The Mortgage Free in Three - Take 6 challenge (MFiT-T6)

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First of all, a huge thank you to trix-a-belle who ran the previous two iterations of this challenge, inspiring many of us to stay on track (and becoming mortgage-free herself!). Also a huge thank you to Financial Bliss who ran the challenge before that.
This is a the sixth in a series of three year mortgage challenges on this MFW board. Anyone who has joined a previous challenge should be aware of the format and timescales. If not see the next few posts below.
This fifth challenge runs from January 2022 to January 2025 and is open to anyone who wants to devote the next three years to greatly reduce or completely pay off their mortgage, or build up a pot of savings.
Below is a list of the challengers who have signed up and their goal:
Participants who reach mortgage-free status during this challenge will be listed in the roll of honour here:
Please see the posts immediately below for further information. Good luck in your own challenges.
Registration / update form: MFiT-T6 Form
Please note that I have made some tweaks to the form and process - if you encounter any issues, please let me know and I will fix them asap. Apologies in advance for any potential hick-ups!
Juli x
This is a the sixth in a series of three year mortgage challenges on this MFW board. Anyone who has joined a previous challenge should be aware of the format and timescales. If not see the next few posts below.
This fifth challenge runs from January 2022 to January 2025 and is open to anyone who wants to devote the next three years to greatly reduce or completely pay off their mortgage, or build up a pot of savings.
Below is a list of the challengers who have signed up and their goal:
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Please see the posts immediately below for further information. Good luck in your own challenges.
Registration / update form: MFiT-T6 Form
Please note that I have made some tweaks to the form and process - if you encounter any issues, please let me know and I will fix them asap. Apologies in advance for any potential hick-ups!
Juli x
Original mortgage: December 2017, £203,495
MFW start: April 2018, £201,800
Mortgage neutral: September 2022, mortgage redeemed: December 2022
New house, new mortgage: December 2022, £276,007
Current balance: £222,600
MFW start: April 2018, £201,800
Mortgage neutral: September 2022, mortgage redeemed: December 2022
New house, new mortgage: December 2022, £276,007
Current balance: £222,600
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As this is a three year challenge, I am maintaining the 3 monthly updates. Please provide your updates by the 25th of the relevant month (January, April, July, October), and I will publish the updated chart by the end of the month.
Here is our update sheet, currently including updates 1 - 4 (April 2022 - January 2023).
Questions and Answers (all credit to trix-a-belle!)
Q. Why are you doing this/Why should I do this?
As a longer term challenge you can really see the snowball effect mortgage overpayments or regularly saving can have on your balance which aren't necessarily seen over the course of 12 months.
- Note: You can take part in T6 whether you're looking to reduce / clear your mortgage, or build up savings.
Its worth trying to push yourself with your end target as it's a longer term challenge and things can snowball nicely over a longer period but do think about your individual circumstances. Whether you meet your target or not though we are all rooting for each otherQ. What is different this time?
I've simplified the form and resulting tables slightly, so please let me know if you encounter any issues.
Q. Is this challenge for me?
This is a 3 year challenge. Updates will remain every 3 months, ie 12 updates over the course of the 36 months. If you don't think you can provide periodic mortgage updates over the course of the 3 years, then perhaps this isn’t the challenge for you.
There are regular annual challenges on this board which you can join if you feel a three year challenge is too long for you.
Q. What are the timescales?
The challenge will officially start on 25/1/22 and it will complete on 25/1/25.
Q. How do I join?
Simply fill in this form to register.
Q. What if I cant clear my mortgage in the 3 year period?
The joy of this challenge is you don't have to pledge to clear your mortgage completely to enter this challenge, you don't even have to have a mortgage. Everyone’s circumstances are going to be different, so look at what you can realistically attain and set your own challenge goal accordingly.
Q. What information do you need about my own challenge?
I will need an estimate of your mortgage or savings balance on 25/1/22, the update form can be used to provide an accurate figure nearer the time.
Also, I will need a figure of where you would like to be by the end of the challenge (25/1/25), i.e. a challenge start and end value, eg:
Completely pay off my £125,000 mortgage.
Reduce mortgage from £48,000 to £30,000.
