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lincoln-potter

Merchandiser2367 wrote: »

I was wondering if any of you experts out there could suggest other ways to top up OP payments?

I was thinking along the lines of

Current account switch (to use the switch fee)
Cashback credit cards

These kind of routes but hoping some of you experts may have ones I have never heard of/thought about?

To maximise my returns I stooze and switch accounts to earn money. Now only do this if you aren't bothered about your credit rating taking a hit or if you are planning on remortgaging soon.

Stoozing is simple, get a 0% 30month card, spend as you would and the cash put into accounts to get the interest.

Switching I have quite a system going, I have normal accounts I use and won't swap from and then I have two mule current accounts always on the go which I will use to switch in order to get the reward. Since direct debits are always a requirement I have 4 Tesco instant saver accounts which allow you to set your own DD up.

Merchandiser2367

lincoln-potter wrote: »

To maximise my returns I stooze and switch accounts to earn money. Now only do this if you aren't bothered about your credit rating taking a hit or if you are planning on remortgaging soon.

Stoozing is simple, get a 0% 30month card, spend as you would and the cash put into accounts to get the interest.

Switching I have quite a system going, I have normal accounts I use and won't swap from and then I have two mule current accounts always on the go which I will use to switch in order to get the reward. Since direct debits are always a requirement I have 4 Tesco instant saver accounts which allow you to set your own DD up.

Thanks for the stoozing suggestion! I have heard of it before but wasn't sure exactly how it worked.

Do you have to pay the balance off each month for this to work?

With regards to the switching, is there a minimum time you are allowed to have an account before switiching? Also, when it says you must pay in, say, £750 a month, can this be from anoher one of your own accounts then you can take it straight back out?
And thanks for the Tesco instant saver DD's you mention, I will get this set up after our remortgage at start of next month

Merchandiser2367

Some good news yesterday, received a £37 tax rebate! Some not so good news today, solicitors chasing us for £367. Had hoped they would have been able to sell the buyers report of the flat we almost purchased to the prospective new buyer but it appears not.

Bit of a hit but was half expecting it.

Moving forward, going to attempt some Matched betting for a small extra income for a while. Will start off small to get to grips with it and post how it goes.

obay

Merchandiser2367 wrote: »

Yes, that is about right !

£718 is the monthly payment, £1722 overpayments per month!

I'm hoping we can keep on the wagon as such

We've recently reduced our £1000 a month childcare costs to £300 so that extra money is going on the mortgage and my wife also got a new job with better pay so a lot of that extra is also going on the mortgage - so it's not like we are skimping more (apart from swapping brands, cutting back on things we don't honestly use i.e sky tv etc.), we are generally keeping the same lifestyle, just putting the extra in the mortgage.

The dream in 5 years time is to be financially secure for our 3 year old daughter and be able to splash out here and there but still have a good amount to save each month.

I have the near same mortgage outstanding as you, I pay £804.33 per month for mine, (fixed) I've paid off 6k in the year, I am finding it near impossible to pay anything more purely because of the interest rate linked to the mortgage. I am hoping within the next year to pay off a further £6k to bring down to £140k to get 70% LTV on my property.

Good luck, I was aiming to go MF in 5 years, but a lot of stuff has changed since we took over this place back November last year that has stuffed me

Merchandiser2367

obay wrote: »

I have the near same mortgage outstanding as you, I pay £804.33 per month for mine, (fixed) I've paid off 6k in the year, I am finding it near impossible to pay anything more purely because of the interest rate linked to the mortgage. I am hoping within the next year to pay off a further £6k to bring down to £140k to get 70% LTV on my property.

Good luck, I was aiming to go MF in 5 years, but a lot of stuff has changed since we took over this place back November last year that has stuffed me

Thanks for sharing obay

We are hoping we can get a good run at the mortgage over payments without too much changing but all we can do is hope and keep plugging away as much as possible, just as it seems you are also doing currently.

If we can stay in a positive frame of mind and keep our eyes on the prize (mortgage free ) I am confident we can make it!!!

Merchandiser2367

Not too much been happening last few days .....awaiting the 1st November so hopefully can accept the re-mortgage offer.

Signed up to a few survey sites and top cashback so will try to utilise those but need to try and get in a Rota for the surveys and make sure we check top cashback for any online purchases - none so far.

Have just started the matched betting, but the first match is not until tomorrow, taking it really slow until I get confident I know all the pitfalls.

I think as we have already really looked at our finances when my wife was on maternity leave 2 years ago and squeezed everything we could, it's just tweaking bits now and seeing any extras we did not think about to help towards mortgage.

Its been great reading some of your diaries on here and have definitely learned from each and every one.

I wish it wasn't such a long slog but that is the name of this game I guess!!

Merchandiser2367

Afternoon All,

Hope everyone is good

Our 5 year fix got accepted today, applied on Monday 1st so, very happy we got in just before the rate rise!!

Me and the OH are sooo happy as this was the first major step in our overpayment journey! A couple of beers tonight I think to celebrate!

We are now going to press ahead with our new savings accounts and current account mules to rake in the free switches!

We're also £26 in profit so far from the matched betting!! This is only from 2 bookmakers so far - Taking it slowly as want to make sure I'm not making any mistakes which is the only way to lose at it...hoping to make around £500 and then see where it goes.

There's a long long way to go in this 5 / 6 year plan but, now the mortgage is in place, looking forward to getting it right down!!

atypicalblonde

Hi Merchandiser

Your monthly OP levels are similar to ours. Some months we manage more, others less. What has helped for us is the following:

- meal planning, to within an inch of our lives. We are a family of 4, plus a dog and a cat and spend around £175 per month. That includes wine, which I cannot and will not go without

- Selling everything of value not nailed down. It's surprised us that we haven't missed anything at all that we've sold, and ebay gets very addictive once you start selling! DVDs and CDs - Music Magpie. Don't buy books for your little one, the library is your friend!

- Are all of your bills as low as they can be? Post an SOA if you are up for it and we can take a look.

Ultimately, keep the end goal in sight. We are two years, nine months into our journey and have paid £51k off in that time, with another few 1000s sat in our account saved to make an OP in January when our 10% allowance refreshes. It CAN be done,and don't get me wrong we still have treats (wine and Jo Malone candles are mine!), but treat saving money as a hobby and before you know it you'll be free.

I personally don't maintain a savings pot as well as OP mortgage but we are lucky we have rather wealthy family who we could ask for help from if the poop hit the fan. Saving AND OPing would be too much of a stretch for us. Plenty of time to save once the mortgage has gone, but that's just my approach.

Well done for all you've achieved so far!

Zola.

Love the thread title

We just bought a new car a few days ago and had self imposed Beans & Toast with Bacon the other night so I know what you mean!

Betterthanever

My five year fixed got approved today too. I was very relieved to have gotten the rate I applied for on 1st. The Bank of England can do what they want now, I am not going to be fretting like I have been these last few weeks!!!


The next 5 years are going to fly by for us both! We're on our way!!