The Mortgage Free Roll Of Honour

Vickimichelle

Mortgage free since April 2012 due to clinical negligence payout :j

Seasidegal58

I've been mortgage free now since the end of May 2016. The original mortgage was £62,500 and I made a conscious decision to take a 15 year term so that it would be finished before I actually retired.


Back in the 90s my home was re-possessed due to the breakup of my then relationship and where my ex decided that as he left the premises he didn't have to contribute to the mortgage until the place was sold! This was back in the day when interest rates hit 15% and the housing market was dire at that time! I couldn't sell the property and in the end had to bite the bullet and let the place go as I couldn't afford the mortgage.


A few years later I was working for a firm that had been taken over by a big high street name bank and was able to get a reasonable mortgage as an employee rather than go the sub-prime route as a defaulter! I could actually afford a bigger flat than the one I ended up buying but was frightened over what had happened before! I had some shares bought through the staff employee scheme and sold these at a profit and the proceeds funded my 10% deposit and fees. A couple of good bonus payments through work enabled me to pay off some of the mortgage.


I now have a nice little flat in a good sought-after area ready to sell when I decided to relocate after retirement in just over three years. I'm still glad though I didn't go for the bigger mortgage!

rockabillygirl

We have been mortgage free since April 2015. At it's highest our mortgage was £223,000.00. We were working very long hours which were unsustainable, and we were very unhappy. We took the decision to move to another part of the country to be able to buy a property out right, which was such a relief and completely liberating. We were incredibly lucky to of been able to do this, and are working hard to pay off the remaining personal debt to be truly free.
Advice from Martin Lewis and this forum has helped us hugely on our debt free journey, for which we are truly thankful x

beanielou

rockabillygirl wrote: »

We have been mortgage free since April 2015. At it's highest our mortgage was £223,000.00. We were working very long hours which were unsustainable, and we were very unhappy. We took the decision to move to another part of the country to be able to buy a property out right, which was such a relief and completely liberating. We were incredibly lucky to of been able to do this, and are working hard to pay off the remaining personal debt to be truly free.
Advice from Martin Lewis and this forum has helped us hugely on our debt free journey, for which we are truly thankful x

Pleased for you

princesspink

I always wanted to be mortgage free by the time I was 52. My children would then be 21 & 19 and I felt if I could be mortgage free by then, I could start taking the life and work balance to a whole new level.

a. The date you decided to become a MFW. That was unfortunately 6 months after we lost my father in law. He worked hard all his life, he won't go on holiday and thought second hand everything was good enough, weather it be a TV or washing machine.

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest. £300k yes I know that was a lot! But when we took it out we had a fixed term of 2% for 10 years which was a bargain when a few years before we had been paying 13% on a mortgage of £50k

c. Mortgage-Free Date; Sept 2014. I only just found this forum!

d. Your one perl of wisdom. Always pay that little bit extra. Even on a fixed mortgage you can normally pay a little extra each month. We payed £500 a month extra. It soon adds up and reduces the interest your paying dramatically. I always said I won't do it in August, summer holidays or in December, but we always did and it makes a big difference.

e. The MSE Mortgage guides and others that helped you; I can't say the mortgage guide specifically helped in clearing the dept, because it very much went along with my thinking anyway. But I did lot of research into my mortgage lender and the MSE guides and advice did help.

Mortgage free and very proud of it.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Huge congratulations princesspink.

What are you doing next?

beanielou

Great result Princesspink.

womble65

Always wanted to be MFW and own my own home. I remember in the 1990's when interest rates went from around 7% to around 15% and how I struggled, that was the catalyst for trying to rid myself of the debt.
At the highest I think we owed £140,000.
We cleared the Mortgage in July 2012
My one pearl of wisdom. As some have already said always pay that little bit extra off the Mortgage if you can afford too. I worked as much overtime as I could and while friends had new cars and lots of holidays mine went towards the Mortgage.
MSE and its members is a fantastic site for inspiration, savings and advice. Thanks one and all :T

WorldTraveller_2

Mortgage free since about two weeks ago! Always had an offset mortgage so always wanted to make overpayments and pay it off as soon as possible.
Highest amount we owed was £105k when we last moved house ten years ago. It was a 25 year term which we have paid off in 10 years.
My pearl of wisdom is to put as much spare money into it as possible, although we did also spend on a holiday each year as that is important to us.

[Deleted User]

Hello,

Just wanted to add my name (and my husband's too) to the list please.

a. The date you decided to become a MFW
The day we got the mortgage in May 2005. It is the only debt I have ever had an I hated every minute of it - so glad to be free. Paid it off in 12 years.

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest
£109,500 (+ the large cash deposit we also paid for the house)

c. Mortgage-Free Date
The last overpayment (and final payment) goes through 27/11/2017 - TODAY!

d. Your one perl of wisdom.
Buy the smallest house you can, don't have lots of clutter and be clever with the space.

We are so pleased to be mortgage free. It is part of our plan for early retirement and so this is a big step towards achieving this.

Spider :T