My mortgage clobbering post

Frith

Putting this here because I'm an enthusiastic mortgage over payer and I have no one in real life to tell!

Single parent for 15 years, left in £35,000 of debt by ex husband. (Paid off over 6 years). No maintenance paid in 15 years. Unable to pay capital for many years as I had to use the old endowment policy to pay off my legal fees for my divorce - every part of it was contested... I was lucky enough to get 100% of the house due to his continuing shenanigans and have worked part time/full time/not at all depending on the needs of sons. (1 with SEND).

House was £45,000 in July 1999.

Managed to get to £41,229.56 by January  this year. Realised my interest rate had risen dramatically so negotiated a new deal - 3 years fixed rate at 1.74%- had been on nearly 4% before! Interest part of the mortgage fell from £180ish to £58 per month. 

I am now down to £37,498.51 with £54.37 interest per month. I have 4 years and 6 months to go.

Any overpayment is an absolute killer as we are living on tax credits and carer's allowance at the moment. 

I know I am allowed to overpay 10% per year and I can see that I have £1,621.96 left this year. What I don't know is - does "this year" mean since I took out the new mortgage? This calendar year? This financial year?

I also need to look into getting a savings account so I can "overpay" into that. Whatever I can save will go towards paying the mortgage in 3 years when I move back to a variable rate and can pay off more than 10%.

I know there will be a shortfall at the end (less than £10,000, I hope) but my mortgage company say I can remortgage at that point.

Now:

Mortgage - £37,498.51

Interest - £54.37

Savings - £0

ISA - £0

Frith

OK, I’ve found out I can overpay by 10% per calendar year.

I’ve just followed the MSE savings account guide and opened one connected with my current account - 2.75% interest, no withdrawals for 12 months. I can put £25 - £300 per month in there. 

I’ll put some in another more accessible account so I can over pay in Jan (not wait 12 months until June) to save a few £ of mortgage interest. 

longway2go

Hi Frith, well done on clearing the debt left by your ex, what a nightmare for you. Glad it's gone and you can focus on the mortgage, sounds like your head is screwed on and you are committed. I have found some extra money through survey sites, Prolific is probably the best I found. 

Frith

Thank you, longway2go.

My new savings account is open and has £25 in it (the lowliest of monthly payments!)

Looking forward to getting some money back from my existing electricity suppliers when the swap goes through to the new company. I'm £400 in credit! I did it through MSE Energy Club so I know there is a cashback element. (Not much as gas doesn't get this far, so just electric). My parents are also going to change suppliers to mine, which gives us another £60 each.

Also waiting for Quidco cashback on my new mobile phone contract - only £8 per month now, SIM only as my older son has given me his old phone. My former phone is listed on Ebay.

I've fiddled about with my BT contract to make it as cheap as possible. I can't change to any other supplier as nowhere will cover our rural exchange.

I'm going to put a total at the end of each post:
Mortgage - £37,498.51  
Savings towards mortgage - £25

MerryHen

Hi Frith, massive well done on clearing your ex's debt. Will be cheering you on as you clobber your mortgage 💪

Frith

Found the right letter!

Note to self - new mortgage started 13.03.2020. At that date, 4 years 10 months left. 

ETA - been to the bank (our branch only opens 8 hours a week) and have restarted my cash ISA. £25 in there, thanks to the sale of my mobile phone.

Mortgage - £37,498.51

Savings - £25

ISA - £25

LeighofMar

Welcome, Frith. Good job sorting through all those nightmare financials. We have very similar balances and I hope to have it cleared more or less by the same time, 3.5 to 4 years, so I'll be cheering you on. 

Sistergold

Oh hey there Frith
Another single mom here cheering you on! I think one day there will be a law against Ex’s leaving woman with debts? Welldone  you for coming out on the other side! 

Suffolksue

You can do it ,that will be one massive pleasure !

andrea1968_2

Well done on your journey so far. 
I too was left with £25k of debt by an ex partner 14 years ago, but managed to turn my life around, save for a deposit and buy a shell of a house for £93500 in 2013 with my now husband and now have a target to be mortgage free in 8 years by overpaying. 
I'll be lurking on here for continued motivation so will be following your journey.
Good luck!! 

Frith

Thank you, everyone.

Nothing to report, mortgage-wise.

I took bigger son to the local bank yesterday as he had had an account there as a baby and I thought it would be easy for him to change it to a young person's account. (He is saving up to cycle round the world). I knew my ex husband had emptied the accounts the day after I left him - £800 from bigger son's, £500 from smaller son's plus £100 of premium bonds belonging to smaller son. And the joint accounts, of course. I had been unable to close these empty children's accounts because I wasn't a trustee. It was something I had planned to do when each of them was old enough (16?) but had never got round to it. Turns out he had shut them in 2013! I rarely think about him (haven't spoken to him in a decade, smaller son hasn't seen him for 3 years) but you can't sort out finances without his twerpy face coming to mind!

I wish I could over pay more. I used to have a YouGov account but have been unable to sign in. The odd jobs I usually do to fit around sons have been cancelled - election work and exam invigilating.