Build my savings from £0 to £30,000.
Q. What happens when I register my challenge objective?
I will allocate you a MFiT-T6 challenger number, add you to post #1 and the progress chart and tag you in this thread with your number.
Q. I have a mortgage free diary. Can you link to it in post #1?
If you have a mortgage diary, then it's not a problem to link to it in post number 1, please simply post a link to your diary in this thread.
Q. When can I give a figure for a chart update?
Chart updates are published based on your balance on the 25th day of Jan, April, July & Oct. The first chart is due to be published on 25th April 2022. If your mortgage payment is taken on the first of the month, so you may want to report your mortgage as soon as the payment clears when we are in a chart month. That then gives us enough time to gather and publish the data.
Q. What information do you need in a chart update?
Hopefully you have gave an accurate starting mortgage value or savings balance, so updating us with a current mortgage value or savings balance will show the reduction or increase made in each 3 month period. Your forum name, challenger number and current mortgage/savings balance is all we need.
Q. How do I provide information for a chart update?
Follow the link to the registration/updates form on Google Docs and follow the steps, as simple as that then there is a record of all updates. If you have trouble, please just post in this thread.
Q. What happens if I become mortgage free during the challenge?
Do tell us as soon as possible when you became mortgage free and we will add you to the list of challengers who became mortgage free during the challenge & celebrate with you!
Q. What if I want to leave this challenge?
While I hope this wont be the case, perhaps a change in circumstances may dictate this, life does happen but remember the challenge is the long game and its not the winning but the taking part and the journey that counts so we can change your targets, commiserate, celebrate, make suggestions or all of the above
If you do still want to leave please let me know and I will retire your challenger number.
Q. Where can I find the first five challenges?
Each of the previous challenges have their own threads and can be found here.
Original MFiT challenge:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=435291
Second instalment of MFiT challenge - MFiT-T2:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1402631
Third instalment of MFiT challenge - MFiT-T3:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4152769
Fourth instalment of MFiT challenge - MFiT-T4:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5375506
Fifth instalment of MFiT challenge - MFiT-T5:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5945459/the-mortgage-free-in-three-take-5-challenge-mfit-t5/p1
Q. I have a question that you haven’t covered.
Hopefully the challenge is simple enough. If you do have a question, post in this thread and I will try to help / add the question and answer to this list.
Best of luck everyone.
MFW start: April 2018, £201,800
Mortgage neutral: September 2022, mortgage redeemed: December 2022
New house, new mortgage: December 2022, £276,007
Current balance: £222,600
@Mortgage_Minimiser 2
@Hettyhound 3
@Clueless56 4
MFW start: April 2018, £201,800
Mortgage neutral: September 2022, mortgage redeemed: December 2022
New house, new mortgage: December 2022, £276,007
Current balance: £222,600
Thankyou for picking up the mantle on this thread. Our family are very happy to continue to be a part of it.
The curveballs of life meant we over performed on MFiT4 and under performed in MFiT5. Hoping that challenge 6 will see us back to full financial health.
With very best wishes to all participants of the MFiT6 and may the winds of fortune blow in your favour.
Thanks MIB x
I'd like to keep 29 as my challenger number if I may. Target is to reduce our balance from £42,950 to £12,950
MFW start: April 2018, £201,800
Mortgage neutral: September 2022, mortgage redeemed: December 2022
New house, new mortgage: December 2022, £276,007
Current balance: £222,600
MFW start: April 2018, £201,800
Mortgage neutral: September 2022, mortgage redeemed: December 2022
New house, new mortgage: December 2022, £276,007
Current balance: £222,600
@twinklie 5
@MFW2026 6
@girlie1412 7
@Filo25 8
@Maybe_its_because 24
@pavlovs_dog 29
MFW start: April 2018, £201,800
Mortgage neutral: September 2022, mortgage redeemed: December 2022
New house, new mortgage: December 2022, £276,007
Current balance: £222,600
The plan is to reduce our mortgage from £216,000 to £190,000.
I'd love to set the goal lower, but we're also saving separately for some renovations, so I think the 26k is realistic.
Thanks for running this Julicorn.
#11 MFiT-T6