The Mortgage Free Roll Of Honour

badger247

a. The date you decided to become a MFW

22nd January 2007 when I came out of hospital alive....

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest

£144,000


c. Mortgage-Free Date

3rd November 2009 - A very emotional day, but very exciting!:T
d. Your one perl of wisdom.

Always have financial cover that protects your family, in my case I never thought that I would use my critical illness policy - however at 34 I had a bleed on the brain......and then a stroke.
After nearly 3 years battling the insurer and help from the Ombudsman - they paid out the whole sum owed + interest :O)


e. And if you had a mortgage freedom diary on MFW, a link to it.

I wish I had the forsight to do this!


Badger

badger247

oh and if you do get a insurance payout - critical illness etc - ask the Bank to waiver the Early Redemption Fee, HSBC did and saved me another £3500!

Badger

new_orleans_man

Moved from home (good ol US of A) and am now debt free, whoohoo............

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

I became mortgage free this week yippee!


a. The date you decided to become a MFW

Jan 2006, I joined dithering dads mfi3 challenge.

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest

67,500


c. Mortgage-Free Date

23rd November 2009!


d. Your one pearl of wisdom.

don't go with the crowd, think for yourself, stick to your plans and think twice before you buy anything! Every single penny is a penny nearer to your goal.

e. And if you had a mortgage freedom diary on MFW, a link to it.
no

bryanbukowski

Wow!
This is a really inspirational thread!
Thanks for all the postings here.
Absolutely brilliant!

b

MK_2020

Law_bean wrote: »

Once I had paid off the mortgage, I decided to keep it "live" by leaving £2k owing, but with £2k in an offsetting savings pot, eliminating all interest. I viewed it as a kind of insurance should I fall ill or suddenly needed some funds - the mortgage facility allowed re-borrowing.

How do you leave your mortgage "live" when you get near the end? Isn't there a minimum that you would have to pay off each month?

Law_bean

MK_2020 wrote: »

How do you leave your mortgage "live" when you get near the end? Isn't there a minimum that you would have to pay off each month?

Hi MK_2020,
My mortgage was effectively an "interest only" mortgage. I had reduced the capital balance down to £2k which meant that the monthly interest payment was very very small. I then set up and "offset" savings pot with about £50 more in it. When the lender calculated the interest by combining the positive and negative balances, there was no interest due.

Hope this explains it and good luck with the aim of becoming mortgage-free.

MK_2020

Law_bean wrote: »

Hi MK_2020,
My mortgage was effectively an "interest only" mortgage. I had reduced the capital balance down to £2k which meant that the monthly interest payment was very very small. I then set up and "offset" savings pot with about £50 more in it. When the lender calculated the interest by combining the positive and negative balances, there was no interest due.

Hope this explains it and good luck with the aim of becoming mortgage-free.

Thanks for the info. I was wondering whether to leave mine open while I decided whether to borrow some more money on it for an interest free loan but finally decided to just finish paying it off (down to the last £200).

MK_2020

a. The date you decided to become a MFW
May 2006

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest
£50,000

c. Mortgage-Free Date
22nd Dec 2009 :j

d. Your one perl of wisdom.
1) Do what's right for you. Yes, it's good to get other people opinions and views but do what you feel comfortable with. If you're the type of person who likes a new gadget every now and then there's no point in going cold turkey and not buying any at all if it's going to make you miserable as it may put you off. I think it's like dieting, if you cut out every pleasure you may end up hating what you're doing. Obviously, try not to use it as an excuse to 'stray' too often.
2) Keep coming back to this forum, it's very inspirational and you'll be around like minded people.

e. And if you had a mortgage freedom diary on MFW, a link to it.
I didn't keep a diary but as I'm a bit of a statto I kept records of the percentages I had paid off since I started the mortgage and since I started my MFW challenge. I also had a mortgage grid where I could mark off every £100 I knocked off my mortgage, it was very useful to have a visual reminder of how well I was doing.

seven-day-weekend

Would just like to say 'Happy New Year and Well Done!' to all.

And would also like to say, that if we'd still had a mortgage, we would not have been able to take early retirement in our mid-50s and gone to live in Spain. Being mortgage-free gives you FREEDOM!