Paying off a mortgage but leaving a nominal amount on it

stoopyftm

Hi, not sure if I'm in the right place but here goes.

I'm thinking about paying off my mortgage, but on my credit report it says that this is the longest account I have and I should keep it open. 

So are you able to pay off a mortgage and leave say £1 on it just to keep the account open or will the bank just laugh at me? And is it actually worth doing, will it really affect me credit sore that much?

Thanks 

MWT

Just pay it off and don't worry about the 'credit score' it is just an artificial number that the lenders will not pay any attention to, they all have their own scoring methods based on what your credit history shows, not specifically the age of your oldest account.

eschaton

As MWT says, it’s a meaningless ’score’. 

I’ve been on an express mortgage free journey since April. 

I paid mine off 3 weeks ago. I considered reducing it to £100 with minimal payments for the next 6 years, but didn’t. . 

I’m looking forward to seeing the impact on my credit report that I couldn’t care less about. 

DullGreyGuy

stoopyftm said:

Hi, not sure if I'm in the right place but here goes.

I'm thinking about paying off my mortgage, but on my credit report it says that this is the longest account I have and I should keep it open. 

So are you able to pay off a mortgage and leave say £1 on it just to keep the account open or will the bank just laugh at me? And is it actually worth doing, will it really affect me credit sore that much?

Thanks 

You can't "just leave it open" but you can pay it down to a low level and have tiny monthly repayments. 

A former colleague used to recommend doing so arguing if significant emergency funds were required it was easier to extend an existing mortgage than apply from scratch. No idea if he was right, he wasnt on many other things he claimed, but not got to that point yet so not investigated

kingstreet

DullGreyGuy said:

stoopyftm said:

Hi, not sure if I'm in the right place but here goes.

I'm thinking about paying off my mortgage, but on my credit report it says that this is the longest account I have and I should keep it open. 

So are you able to pay off a mortgage and leave say £1 on it just to keep the account open or will the bank just laugh at me? And is it actually worth doing, will it really affect me credit sore that much?

Thanks 

You can't "just leave it open" but you can pay it down to a low level and have tiny monthly repayments. 

A former colleague used to recommend doing so arguing if significant emergency funds were required it was easier to extend an existing mortgage than apply from scratch. No idea if he was right, he wasnt on many other things he claimed, but not got to that point yet so not investigated

I think the FCA put paid to that. Any increase in borrowing would now be subject to status, affordability etc.

Yorkie1

DullGreyGuy said:

stoopyftm said:

Hi, not sure if I'm in the right place but here goes.

I'm thinking about paying off my mortgage, but on my credit report it says that this is the longest account I have and I should keep it open. 

So are you able to pay off a mortgage and leave say £1 on it just to keep the account open or will the bank just laugh at me? And is it actually worth doing, will it really affect me credit sore that much?

Thanks 

You can't "just leave it open" but you can pay it down to a low level and have tiny monthly repayments. 

A former colleague used to recommend doing so arguing if significant emergency funds were required it was easier to extend an existing mortgage than apply from scratch. No idea if he was right, he wasnt on many other things he claimed, but not got to that point yet so not investigated

My Dad used to say that - but his mortgage journey was quite a few decades ago now ... ! 

silvercar

People used to leave £1 outstanding so that the lender would look after the deeds. Now that everything is registered with Land Registry that isn’t necessary.