Mortgage Free Wannabe - Diary under way!!

Amy56

Hi all:hello:

I've been lurking and reading lots of posts on this forum and am truly inspired!:T

I'm wanting to start my own MFW journey, but I admit I'm finding it all really complicated to calculate how quickly I am realistically going to be able to clear our mortgage, and I was wondering if you could perhaps help me - or direct me to the best calculator for my needs please?:)

I think my situation might be slightly complicated in that I have 4 separate mortgages (all with one lender)with individual monthly payments (one of which has a slightly higher rate/term than the others). I also will be able to overpay more and more as the years go by, so again, I'm finding that hard to work out too!!

I was wondering (if its not breaking any rules :eek:) if I might be able to post my figures on here and someone give me some advice please?

I just feel if I have a proper spreadsheet and understand fully how this overpayment business works properly, then it will help me focus and see how quickly we can rid ourselves of this mortgage!!;)

Many thanks for any replies:)

turtlemoose

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1157173

this overpayment calculator is AWESOME. I warn you, very addictive though!!

gallygirl

Amy can I suggest you also try the debt calculator on https://www.whatsthecost.com. If you register (free ) you can save data and update regularly. The benefit of this site is that you can input all 4 mortgages and different interest rates etc and see what impact your payments and overpayments will have. It basically snowballs your payments (i.e. as soon as one debt is cleared it adds that one's payment to the next balance to tackle etc) so you can see when all will be done :T.

Beckyy

Go ahead and post your figures, I'm sure somebody will be able to help with what the best option is. Welcome to the MFW board

Amy56

Thank you all so much for your replies and lovely welcome:)

I've spent the whole morning playing with figures - you're right when you said its very addictive!;)

I think I've worked out that we can be mortgage free in 6 years!!:T But would value your input as to whether I am on the right track or if my plan is unrealistic.:)

Whilst we thankfully do not have any debts aside from our mortgage, we also don't have a huge amount of savings. My plan would be to clear the most expensive part of the loan with overpayments and at the same time build up some savings, which will ultimately go to pay off the other parts of the mortgage, but will in the meantime mean we have some money behind us incase of emergencies/unexpected redundancy etc.

So... To the figures!!....

Mortgage 1 - debt of £40,330 (monthly payment should be £301.71 but we pay £325)

at 2.49% (tracker 1.99% above base)
With remaining term of 13years 3months

Mortgage 2 - debt of £18.722 (monthly payment should be £139.94 but we pay £150)

same rate/term as mtg 1

Mortgage 3 - debt of £47,329 (monthly payment should be £353.19 but we pay £375)

same rate/term as mtg 1

Mortgage 4 - debt of £32,320 (monthly payment should be £235.69 but we pay £250)

at 2.79% (tracker 2.29% above base)


I have slashed my food spends from £500 a mth (we definitely overspent here!;)) to less than £300 over the past couple of months, and I think I have streamlined my bills where possible over the last few months, and feel I could afford to overpay mortgage 4 by an extra £325 a month, which I believe should clear it within 5 years!:T

I also plan to save £100 a month (increasing once a year by £50 a month from part of Dh's pay rises) and putting away his annual bonuses. For the final 12mths, we would also be saving the mtg 4 monthly and over payments. So I believe over the next 6 years this would be enough to repay the remaining three mortgage components.

So, I think that's it! Does this seem like a reasonable plan, or is there something fundamental I've forgotten?!;)

Many thanks for any advice - I really appreciate it:)

Welshlassie

Using the Whats the cost - snowball calculator with the figures you have just given you could have it all paid off in 9.1 years (April 2023), that assumed no further overpayments. The first mortgage would be paid off in Oct 2018.

So not sure how you've managed to come up with 6 years. in April 2020 you would have a balance of £49096 and savings of £16200.

The best thing to do would be to have a play and try different scenarios. Some mortgages allow you have a Overpayment fund that you can draw back. Some people use this to put their emergency funds into so reducing the amount of interest but still having access to their savings if needed. Worth considering if your provider will do that.

I look forward to following your journey.

Amy56

Welshlassie wrote: »

Using the Whats the cost - snowball calculator with the figures you have just given you could have it all paid off in 9.1 years (April 2023), that assumed no further overpayments. The first mortgage would be paid off in Oct 2018.

So not sure how you've managed to come up with 6 years. in April 2020 you would have a balance of £49096 and savings of £16200.

The best thing to do would be to have a play and try different scenarios. Some mortgages allow you have a Overpayment fund that you can draw back. Some people use this to put their emergency funds into so reducing the amount of interest but still having access to their savings if needed. Worth considering if your provider will do that.

I look forward to following your journey.

Thank you for posting .

I'm hopeful we will have savings of over £50,000 by April 2020, due to bonuses,increasing the savings year on year and then having the last year's mtg 4 repayments and overpayments (an extra £550 a mth). Will have to be very strict though!:eek:

Thank you for the tip about the overpayment fund, I'll see if that's something my lender offers

gallygirl

Here's what I would do:
Stop overpaying on all accounts. Open a First Direct current account which then lets you have 2 reg saver accounts at 6%, £300 each per month. When they mature you can see if you can open more, or something like a NWide Flex Direct current account - if you both open one you can use as a savings account, 5% on 2.5k. If not use the money to make overpayments.

Just to confuse you further :rotfl:.

Amy56

gallygirl wrote: »

Here's what I would do:
Stop overpaying on all accounts. Open a First Direct current account which then lets you have 2 reg saver accounts at 6%, £300 each per month. When they mature you can see if you can open more, or something like a NWide Flex Direct current account - if you both open one you can use as a savings account, 5% on 2.5k. If not use the money to make overpayments.

Just to confuse you further :rotfl:.

Yes thank you for adding something else into the mix !:rotfl:;)

No seriously, thank you - ill look into that when I next have some time off of work to focus!!:)

Amy56

Hi again:)

So I've spent the last few days deciding exactly what I'm going to do and am making a start from payday!!:T

Aim is to overpay by £300 per month and to save £150 per month.

We both received a pay rise this week - unexpected for me and earlier than we thought for DH, so that has enabled me to start the journey from April, without too much of a struggle - I'm hoping if it becomes a routine then it won't even be noticed!!;)

Have been having a clear out today too, so a couple of things on the selling site and a tidier house - yeah!!:)

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Well done on making a start. Every pound overpaid is a step towards freedom. And why should the banks have the money that you have worked for? If you can afford to overpay and still have a good life, it is crazy not to!

Good luck!