highest.

Since it's a long term situation you should also consider investing in a stocks and shares ISA, or outside it, as well, since that typically delivers returns greater than the mortgage interest rate. If you're comfortable with the downs as well as the ups it's an excellent approach.

If overpaying by 100 a month you're almost certainly going to be better off using one of the regular saver accounts instead of overpaying on the mortgage.