Oh how to be mortgage free...

becomingbetter

A stressful morning here, checked my online banking to see all the DD’s go out for the month. Only to find 2 mortgage payments had been taken, my usual £900 and a second DD for £1500.
After a call to my mortgage provider it turns out that when I called to change my direct debit details last month, the guy I spoke to added them to someone else’s mortgage account. 

An hour on the phone to mortgage provider and current account provider, I have my money back. Mortgage provider is going to call me this afternoon to check everything is okay. 

I’m really angry about the whole thing, really stressed and quite anxious- my morning so far has been a disaster and I need to try and catch up on my work from this morning. 

I’m also worried that this other person has been sent a letter contain my personal details. 

When my DD was updated, I received a letter confirming the name on the account, sort code and account number, so I can only assume that the holder of the other mortgage received a similar letter containing my details. Rather unsettling and from a data protection perspective, I would guess a breach of my personal data? 

The lady on the phone this morning asked me how I would like this to be resolved, I was too upset to really give an answer and I was desperate to call current account provider to get my money refunded. She’s going to call back but I’m not really sure what I think a ‘resolution’ would be…

becomingbetter

And calm….
All sorted, a morning wasted on the phone but money refunded and some compensation for all the trouble. 

Overpayment of £378.30 made and balance is now £155000.

I’ve had a good month on prolific and managed to cash out £70 with another £11 to be approved. I’ve been adding this to my savings as wanted to build these up and aiming for £11000 by the end of the year, should be doable in the next month provided I don’t go too crazy with Christmas 

powerspowers

Oh what a stress!! Glad they sorted it quickly though. Well done on the OP and the savings 

savingholmes

Just caught up on your journey. Good luck for your wedding. Ouch to the mortgage palava - but glad it's now resolved.

becomingbetter

I remembered that at the start of last year, I had some ‘financial goals’ for the year ahead

“Pay off my mobile; £600 left (0% finance) 
Add to personal savings; £800 (would see me at £11000) 
Add to joint savings; £4900 (would get us to £10000) 
Overpay mortgage; £160000 balance by the end of the year 
Wedding fund; £4000 (adding this extra would give us £13000)”

I know there are still a few weeks left of the year but there will be no significant changes, so:

Mobile- paid
My savings- £11000
Joint savings- (I’d rather not mention them  ) only sitting at £2000 
Mortgage- £155000 (an extra £5000 paid off, let’s assume that’s where our saving went!) 
Wedding fund- no idea how much we added to it over the last year , but there is enough to pay the rest of our suppliers whenever it is due. 

Our joint savings should probably be more of a priority in the next year, will try to keep momentum with the mortgage while adding to the savings.

becomingbetter

Happy new year everyone 

First OP made of the year, £610.41.

I’ve joined MFW this year and aiming for £7000 OPs throughout the year. 

A more ambitious goal would be to get the mortgage balance down to £140000 by the end of the year, which is probably closer to £8000, so we’ll see how that goes! 

Our monthly payment hasn’t come out yet but when it does our balance will be £153900. 

The other focus this year is building our emergency fund and getting some money in our joint savings to do some ‘house stuff’. 

I’m going to rename our current joint savings to emergency fund, have £3600 in there atm, £5000 would be the aim in the next few months. Then start a separate joint savings from scratch. 

Jessy103

Happy New Year! Good luck with your targets for the year 🙂

becomingbetter

Februarys OP made this morning, £808.48 (thanks to no council tax this month) 
Hopefully we’ll be able to manage the same next month again, very satisfying taking £1300 off the mortgage balance.

An expensive month for us though, wedding is less than 2 weeks away now and we have the balance to pay for a few things still. Followed by a city break to get away for a couple of nights. 

We’d hoped to get abroad for a big honeymoon, but I was getting nervous with travel restrictions etc and a big expensive holiday, so we’ve put that on the back burner until the end of the year/early next.

becomingbetter

A busy few months have led to a neglected diary. 

We’ve done well with keeping up the OPs though. 

March was roughly £880 and then £700 this month. 

Balance is now £150k, which we are really pleased with.

Payments will probably slow for the next few months- there are a few things we want to do with the house, including a new bathroom which was always going to be more than I thought it would cost!

True to my word, we now have an ‘emergency fund’ which we’ve been adding £50 a month to and have got £5200 sitting in there now. Saving the chunk of the money took a while but happy that we’ve sorted it and quite content just adding a small amount to it every month. Feeling fortunate with secure jobs and a newish house, that the chances of having to dip into an emergency fund seems slim but the security of having it is reassuring.

becomingbetter

Wow, where have the last 10 months gone…. 

We have continued with our overpayments and have joined MFW again this year, with a more modest goal of £2000 OP for the year. Our current mortgage balance is £139700.  

Last year we managed £7000 in overpayments, while doing the work that we wanted to in the house. 

This year though, circumstances are set to change. I’m currently 24 weeks pregnant and will be taking a years maternity leave (6 months of that with little to no income from me).

We’ll continue as we have done until baby arrives and then look at finances to see what is possible. I’d much rather have money accessible in the bank for those 6 months, if we need it. (Then we’ll have nursery fees to worry about!) 

Exciting times ahead!