2020 Mortgage-Free Wannabes

julicorn

RetSol said:

I have just discovered this thread.  I am newly semi-retired and a newbie in the MSE forums.  I am reviewing my finances and am thinking about paying down my mortgage.  Am I too late to join the MFWs for 2020?  I am only going to be able to make modest overpayments but could aim to get the mortgage below 6 figures by 31.12.

Never too late to join Just let me know how much you're aiming to overpay this year, and I'll allocate you a number. 

RetSol

julicorn said:

RetSol said:

I have just discovered this thread.  I am newly semi-retired and a newbie in the MSE forums.  I am reviewing my finances and am thinking about paying down my mortgage.  Am I too late to join the MFWs for 2020?  I am only going to be able to make modest overpayments but could aim to get the mortgage below 6 figures by 31.12.

Never too late to join Just let me know how much you're aiming to overpay this year, and I'll allocate you a number. 

Thank you, julicorn. I will give this topic serious thought now - there is nothing like the motivation of accountability and feeling like I am part of something.  I am trying to get through on the phone to Barclays to sort out the online access to my mortgage account. Not an easy thing to do at present but once that is done I will be able to take some action. 

bigbeff

Hi, I have just been having a play with my mortgage figures and a spreadsheet - I can't get the interest to match exactly to my statement, but its within £1 each month - anyone know exactly how its calculated on an hsbc mortgage? Anyway, I have overpaid by another £100 taking my total for April to £653.92. So what I worked out (assuming my interest rate stays same (I know it won't, but it's fixed until June 2022!) if I don't overpay, I'll be mortgage free by August 31.... but if I overpay £100 a month, that'll make it Sept 29 and if I can do £200 a month, that makes it May 28... Just visualising this has focused my mind. Now to drum up a bit more tutoring business so I can achieve these targets

f0xh0les

BigBeff, The Chinese Bank calculates interest daily, but it is only added online on the first, or whenever the payment goes out, so it depends on whether there are 28/29/30/31 days in the month. If you give it a few months you should be able to work out your 'normal' daily interest rate.  As interest is calculated daily, the sooner in the month you can make your overpayment  it should start to influence the amount charged - I overpaid £200 a month and the  daily interest came down by tuppence pretty regularly every month because of that.  That might be the reason it will not tally completely, if you make o/ps on different days of the month? If you make your o/p on a weekend, it might not be credited until the Monday.

In our house, dh pays the mortgage, and I o/p the interest, so all his money goes on the capital, while I am saving most of my  money for building works.  It is killing me not paying chunks off the mortgage, but we need a new, well, practically everything!

bigbeff

Thanks, I’ll bear that in mind and do my overpayments early in the month then. Thanks 🙂 now just to try and start earning a little extra income again! Any ideas? I was tutoring but have sadly lost a lot of income due to cancellations of exams. So I now need to try and build it up again.

f0xh0les

BBeff, you will be in absolute demand if you are GCSE/A level  tutoring at the time this all ends.  Just make sure everyone and his dog knows your skills and that you will be available as soon as it is safe to do so.  When the mock PPE's are finally done, the phone will ring off the hook.  Local social media is your friend in this one.  

Your mortgage o/p might as well benefit from all this.

Sandyra

f0xh0les said:

BBeff, you will be in absolute demand if you are GCSE/A level  tutoring at the time this all ends.  Just make sure everyone and his dog knows your skills and that you will be available as soon as it is safe to do so.  When the mock PPE's are finally done, the phone will ring off the hook.  Local social media is your friend in this one.  

Your mortgage o/p might as well benefit from all this.

I agree with foxholes, tutoring will be in demand in order to bridge the gap of missed learning time. I'm a non-core GCSE subject but was surprised at the online tutoring I've done even during lockdown when Ofqual gave its guidance.

Have you tried market research companies?

bigbeff

f0xh0les said:

BBeff, you will be in absolute demand if you are GCSE/A level  tutoring at the time this all ends.  Just make sure everyone and his dog knows your skills and that you will be available as soon as it is safe to do so.  When the mock PPE's are finally done, the phone will ring off the hook.  Local social media is your friend in this one.  

Your mortgage o/p might as well benefit from all this.

Thank you for your comments, I hope you are right. I'm trying to do online tutoring, but it seems with a lot of people not working, the demand has reduced. I'm putting regular bits out on social media too, so I know it will pick up, as long as people can afford it! If you know anyone who wants online maths tuition, please let me know  

WorldCitizen

Hi there!
#30 checking in with an OP for April of £230.
YTD = £380.
I know it would be better to put this into Emergency fund in these uncertain times, but I can't resist to make the Overpayments...
I can't stop playing with OP calculator.
Who knows what tomorrow brings, but I feel good that since I have changed the lender my OP Reserve could allow me to underpay for 3 months (for now) if needed. Just try to keep plodding on with OPs!
And thanks Julicorn!

Suffolk_lass

bigbeff said:

Thanks, I’ll bear that in mind and do my overpayments early in the month then. Thanks 🙂 now just to try and start earning a little extra income again! Any ideas? I was tutoring but have sadly lost a lot of income due to cancellations of exams. So I now need to try and build it up again.

How about coaching sessions for parents in lockdown? you could offer Zoom confidence sessions one-to-one as a goodwill thing, building their confidence in your ability to get the key points across and some more general help on youtube - to market your skills