Money Moral Dilemma: Should I make mortgage overpayments ahead of my partner?

lilia_fellini

If you have doubts about your partner, then I do question whether you should have a shared mortgage with him in the first place. Then maybevput your money in savings instead.

If you are confident he is the one - to me it would be a no brainer - operpay and reap the benefits!

pollypenny

The first reply has it in a nutshell.

Will you marry, are you in it for life, hopefully?

If so, it doesn't matter who earns the money for the joint pot, it's 'ours' not mine or his.

karen_brown

My husband and I have always had separate bank accounts and control of our own money, BUT if I have had cash I paid and if he has he paid. none of this "IOU" stuff because we have a proper partnership. Many mortgages last longer than a marriage these days so no one should enter into one without thought, just like a marriage. We have both had periods where we have supported one another emotionally, physically and financially, that is what a partnership is all about. If you are just house sharing you need an agreement, I do hope you work it out.

Jimmychoo72

The fact that you've asked the question shows that you have some doubts or worries on how long the relationship may last. This may just be from previous bad experiemce and nothing to do with your current partner.
However, with those doubts in mind I would hold off making overpayments unless making equal overpayments together.
I would invest whatever you were going to overpay monthly into a Stocks & Shares ISA. Either a low cost index tracker fund or a well managed equity income fund.
In a few years time you should have built up a nice amount and the 2 of you may be in a position to pay off a good chunk of your mortgage together , perhaps when you come to remortgage, assuming your in some fixed rate/ tracker deal.

crmism

The first thought which comes to mind is that you are only in a partnership, which suggests to me that you are not sufficiently committed to marriage. The second thought is that you should find it necessary to seek others' opinions rather than settle the matter yourself, which leads me to think that the relationship is a little shaky.

If you really want to make over-payments, I suggest you devise a clear written agreement as to the division of the outstanding sum in the event of your separation; then, there can be no questions later about who contributed what.

Marriage brings with it all the joys of living together, not simply for economic reasons, and in such a situation as yours the need for any financial agreement between couples does not, or should not, arise; they share everything, very often unequally.:)

Bertie_Cheapskate

I see posts and bulletins on MSE all the time about blagging £5 and people take serious notice of them. ...this could be about as much as £200,000 SAVING so pay proper attention!

Firstly, this is not a love test. I have no idea why would anyone conflate such serious financial question with a relationship stability question and then come down against the side of financial prudence - and on MSE of all places. You need to protect your capital. If you don't and something happens, particularly after a long period of one sided overpayment you could literally be down hundreds of thousands depending on the time period and overall cost of mortgage. The genuine horror stories above deserve respect. In fact they got light, though t might not feel like it. Add another ten years and their losses would have been far greater. Do the maths - overpay for 20 years and then split up. How much is that?

Secondly, you will save considerable money if you pay off early. That is just a straight fact - so just walking away because it is too difficult to tackle is a bit of a daft option.

This leaves a no brainer overall? You need to pay off faster and you need to reach a proper legal agreement that protects your input of additional capital.

Some advice if your partner complains... while you are not inviting them to participate in the personal capital that you are expending you are offering that they participate in the joint savings made on interest to the mortgage company. Their own savings will be considerable because you have decided to deploy your private capital towards helping BOTH of you - probably on the order of £10's of thousands. :beer:

If that isn't positive largesse towards a relationship I don't know what is!

fairy_lights

My partner earns considerably more than me, and we overpay our mortgage.
If you wanted to get technical you could say that he is the one overpaying because he is the one earning more, but I find that a very odd way to look at it. It's our mortgage and our combined income that pays for it.
I can't see the relationship lasting or functioning well in the long term if you take such a tit-for-tat approach to your finances.

Malthusian

I have the capacity to make overpayments while he doesn't (though his income is likely to overtake mine in the next few years) - should I do this to save us both money in the long-term, even though I'd still only own the same proportion of the house?

Unless you have a specific agreement to the contrary, this bit isn't true. In the event you split up and the house was sold, you could be entitled to more than 50% based on the amounts you contributed. Obviously, establishing this could require a costly court battle if you haven't sorted it out like adults beforehand. And if the two of you are going to marry it becomes moot as over time your assets will be regarded as owned equally anyway.

This is a terrible choice for a Money Moral Dilemma. There are all sorts of potential issues here, including whether overpaying the mortgage is the right decision in the first place (is the OP is maximising their pension contributions?) and too much information missing (are they likely to marry?) The OP needs independent financial advice, not a pile of "well what I reckon is".

MMDs should stick to questions of the format "I've been asked to do something which I don't want to do and am not legally, morally or socially obliged to, should I do it".

onlyroz

Another option could be to pile any extra money into your pension. And then at age 55 you could take out a tax-free lump some and use this to pay off the mortgage.

meknowalot-51

You sound like any normal couple buying a property,one will always earn more than the other.I think your worried if the relationship goes south and you've paid more of the mortgage,do you get more?He could equally argue that all the housework was done by him to allow you to earn extra,his added contributions helped you both out.In a few years his contributions are likely to overtake yours,he may be unfortunate and lose his job or you lose yours,then what?Best thing for you to do is forget about the finance and concentrate on the relationship.If you can see it's not going to be long term then get some sort of agreement drawn up.