What payments to make while rates are low

Simmer45

Martin recently referred to the 'Mortgage Time Bomb". I spent over thirty years in the profession starting at a time when there were mortgage famines and to get a loan you had to jump through hoops. Sole income only. No single women. Tax relief. Income multiple applied only after all other outgoings deducted. I have certainly lived through the best and worst of times where at first the lender acted like your Dad, with extreme caution, to the stupidity of allowing an employed person to self-certify their income and 'looking the other way,' as far as fiscal history and the real value of the property was concerned, was the only way some lending officers could keep their jobs. I've lived through at least three mortgage cycles from boom to bust and seen the damage rotten lending decisions have on individuals and family's. My advice is this. Forget all the extra's which are just not essential. Pay down the capital on your mortgage as fast as you can. Throw as much money as you can at reducing the debt. When rates rise, and they definitely will, you will owe much less and will be in a position to retain your payments at the same level and keep your sanity and your home. Equity release? Unless you are a single nun aged over 95 avoid it like the plague. Never forget. The cheapest source of borrowing is out of your own wallet. Marie Antoinett said "Let them eat cake". All governments, the rich rulers (blue, red, orange, green and all the mixtures) subscribe to the current miasma by saying "Let them eat debt". A plague on all their houses. Debt free or low debt ownership for the masses.

ACG

Simmer45 wrote: »

I've lived through at least three mortgage cycles from boom to bust and seen the damage rotten lending decisions have on individuals and family's. My advice is this. Forget all the extra's which are just not essential. Pay down the capital on your mortgage as fast as you can. Throw as much money as you can at reducing the debt. When rates rise, and they definitely will, you will owe much less and will be in a position to retain your payments at the same level and keep your sanity and your home.

You have seen people not being able to afford their payments yet you are telling them to avoid things like Income Protection?

Lets just say i throw all of my extra money at my mortgage and i become ill or i am made redundant, according to your post i can just carry on maintaining my payments as they were?.... How?

If i can not make the payments how will i be able to retain my home? If i go into arrears i will have a mortgage lender threatening repossession. Whether they do or not is another matter but would i want the stress and worry?

MY advice, would be to ignore the original poster. Make sure you have adequate protection in place for your needs and then even if the worst should happen you can not only afford your mortgage but you can maintain your lifestyle to some extent.