A little bit of advice please.

_SJP_

Hello everyone,

The answers are probably on this very forum but there is nothing like some one-to-one advice.

I have been overpaying my mortgage by 3x my minimum required payment, and today I increased that to 4x. I am fortunate enough to do so since I have still got a CRT TV and an old phone and to me clobbering this mortgage is more important to me than a flashy phone and 3D TV We still go on holiday at least once a year and live fairly comfortably and do stuff, but we don't "need" things that many people seem to require to survive these days.

Anyway, I am on my provider's standard variable rate at the minute which is currently 4.5% which isn't great but since I intend to pay this mortgage off within 3 years I am loathe to sign up to a mortgage that is going to cost me any arrangement fees, valuation fees, redemption fees, overpayment penalties etc.

So what are my options? Should I just continue to over pay or is there a more flexible way? I have got some disposable cash, but I like to have an accessible buffer in case of emergencies etc. but it is obviously gaining hardly any interest at the moment.

Any advice appreciated. I have heard of flexible savings that are tied to mortgages but I am unsure of the suitability of these.

As a side note...if I stop overpaying and only pay the minimum, I'll be mortgage free in April 2026, but at the current rate I should get rid of it by Jan 2016, and hopefully sooner if I get some sound advice from anybody here :rotfl:.

Many thanks in advance.

Gillybean

Remortgaging is really simple and given that interest rates are likely to rise in the next year or so I'd be tempted to look for say, a good 2 year fixed rate, reduce your term, overpay what your lender allows and save the rest redy to clear it when the deal ends.

Karmacat

For flexibility's sake, you might look at those "attached" savings accounts, attached to your current account - they can pay 4 - 6%. They're not hugely flexible if you mean easy access, but you haven't handed the money over permanently, at least.

Do you take full advantage of your ISA allowance? That would give you access if you needed.

I know what you mean about the fees - the smaller your mortgage becomes, the more effect the fees have, especially the huge fees of £1k upwards that are around now. When I paid my mortgage off, it was only £35k, and moving was useless, the fees would have put a new mortgage rate up to 15%!