The first hurdle - Nichelette v the huge mortgage

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

Hi Nichelette

Thank you for your posts.

I'm so sorry to hear about your mother-in-law being so ill ((hugs)) We have some serious family illness here on both sides and it is certainly at the edge of my thoughts all the time. I wish i had the right words to say xx

lots of questions arising from your last post and i'm sorry if you've said in the past and i've forgotten How do you join pinecone? i have been looking but not found it yet.

When did your husband get his default?

interest rates are trixy things and it is hard working out what to do for the best. I was very, very, very fortunate to be able to remortgage and I put it on a 5 year fix - part of the thinking was how blummin fortunate i'd been to actually get off a high interest rate that i may struggle again in 2 years when the time for review came. I would not have been able to remortgage due to drop in income and change in circumstances since then.

Nichelette

Thanks stripey. It is difficult but just have to be there for him. I find it sad too especially as MIL is lovely. She is only 60 so I expected her to be about for avoid while yet.

Pinecone is an odd one! I'm lucky as I joined years ago and get £4 per survey - I think it's £3 for people who join now. There is no sign up page, you have to look for one of their adverts and sign up via that. There used to be a thread on here, I think it was the up your income bit where people would post if they found an ad.

The default was early 2014 so will finally be gone early 2020. It was a fraudulent thing, but he believes it was a family member taking a catalogue out in his name so he wouldn't report it. I could throttle suspected culprit but that's another story! It was less than £100 but it has cost us far more than that with higher interest rate and so on. You're right about it being hard to know what to do. I think in financial terms after so many 'good' years with the economy we have probably bought at the worst possible time, but I'd still rather have just gone for it as we're not getting any younger and being in our flat started to get a bit soul destroying. That said, I gave many happy memories of it too. In some ways I do miss it but I know we're much better off here.

BachSoon

That's a huge reduction nichelette, really well done,you're making huge progress so quickly.
Sorry to hear about your MIL, it must be so difficult for you and your husband.

savingholmes

All the best with MIL. We lost FIL when he was 54 - we are now 49 an realising how young that was.

You're making great strides on the mortgage.

Nichelette

Thanks both. That is very young saving .

I'm afraid life became bit crazy and I abandoned this. Sadly MIL passed away at the end of September. My husband drove to Scotland as she deteriorated much faster than anyone expected (she was in a hospice so they are used to seeing this and were also surprised by the speed which is why he wasn't there already), but unfortunately he missed her by an hour. Initially I was gutted for him, but of all the kids he is the most sensitive and would probably have struggled with it the most, so I like to think that she knew what she was doing. His dad and siblings were there so she wasn't alone. I'm glad she went so quickly as that is what she wanted, and she was clearly suffering. I got to see her the week before she went which I'm glad I got to do as she was still coherent at that point.

Anyway, the funeral was last week, so now we are going to try and get back into some sort of routine which we both desperately need after the last year.

We sat down last night and went over the money stuff as I just chucked a credit card at my husband and hoped for the best. Travel and associated expenses have been a small fortune.

Tbc as that's the timer for my dinner gone off!

Nichelette

And to continue...

Mortgage wise, the aim is to get to 80% LTV and remortgage for 5 years because I'm scared of what will happen to interest rates. I believe I have read that sometimes this can be arranged 6 months in advance, but definitely 3. We're currently 8 months in, so in 10 months we are looking to be at the 80%. In order to achieve that we need to overpay by £1262 per month, which looking at previous overpayments seems achievable. I know it's life limiting, but in 10 months we will be able to ease off a bit.

At current interest rates, if we were to go on to SVR in 2 years that would be £1400 (currently pay £1161), but if we can remortgage at 80% deals are around for £900. The difference is £500 so you can probably see where I'm coming from. The only issue I forsee is if the house is deemed to have reduced in value, in which case we could possibly use the emergency fund to reduce the balance and then switch to building that back up for a bit instead of overpaying.

We made a meal plan last night as I have loads of food, so the extra bits I needed were only £14. I used to meal plan religiously but everything went to pot so that is something I'm getting back to doing as our food bill and waste was much lower previously. Also, I'm going to keep on top of my receipt scanning and updating my budget app. I'm going to try and keep my husband from straying outside of his budget!

Oh, and last week when I was coming back from work the engine light came on in my car. I thought it was terminal (car is 15 in Jan) but it looks like it's fixable. I'm waiting to see what happens as DH has a job interview tomorrow so he will get a company car if he gets that. Am keeping fingers crossed as whilst he loves his existing job the people are toxic which added to the stress recently.

Anyway, I'll leave it there for now.

Moneyfordreams

Sending condolences x

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

Hi Nichelette I was just thinking this morning that i needed to pop in and see how you were doing / post to ask after you ((hugs)). I'm so sorry to hear about your Mother-in-law. There are never the words at times like these but my thoughts are with you your hubby.

It is good to have you back posting and i am trying to be on here more regularly now so i should be keeping up to date more.

Just reading the last few posts on here. i can see you were like me - desperate to get off a high interest rate. Did the catalogue company not contact you about the debt at the time? I'm assuming there's an explanation but i can really understand your frustration at the situation. Surely they should have been in touch before things went this far.

I have read on here that remortgaging can be agreed 6 months in advance - i haven't got to that stage yet - changed provider to one i'm with and went 5 years at that time - and a good thing i did as i was made redundant again within the year or so and without pay. I think it will depend on your mortgage company so maybe speak to them and then you can have a specific date to work towards?

I hope hubby's interview went well today.

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

Hi Nichelette - just popping in to say hope you're ok x

savingholmes

HI Nichelette - so sorry to hear about your MIL. My condolences.

Hope your DH gets the job and your car situation has a good outcome. It's weird when life continues to happen even when we are in the midst of grieving a loved one... It's good though if you are able to stay reasonably on track... but don't be surprised if grief hits you or him in waves...