The Mortgage Free Roll Of Honour

Redscope77

a. The date you decided to become a MFW
January 2020, I had just remortgaged and decided to put a spreadsheet together to track payments, overpayments and interest.  

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest
£78,544 Jan 2020. I had held a mortgage for 15years at this point in time.

c. Mortgage-Free Date
Feb 2022, thanks to liquidating my one man band limited company, making regular overpayments and sticking to a realistic monthly budget. 

d. Your one pearl of wisdom
I wish I had made regular monthly overpayments sooner.

e. The MSE Mortgage guides and others that helped you
MSE pointed out the interest I was making on my savings was far less than the interest I was being charged on my mortgage.  So in effect it was a net loss.

f. And if you had a mortgage freedom diary on MFW, a link to it.
All in excel.  totally worth doing.  

kr147

Congratulations Redscope! What a relief  Good tip to make overpayments asap in your mortgage.

catshark88

Congratulations! Enjoy your freedom!

Vespaboy

a. The date you decided to become a MFW

always wanted to pay it off as soon as buying our first house! but "serious effort" on the last re-mortgage in 2007

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest

£240k June 2004 - thought that was a lot at the time - I feel so sorry for people buying houses now but that seemed to me a lot of debt on top of everything

c. Mortgage-Free Date

Jan 19 so a while ago now - and how did it feel ? Truthfully a bit like" is that it" ? (I am of course pleased and it is nice not to have a bank to be worried about etc)  In many ways the journey is more of the "enjoyable" bit - well enjoyable when you see that it is disappearing quickly not at the beginning when it is just a large mountain to climb. Also once paid it was then right now for the pension.... (in hindsight should have paid more in to that rather than overpay but there we are). I think if you are naturally a saver you are always trying to pay debt or save etc

d. Your one pearl of wisdom

pearls  - just chip away it makes a difference, look at the percentage of what you own and imagine the rooms becoming "yours" over time. Try not to become obsessed by it, you need to live as well and you need a rainy  day fund. I was very lucky as had a brilliant rate linked to base rate and an offset mortgage ( I had always "fixed" but didn't then the crash came and my rate went from 6.5% to 0.89% !) - I perhaps  should not have paid it off- financially it was a mistake but debt is debt and it does strange things to your mindset and to me it was another form of saving really  so I guess once you can  financially pay it off re evaluate and don't necessarily pay it off ! - hey ho 

e. The MSE Mortgage guides and others that helped you

they didn't really - it has always been something I was doing but my first house I couldn't overpay as interest calculated  and added every year ( you don't see those anymore)

my mortgage website had an overpayment graph which became my "obsession"

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

don't tend to do that so none



Anyone reading who is overpaying - keep the faith and keep going but do a sense check from time to time

best

Mickyh-s

Well done @Vespaboy
Bet it feels great! 

MissLemon

a. The date you decided to become a MFW
It was always a plan to try and pay it off early but July 2017 was when we really started in earnest, and started making regular overpayments.

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest
£123,030

c. Mortgage-Free Date
February 2022

d. Your one pearl of wisdom
We made our monthly payments exactly the same for the entire length of the mortgage. When we first got the mortgage we had a 5 year fix and paid £720 per month.

When we took the next fix we included a regular overpayment to make it up to £720 per month.

For the final fix we shortened the term in order to keep our monthly payment at £720 whilst still being able to make additional overpayments.

Never reducing the monthly payment was a really easy way to make overpayments. We never noticed the extra money going as we carried on paying the same amount each month.

e. The MSE Mortgage guides and others that helped you
@A_Frayed_Knot (excellent advice about those .00s)

@shangaijimmy

f. And if you had a mortgage freedom diary on MFW, a link to it.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6285836/final-stretch
and
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5669151/taking-control-and-making-it-happen

andy1886

a)  May 2017 after clearing my dmp
b) £80 000
c) 26th March 2022 8 years 2 months early
d) set small achievable targets to keep motivated rather than a mortgage free date years in front of you . Also focus on getting below thresholds whether that be getting to 60% loan to value for better deals or just passing the next thousand pound barrier .
e) reading up on overpayments and seeing how much sooner they brought the balance down and therefore the mortgage free date was the motivation I needed plus showing how much earlier the debt would be cleared and therefore the money I now don’t have to use to service this debt .
f) mortgage free wannabe diary ‘ seven year plan ‘ but no idea how to link to it , sorry 

MrsLovely

a. The date you decided to become a MFW
I naturally have always wanted want to achieve things quickly so always maxed out our monthly payment before I knew that MFW was a 'thing'. But technically I had my dawning in Dec 2008 when the crash happened,  but actually started in Dec 2010 when we moved into our forever home. 


b. Mortgage Debt at its highest
£160,000

c. Mortgage-Free Date
8th April 2022

d. Your one pearl of wisdom
Keep going, every tiny payment is a step forward, don't waste money on cars, but still live and enjoy yourself.  If you have lump sums come your way don't fritter it, pay off debt/pay off mortgage. 

e. The MSE Mortgage guides and others that helped you.
All those who followed me and commented on my posts. The impact of this board, and how it keeps you going is incredible. 

F. MFW diary link - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6070489/70k-2-years-and-counting-now-paid-08-04-22 

💖💖

jonnydeppiwish!

MFW Oct 2011, £235,900, MF 30th June 2021

Now living in a smaller semi, close to the water, working 4 days a week for next 11 years when we both plan to retire at 55.

There's never a good time to buy a house, but the earlier the better imo. Overpay, even if just a few £s each month!

Loan_soldier

a. The date you decided to become a MFW

When I took out my mortgage in April 2016, I endeavoured to make 10% overpayments every year with a view to paying off the mortgage ASAP.

b. Mortgage Debt at its highest

£46k. Buy a cheap flat in an up in coming area. It's better to be lucky than good.

c. Mortgage-Free Date

It's my birthday on 10/05, so I am going to paid off my mortgage then. Meaning my mortgage lasted 6 years and 1 month.

d. Your one pearl of wisdom

Be consistent and over time it will erode the balance.

e. The MSE Mortgage guides and others that helped you

In the early days I would read diaries of those that had paid off their mortgage for motivation, there are too many to mention.

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

I didn't keep a dairy.