MFi3: Mortgage-free by Christmas 2010 - diary of a MFW Martian

setmefree2

Marvin_the_Martian wrote: »

Brief update:

We've passed the £30k mark, and have received the overpayment confirmation letter that reduces our term to 1 year 8 months as of May 1 - which confirms that we are now officially on track to meet our December 2010 goal, even if we don't make any more overpayments from here on in.

Fantastic :T

[Deleted User]

Further to this post of October 2007 (#7), I rang up Nationwide this morning to replace the 'mysteriously hidden' direct debit/internal transfer arrangement with a regular arrangement. Which means that I now have full control of how much goes out on which dates - and by gradually increasing the 'overpayment' portion and decreasing the 'main' portion, I should be able to bring my redemption date forward by more than three weeks. Don't save much in interest with things as they are, but it all helps.

Further to this post of 27 March (#48), I have also cancelled the somewhat superfluous life assurance policy. So that's another forty quid a month freed up.

And another mini-milestone: we are about to pass the £25k mark (twice, as it happens, as the payment we just made will bring it just below £25k, the daily interest will raise it above £25k again before the overpayment knocks it back). This is significant as it's the "point of no return" beyond which we will not be able to remortgage onto anything except a standard variable rate (as all fixed and tracker rate mortgages are subject to a minimum borrowing level of £25k, I believe).

setmefree2

on getting under £25k:T:T:T Must feel fantastic

[Deleted User]

setmefree2 wrote: »

on getting under £25k:T:T:T Must feel fantastic

It does Though we may end up being somewhat hampered in our efforts by Betty Mark II*, who is suffering from one or two undiagnosed ailments that have manifested themselves. I'd rather not have to retire her, though at least we're safely in that comfort-zone where if needs be we can use the draw-down facility for a newer car, which is one heck of a lot cheaper than the daylight robbery finance packages generally on offer.

* for illustration only (picture shamelessly stolen from someone else with similar car)

setmefree2

to cars We're currently running our X reg scenic into the ground (it does have relatively low mileage for its age) but once it starts costing big money it will be gone......and so will a significant proportion of our savings

[Deleted User]

Sadly that's not a particularly realistic option for us: my wife has to commute to Gloucester on a daily basis, and such is the state of our public transport network that it's not much more expensive to hire a car to get there than it is to get there by public transport.

ION, we've hit a possible snag: we changed our regular transfer date to the 27th some time ago thanks to my wife's change of employment, and neglected to take a weekend and 30-day month into account this month.

I've mailed Nationwide to ensure that this is going to be okay, so fingers crossed... I have never been late with a payment before, so I don't know how they deal with these things.

[Deleted User]

...and it's cleared, so that's a relief. Hurrah! Another milestone (£20k) passed!

setmefree2

Marvin_the_Martian wrote: »

...and it's cleared, so that's a relief. Hurrah! Another milestone (£20k) passed!

Great news :T:T:T:T:T

[Deleted User]

No updates in a while, as there's nothing much to report (besides reaching our MFiT target at the end of last month). Six months to go...

sassyblue

Marvin you're amazing!! I've just been reading your OP, we have 70K to clear and although l know it's not as much as some people here it seems like paying it off will be ages away - we're determind to do it though.