So annoyed at myself for not making overpayments :-(

gallygirl

The last 6 years ive managed to accumulate £30000 of savings.

Not once has it occured to me to make overpayments, im so stupid.

No, if you were stupid you'd have run up 30k debt instead of 30k savings (except it's even more than 30k!) :T.

rainbowcloudy wrote: »

biggest regret ever.

Well, let's hope it is. I've also made bad financial decisions in the past which I regret. But biggest regrets - nope. That's making wrong choices relationship wise, not spending enough time with loved ones etc. Really - has your life been so charmed that accumulating a massive amount of savings is your biggest regret?

You made a decision a number of years ago, based on what was right for you at the time. If you had been better informed, e.g. found MSE earlier, you would have made different choices. What is important now is to make the correct, informed choices for you. So work out what you need as an emergency fund (and no-one on here should tell you what that should be - do your own research as part of your financial education ). Then sort out a remortgage. It's certainly worth paying the ERC to get a better rate.

As regards to your children and wanting to help them. By far the MOST important thing you can do for them is to financially educate them. Believe me, that is of far more value to them than a pot of money. Making them financially astute is the best long term gift - and you can give them that :T.

You really are having a severe over reaction to this. You have your health, family and are in a good financial position. Count your blessings. Instead of worrying about what you can't change concentrate on what to do going forward.

tootallulah

I'm with the others, we all do things we regret, this is just one of them and to be honest - no-one died. The trick is to sort it now and look forward. You will be a brilliant mortage freer do join us and good luck with getting a new rate and after all it will be for a much smaller mortgage if you add in some of your savings. Look forwards you are in a good position.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Good morning,

GalyGirl has written an excellent post. MSE will be able to help you gain information on finances, best rates/ways of saving, reducing spends on food, gifts etc. This all puts you in an excellent position to OP.

Good luck with your remortgage, the past won't go from your mind immediately but put it in perspective. Think of the money you will save in the future and know that you'll educate those around you.

So many of us have wasted money in myriad ways - you're not alone

Best wishes Tilly

gjchester

rainbowcloudy wrote: »

Ive just been on the overpayments calculator and i could of had my mortgage down to £22000 by now eurrghh i feel sick. .

Are you sure you read the calculator right. We had a £145K loan fixed at 4.89% for 5 years and overpaid as much as we could couple of times it was the 10% a year, sometimes not maybe 5%. 5 Years later the mortgage is £90k


Most fixed deals only allow 10% overpayments a year, so it would be hard to go from £140 to £22k, it could be that's the interest saved.


Doesn't make it better, but I think your beating yourself up more than you need to.


Do we regret fixing, yes and no, yes it was high but we had stability for five years, moving to a tracker is the better option now, but then again if rates go up a lot the fixed may again look a better deal.

tootoo

Hindsight is a wonderful thing! In hindsight, If i had started OPing when I first had a mortgage, before I had children, worked full-time etc, it certainly would be a lot lower now. Yes I regret it but it didn't occur me, like you I saw the mortgage term being 'x' and lasting 'y'.
As already said, you have great savings to use now.

rainbowcloudy

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for your replies. I probably have over reacted to thisits just when i looked at the sums i was so shocked at what id missed out on and just dont know why all these years i never overpaid.
I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing, i just cant believe how daft ive been.
I am going to OP my 10% today, at least that will be a start.

I think i will just pay the ERC aswell and go to a different fix. My mortgage lender said i can do a rate switch with them which means i dont technically have to remortgage so can save on valuation fees, legsl fees etc. I hope ive understood that correctly?

I might also ask if i can reduce my term aswell as can afford more each month but does anyone know if you can just request this whenever u want? Is it just a simple thing to request or will reducing the term mean technically im overpaying again which means its not allowed. Bit confused on that. Wish barclays/woolwich call centre wasnt full of people i cant understand because i would feel more confident phoning them.

I really appreciate everybodys replies and advice, i wasnt expecting so much support on here, thank you so much. Xx

drinkduffbeers

Try not to beat yourself up too much just make sure you don't jump into another unfavourable deal in your desire to sort this out quickly

If your paying the ERC you may as well take a look at what the whole market has to offer, there are many deals out there that are fee free

I have an offset mortgage and whilst slightly higher rates the flexibility to pay what ever I want or offset against any savings makes it worth it's weight in gold

You sound like an ideal candidate for an offset?

rainbowcloudy

Aww thanks for your post, i feel a little better about things. I made a 10% OP today and asked to reduce my term to 15 years which means i will be paying more off each month i assume? I dont really understand offset very well. I understand the basics of your savings being offset against the mortgage so you dont pay intetest on the savings amount. I just dont know how to work out whether it would be a better deal.
Once i remortgage or rate switch i will want to borrow an extra 50000 to take my mortgage up to 100000 as ive just sold my house and want a 3bed so will need to borrow extra.
I technically at the moment discounting house move i have a 65% deposit so a LTV of 35% but i cant seem to find anything online that does a good rate for 35% i was hoping to get a better rate with this ltv but cant find anything.
Thats great that hopefully you will be mortgage free by xmas. It will feel so goid that last payment going through. I cant help but think if id made OP all this time i would be mortgage free alot quicker than i will be now, its so frustrating knowing i will be stuck in my mortgage for years longer than needed.

dktreesea

HSBC are quite good. For that kind of loan to value ratio, I put in figures of £200k for the house price, with a £130k deposit. Their best deal was 1.49% fixed for two years, but I didn't like the arrangement fee. I thought the best of their deals was a 1.99% fixed two year deal, reverting to 3.94% thereafter, with a £299 arrangement fee for advance account customers. https://mortgages.hsbc.co.uk/products/results
It's incredible to think that you can borrow £100k for £450 a month, including capital repayments. Pity those rates don't apply for personal loans!

They had a 5 year fixed for 2.99% with a large £999 arrangement fee. 3.7% APR. Not spectacular but not bad either.

rainbowcloudy

gjchester wrote: »

Are you sure you read the calculator right. We had a £145K loan fixed at 4.89% for 5 years and overpaid as much as we could couple of times it was the 10% a year, sometimes not maybe 5%.

I think i read it right i typed in my original mortgage of 950000 then the rate and if i overpaid 600 a month. The graph at the bottom was at about 22000 left to pay in the 6th year.

It would make me feel better if i had read it wrong.