The Mortgage Free Roll Of Honour

george_jetson

a. The date you decided to become a MFW

I would say about 7-8 year ago when I got an offset mortgage and saw it as a debt to be cleared rather than a regular monthly bill that I would never shake off.

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest

£69,000. Not a lot by todays standards, but a scary amount 10 years ago.

c. Mortgage-Free Date

Today! 12/7/08 as I've just found out some expenses have come through. The reason I'm typing this and not dancing on a table somewhere is that I'm working today and tomorrow!

d. Your one (or more!) pearl of wisdom.

I think offset mortgages are the future - they really concentrate your mind! But don't let wanting to be MFW become the be all and end all. I could have been MF a couple of years ago, but that would have meant missing out on some fantastic holidays and other experiences.

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

Not really a diary, but I've posted my thoughts in more detail here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1029981

george_jetson

hostertlady wrote: »

{Must admit though, we haven't actually told many people we've done it as it feels like bragging in front of other friends that we know are heavily in debt - have other people felt like that? Great to talk about it here! :T}}
yep totally agree with you, I haven't anyone...

I'm the same, I don't want to tell anyone I know - that's why I'm so grateful for this forum...

amethystcash

a. The date you decided to become a MFW

2005 I think but can't remember exactly We had seen pay off your mortgage in 2 years on TV and decided to give it a go. Goal was to be mortgage free before hitting 40 (Nov 07). Also the biggest incentive was the poor performance of our SL endowment!

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest

£69,000

c. Mortgage-Free Date

Feb 2007

d. Your one (3) pearls of wisdom.

We threw everything at trying to be mortgage free but worried constantly about having no savings and effectively had no life for a couple of years. Really proud of what we've achieved especially as my health has taken a recent turn for the worst so the security of not worying about a mortgage is great, however the effort and stress was really hard -going; you need a really strong bond with your partner/family to achieve this. Wish everyone well in their efforts just don't let it take over your life too much!

Also we had a lender that didn't penalise us for overpayments - I would recommend this.

We have also continued to save the amount we were paying for our mortgage every month so now have some savings built up again.

angelavdavis

a. The date you decided to become a MFW

June 1996 when I switched to a (then) Virgin One account and overpaid in year one by £15k. Since then, I have been hooked (although not always able to pay off as much). I switched to an offset and became obsessed with the overpayment calculator. Watching the Pay off Your Mortage in 2 years re-ignited the process and spurred me on to join the MFiT thread on MSE.

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest

£169k - after taking on my ex-husband's portion of the mortgage and paying him off.

c. Mortgage-Free Date

18th July 2008.

d. Your one (or more!) pearl of wisdom.

-Look at every aspect of the mortgage when switching/opening an account.
-Set yourself a realistic target and try to stick with it - but don't beat yourself up if you can't manage it. Life is still for living and unplanned events do arise to even the most organised of individuals!!!
-Don't let stuff clutter up your cupboards and reduce in value as it gathers dust - sell it and use the money for treats or to pay for holidays, etc that otherwise would eat up savings.
-Small savings add up - forgoing that coffee on the way to work and taking in sandwiches for lunch, etc added up to nearly £900 for me in a year!
-Shop around for the best deal with any unavoidable costs such as insurances, etc and try to get cashback/loyalty points whenever you can. I have earned £240 in cashback from my credit card and £780 through purchasing using quidco in a year. That is without free hotel stays and discount vouchers. Almost £1000 for doing very little other than spending my money. This money went straight into the offset account at the first opportunity.
-Ensure you are putting your money wherever it works hardest - either in an offset if mortgage rates are high, an ISA if you are a high tax payer, or other investments - whichever is likely to realise the highest value.

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

Not a personal diary, but I am a MFiT Regular!

PKdude

Me and the Missus became Mortgage free on XMas Eve last year

Best present EVER and its one that just keeps on giving.

we were lucky to have bought originally in the 1993 Slump
for 60K and our house has been valued at about 300K
(before credit crunch) we paid up 12 years early.


The mental relief of never having to pay a mortgage payment again unless we CHOOSE to is immense.


It dawned on last November why the hell were we paying out so much each year to get hardly anything off our total.


We cashed in an endowment and used most of our savings

Its funny we have now saved since then in 8 months the money we spent from our savings


If you can do it DO IT, its a great feeling.

I only no ONE other person who is mortgage free and we regularly joke about it and how free we feel esp in todays market

Marisan

We took out our mortgage in September 1979 six months before we got married.It was for the princely sum of £13,000 (nothing by today's rates.)

