Project Mortgage Neutral Begins

ajmoney

Mr AJM rang the bank today to ask if we could go in and discuss our mortgage/savings options with a view to clearing some of our mortgage balance and they have said they can't help :eek: according to the person on the end of the phone, the mortgage advisor won't be able to offer advice on overpaying and the financial advisor can't advise us on using our savings towards the mortgage. I think they may be confusing telling us what to do with us asking to discuss our various options but I am quite shocked. They seemed perfectly fine years ago to tell Mr AJM to use his savings to clear my car loan, where is the dfference? As far as I can see we are going to have to do this on our own, although I will try a phone call tomorrow to see if they can help a little more. It wasn't quite how I wanted to do this...

SuperSecretSquirrel

What do you need advice on ajmoney? The bank isn't your friend. They are more likely to push you down a path that earns more profit for them than savings for you.

ajmoney

SuperSecretSquirrel wrote: »

What do you need advice on ajmoney? The bank isn't your friend. They are more likely to push you down a path that earns more profit for them than savings for you.

I realise that now. I guess Mr AJM and I can come to a decision ourselves, we just need to work out how much of our stocks and shares ISAs we cash in.

ajmoney

I am trying to work out what the correct option is to pick when we make our large OP

• Pay off my mortgage earlier by reducing my mortgage term
• Reduce my future monthly payments
• Keep my existing payment and term as-is. (At the next natural mortgage payment change, i.e. interest rate change, my payment will be automatically recalculated).

When we have made OPs over £500 before I have gone with the first option however making a larger OP with the view to getting rid of it sooner rather than later I am not sure which I should be clicking on, can anyone offer any advice please?

SuperSecretSquirrel

I'd go with the first option, personally. Your large overpayment is then locking you into getting rid of the mortgage sooner rather than later, which is your stated aim. Option 2 would just free up cashflow, doesn't seem to be what you're aiming for. Option 3 just sounds like a deferred option 2.

Usual caveats about me not being a qualified financial adviser and so on apply!

ajmoney

I hadn't realised it had been so long since I wrote in my diary, I read others every day!

I wanted to come in here and post because many people in my real life might think me mad and I want to shout from the rooftops. I haven't conquered my stress by any stretch of the imagination but I am slowly feeling the "normal" me working its way to the surface. I got angry today when I thought I wouldn't be able to get to the swimming pool on time, I was running late but went anyway and covered quite a distance. My swimming has gone up a level this week, I have no idea what I have done to help it but I feel more determined than I have in a long time.

I have spent the evening looking at possible running events and reading my running magazine which has been sitting next to my bed for weeks. I am sure it was the exercise a couple of years ago that came me sane when I was working down south and the urge to go out and do things is making me so excited.

One of my friends from down south has started working in the office next to me this week, I don't know if it us chatting and having tea breaks but the whole area seems to have become friendly and there is loads of banter in my office. I have a great support network while I am at work now who I know I can call on when I am struggling. I haven't spoken to them about my stress/panic/anxiety yet but just knowing the offer is there has helped so much.

I know I probably need to seek a bit of help to deal with my stress or get some coping strategies (other than exercise) and I am not sure if I am ready for this yet but I am just so happy to feel my heart wanting to jump out of my body with excitement rather than the gripping feeling of it with the stress. I have a stressful weekend coming up so we shall see how long it lasts.

Sorry if my post makes me sound like a nutter but it is a great feeling.

ajmoney

Today we have experienced a great plaus point to overpaying. Our larger mortgage standard payment is currently £707.36 and with the rise in the base rate it is going...down to £666.32 :j we will still be paying the same amount in total as we will put the OP up. Mr AJM was surprised when he told me the new amount and I said it had gone down.

I don't remember why I first started OPing as it was a long time before I found this website, probably when the interest rates first started dropping but I am glad I started so early in my mortgage ownership.

We haven't made a plan for a large OP yet but will look into it.

ajmoney

2 extremely busy days for Remembrance weekend, my stress levels from a work perspective should die down a little, even more so once we are into December when most of my more challenging organisation has finished. I hope to go home mid way through the week and plan to do something with Mr AJM on Sunday which has absolutely nothing to do with work or Christmas (I haven't started shopping yet but can't put it off much longer or the stress will be worse). Sunday's are normally my toughest days and I need to change this.

With a tough weekend my excited feeling has disappeared which I knew would happen but I am sure I can rekindle it by the end of the week. I have a lot of swimming to do this week which should help.

Work (the office side of it) has become a much more enjoyable place to be and I am doing short stints in my bandroom to get things done without being brought down by the atmosphere. I need to start tackling some of the things that annoy me at home and strip back the layers to try and get down to the causes of my stress/anxiety/panic. I hope this will help my sleep as this has got really bad and doesn't help.

Watty1

Just caught up. I started running earlier this year and it really does help. Peeling back the layers sounds a good plan too. Take care x

ajmoney

I hadn't realised it was so long since I last posted, I read everyone else's threads daily!

I finished for Christmas 2 days ago and Mr AJM finishes today. I have one present left to sort this morning and wrap and a voucher to print off and then I am done. I feel a bit of a fraud as I left all my shopping until very late but managed to do it in 2 online shopping sittings and one morning of actual shopping.

We are going down to my mum's tomorrow for a night and my sister and niece will be there too, the first time we have all been there together for a very long time. We then fly out to Berlin on Christmas eve for 5 nights. We have some opera and ballet tickets and plenty of things planned to keep us entertained before coming home to spend 9 days here together before I go back to work and it all starts again.

I would be lying if I said I have managed to get everything sorted out from a stress/anxiety/panic point of view. Things improved a lot just after my last post but my support network also kicked in a lot more at work which has all helped. I need to work over the next 2 weeks to work on the "layers" at home as this is where I start to feel more anxious and see what helps. I am trying to make an effort to give myself 30 minutes a day for me, whether it is a run, walk, bath or reading a book. I am very good at devoting my time to other people but I always leave myself to last which I think is making everything worse. I am nervous about peeling the layers back to far as I am not sure exactl what they might reveal...

Still haven't made much of a decision about a large OP to the mortgage, I might do some calculations this evening so we can discuss possible ideas while we are away.

If I don't get back on I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas x