2008 MFW newbies

SPL

excellent result newmoneysaver - it makes such a difference when you start to see the amount decrease- very satisfying

have a good weekend everyone

hummingbird

Thanks to everyone who has mentioned online banking - it must be very motivating to see results so quickly from what you've paid off. Think I'll give it a go.:money:

catshark88

Just thought I would mention something that I have found very useful. May not suit everyone, but it's helped me.

My online banking shows me my offset account balances and my mortgage balance (with a lag of 3 days or so on the latter).

Each day I "service my mortgage" (their term for "paying"!) by some amount, rounding down what is in my current account. This has been as low as a couple of quid, or more after pay day if I am feeling flush.

That way I see a constantly decreasing mortgage sum which helps keep me inspired. The sum may be small, but at least it is something.

best luck to all MFW newbies!

bellsbells

catshark88 wrote: »

Just thought I would mention something that I have found very useful. May not suit everyone, but it's helped me.

My online banking shows me my offset account balances and my mortgage balance (with a lag of 3 days or so on the latter).

Each day I "service my mortgage" (their term for "paying"!) by some amount, rounding down what is in my current account. This has been as low as a couple of quid, or more after pay day if I am feeling flush.

That way I see a constantly decreasing mortgage sum which helps keep me inspired. The sum may be small, but at least it is something.

best luck to all MFW newbies!

Now that is something I would love to do but don't have that type of mortgage! It is a great idea however so I might do something similar with my online savings account - I could move across the odd pound or even pence to that each day. Then it could be paid off my mortgage when it becomes a 'sensible' amount! I suppose I already do it with my mortgage pig by putting bits of change away, but I am trying to go cashless as much as possible this year to help curb bits and bobs spending. Thanks for the good idea catshark88:T

torbrex

I recently added my mortgage account to my list in Microsoft Money, it was doing this that enabled me to view the amortisation schedule and see just how much the overpayments were affecting the future payments in terms of capital/interest ratio.
The shedule is a good guide for my regular payments which I have fixed for the time being but it also means that if I make a lump sum deposit I can get an instant update.

Squiggly_Diddly

Can I join please? I got my £99,000 mortgage in Nov 07, and overpaid £50 in that month, and £60 in December. Just made an online payment today of £100, so the first one of the year & that will count towards this. I am aiming for between £50 and £100 every month. Once I have cleared my credit card (April) I will hopefully put more towards it, though I have now got a new kitchen to pay for each month. But once that is cleared (should be in 4 years but will be a lot less!) then even more will go at the mortgage.

Like others have said it's balancing quality of life with overpaying

Also when I was twiddling with figures to see what effects overpayments would have, I found an online calculator that basically shows for every £10 overpaid, you save £30! That was a real incentive for me. I hope to have the mortgage paid off within 15 years at the absolute max. (As a f/t student & p/t worker & single parent with a swarm of locusts masquerading as 3 teenage daughters I think for the next 5 years I can't do huge amounts, but by golly I will throw money at the mortgage after that!). Then I won't have to work much... lol!!!

LouiseJ

Off to make my first cash overpayment this morning as I will be visiting the bank that my mortgage is with. I will be paying off £145 this morning and will send a further sum off by cheque on 20th so they will both show up on my Feb statement.

My lender doesn't have the facility to show my mortgage account online. I was a little surprised at A&L as I thought they were really up to date with that type of thing.

Wonder how I will feel making my first ever overpayment?

ms_cat

Morning all! Just been catching up with this thread and its really encouraging to see how well everyone is doing. I'm desperatly trying to curb my spending this month, and it looks like i'll be on target to overpay £200 by payday on the 28th of this month.

Think I'm getting a bit obsessed with being a MFW, after scouring the internet for a mortgage pig, decided I couldn't part with the £3.75 for the one I found, so my spare change is staying in an old quality street tin for now!

Also I'm with Louise, I can't access my mortgage online, I just get statements every 3 months. A bit disheartening, but it should be nice to get the statement and see money coming off in big chunks!

Dithering_Dad

ms_cat wrote: »

Think I'm getting a bit obsessed with being a MFW, after scouring the internet for a mortgage pig, decided I couldn't part with the £3.75 for the one I found, so my spare change is staying in an old quality street tin for now!

You should have a go at making one out of paper mache like nykmedia, superbly money saving and fun too!

(I hope nykmedia doesn't mind me advertising her pig, but I'm a long-time admirer of it )

frugalfreda

We have made an overpayment of £3k today (can only make one overpayment a year) :j