However,twelve months in and after just six months of wedded bliss both hubby and I were made redundant.This was in the early 80s when times were bleak.We scraped money together to pay our gas and electricity bills,water rates and general rates (pre Council tax).The DHSS told us to pay all these bills before the mortgage as <quote> the Building Society will understand.

They didn't......they served us with a repossession order.We were over £1000 in arrears and both out of work.But we contacted a helpful solicitor who got the repossession stopped and negotiated repayments for us.

Things went okay for a while when hubby found a job...only to be made redundant again three months later.This pattern repeated itself for the next eighteen months.Like so many others at this time,we struggled,but eventually we paid off the mortgage arrears.

As time went by,and we both found other jobs,and managed to pay a few quid over and above the repayments from time to time.Then I became ill and had to change to a lower paid job with less hours.We reduced the mortgage repayments by extending the loan period.But we kept up with the payments somehow.

In the past few years things have been better and we began again to increase the payments as and when we could.

Last week,August 28th 2008 we made our last mortgage payment.The Day we thought would never arrive has done.

The feeling is tremendous,to sit in your home knowing that you OWN it..totally amazing!

:j

The only pearl of wisdom I can give is to keep believing that the glorious day WILL dawn...and do all you can to make it happen.Think of a drop of water falling onto a stone...it will wear it away eventually.

golfiematt

after reading your thread you have inspired me (being on a low wage) that anything is possible if you just chip away over time.

hazelize_uk

a. The date you decided to become a MFW

January 2005 at the end of the Christmas holidays, I was sitting playing with a spreadsheet of the year aheads expenses (as ya do!) and started messing around with how much interest you could save if making overpayments to the mortgage. I basically pointed out to my husband that we 'could' pay it off over the next 3 year (10 years early), but that we would both need to agree as it would mean tightening quite a few other purse strings when i showed him what we could save he gave the plan a big thumbs up and we were off! :beer:

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest

£68k which was petrifying in 1993!

c. Mortgage-Free Date

3rd October 2008.

d. Your one (or more!) pearl of wisdom.

The woolwich one account (now barclays) really made us focus as you can see you balance every day! I have spoken to lots of people that have no idea what they owe and don't even seem to notice that they are paying thousands in interest a year even when they look at their annual statements. It seems that they think of their mortgage as a bill rather than a debt and comments like 'you can't lose with property' drives me mad!

Rounding obsessed! on top of overpayments everytime interest was added i was absolutely compelled to pay more to keep to a round figure. this was only in the last year and made a huge impact so in retrospect i should have become obsessed earlier!

I wouldn't say that we had to scrimp and save, we just posed a very simple question before we spent money - 'Do we really need it?' the surprising answer more often than not is a big fat NO! With that in mind I also started clearing out some clutter which i sold on ebay to pay for holidays so we didn't go with out at all really.

We took up a free and productive hobby - Allotment and 20 chickens! so that also reduced shopping bills we are pretty self sufficient most of the year for veg and definately eggs and can also sell the excess!

We are now planning a family holiday to Florida as a reward, no expense spared and then getting focussed again with a 'savings plan!'

The Upside -
We both feel FANTASTIC! knowing that we have achieved what we set out to do, and it is wonderful especially now as even if one of us did happen to lose our jobs with whats going on in the world, we can manage as we have no mortgage or rent to pay
The Downside -
I want to scream from the roof tops 'WE ARE MORTGAGE FREEEEEEEEE!' but with so many people around us struggling and moaning about money problems I feel really guilty so we are keeping schtum!

george_jetson

hazelize_uk wrote: »

I want to scream from the roof tops 'WE ARE MORTGAGE FREEEEEEEEE!' but with so many people around us struggling and moaning about money problems I feel really guilty so we are keeping schtum!

Congratulations on becoming mortgage free - as someone else said, it's the gift that keeps on giving

I feel the same was as you - I've achieved my goal, but don't want to tell anyone about it!

Like you I think offset mortgages are fantastic - I couldn't have achieved my goal without one.

from_suffolk

I've been MF for just over a year.:j

I bought my house and started paying a mortgage in 1999 just before the house prices in my area started to rocket.

I used to work nights at my employment receiving a good night duty supplement. In 2004 due to a major change within the industry I lost my night duty and had to go on days but the allowance was to be paid to me for 3 years as compensation it was then I decided that I would pay off my mortgage by the end of this period. I have always been a saver so I saved and used existing savings to settle my mortgage in June 2007.

Its great not being at the mercy of the banks or the employer I feel that if I get peed off at work I could always get another job.