Journey to a mortgage free future

Just another update:

Nothing done on the overpayment front :eek: Feeling bad that I can't overpay at the moment I don't have anything left over this month due to building car savings and splashing out on a lot of takeaways to make up for the post holiday blues.

I set up my direct debit for the MBNA credit card, first payment of £200 to come out on 11/06/2018 (100 from me, 100 from DF (already had this sat aside))

DF wants to clear the credit card before continuing his contributions to OP on the mortgage. The credit card will take 20 months to pay so that takes us to Feb 2020, which means no OP from DF until then!!

It's now unrealistic of me to think I can reach my set OP target of £2,400 this year, it would mean me contributing £285 a month! And I can't be 100% sure, as I need to complete an SOA, but after all my outgoings I think I have around 300 spare a month which is for car savings, however I'm debating whether to contribute £100 a month of that to the mortgage, or even just £50 just so I'm not feeling like I'm letting myself down by not contributing at all these next 20 months!!

In other news we had a valuation (just out of interest) on our house and was told it's worth £140,000-£145,000, compared to the £135,000 when we bought it this time last year. I think having the garden done while we were away helped with that as it looks so beautiful now, plus houses in the area being sold recently for slightly more too. So looking at the garden as an investment and do not mind paying it off until Feb 2020 :beer: I am now considering if it will be worth re-mortgaging come June 2019 with what could be a better LTV? Not sure how it works so will need to do more research into this but have plenty of time.


Doing well with car savings, now have £500, just another £2000 and I will buy a car and pay a years insurance.

The emergency fund was also building nicely (including an EON refund of £190 that we added to the fund) until our dog got poorly and it cost £70 for treatment, he still isn't better so going through tests at the moment which has cost a further £140 however I've been able to put a claim in for both as we have £70 excess with our pet insurance so we should get the £140 back -fingers crossed. Current emergency fund balance £126.76. Not a lot but it's come in handy so far! (Thanks again Kev as it's something I didn't consider having before).

Also me and DF have started a Christmas fund of £30 each a month, it means that it won't put a big hole in our November/December wages when the time comes!

Currently looking to switch energy supplier, will probably stay with EON as they have cheap offers, and I don't want to go with a supplier I've never heard of. Going to keep an eye on energy club and EONs website and hopefully sort something by the end of next week.

Hope you all have a good weekend! DF birthday meal so will be taking a trip to an expensive steakhouse (another reason I'm a bit skint this month) but he's worth every penny :kisses2:

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hello labradorlove and glad we sorted your refund okay. Sorry, though, your dog is poorly and hope he's better soon.

As you say, a good place to see our tariffs is on our website. Don't know if you're aware but, provided you've registered with the website, you can forward switch to a tariff by up to 52 days in the future. No need to worry if the chosen tariff is removed from sale before this. Once a future date has been chosen, it'll be locked in and you'll still be able to go on to the tariff on the chosen date. This service is only available through our website.

If you decide to change supplier and are on a Fixed Tariff, you'll have the benefits of the Price Protection window. This is open 49 calendar days before a Fixed Tariff ends until 20 working days after. Provided the new supplier tells us, we'll keep you on the cheaper prices whilst the switch goes through. Exit fees also don't apply whilst in this window. We'll be in touch before your current tariff ends with more details.

As above, our website is a good starting point although we've just been told we've released a tariff today exclusively through Price Comparison sites like moneysupermarket, energyhelpline and uSwitch. Don't have any details or if it's any good. All I know for now is it's called Go Online v12 and customers need to pay with a Monthly Direct Debit to qualify. Also, forward switching isn't an option with this tariff. I'd pop your usage in kWh on to these comparison sites. They'll show what's available not just with us but with the other suppliers too. See what's best for you.

Hope this is useful labradorlove. Let me know if you need any more information as happy to help. Enjoy your meal and have a good weekend.

Malc

Thank you Malc! I followed your advice and have applied to switch my tariff through the Cheap Energy Club for the new V12 Go online which suits us great and the best deal I've come across so far, I switched yesterday so just waiting for updates now. As I'm already with EON I can't imagine they'll have to do much in terms of credit searches, background checks etc. Plus £25 cashback after 3 months!

Thanks again! :j

kev2009 wrote: »

Hi,

Just saw your update post

Clearing the CC does sound good idea, i tend to use mine but clear it each month.

Congrats on the house valuation, must feel good knowings it has made a few quid already

Interesting read, so at the end of your fixed mortgage, the mortgage provider doesn't re-evaluate your home and then give you a choice of options based on the current price of your property vs mortgage you have? I have never had a mortgage before as my initial fixed period doesn't run out till 2020 so still learning as i go

Congrats on the car savings! Any idea what car you are planning to get? Will you buy it outright or PCP?

No problem RE the emergency fund, it is always worth having so that if something happens there isn't that feeling of how will i pay the bills etc. I personally classify it all as Savings, i just try and save a fixed amount each month and then from this i then use the money for hols/birthdays/xmas/emergencies etc. However, I work it kinda 2 fold - as well as the above, I also have set a figure that I don't want my savings to go below as i know for example that is enough money to pay for 6 months or 1 year of bills etc. Just another safety net so to speak.

wow £360 xmas fund for each other - some big xmas pressies being bought

My energy suppliers are fixed until early part of 2019 (was a 2 year deal), i too didn't pick the cheapest but looked at reviews etc and made a choice from there. Was a lot of companies i had never heard of and some had not so good reviews. I hadn't heard o my Gas supplier but they get very good reviews and have been consistently over 90 or 95% i think in the yearly reviews on this site i think it is so i gave them a go and it all went smoothing, no issues. My electric i went with a fairly well know company just because the prices were not too bad, significantly cheaper than BG who i had both with before as that is who supplied the property when i moved in and not knowing my usage i just stick with them for a year to get an idea so i had something to base comparison on.

So over xmas this year i'll likely be looking on the comparison sites to get a feel for what prices are like and probably sign up to another fixed tariff as for me i like the idea of know what i'm paying (subject of course to usage increasing) plus prices always go up so i like the idea of prices going up and myself still being on the old rate

Kev

No I don't think it works like that, as far as I'm aware at the end of your fixed rate you can remortgage elsewhere (which involves further credit checks, valuation of your home etc) or you can renegotiate with your current mortgage provider on a new fixed rate.


In regards to car savings I'm not entirely sure I'm just going to continue saving as much as I can in the hopes that I'll be able to buy outright but we'll see when the time comes depending on my situation at that time. I'm in no rush for one as my DF works close and he takes me there and back. But planning ahead in case either of us gets a new job as we're both working on moving up in our careers.



I wish we were spending that much on eachother! £360 each covers everything at Christmas, gifts for each other, our fur baby, our families, and alcohol all factored in :j


Make sure you take advantage of the MSE energy club to compare and you can select an option to remove all those companies you haven't heard of and focus on the big suppliers. Good luck :money:

Been a bad month budget wise


Money lost from pay

-£140 vet fees (Hoping to get back from pet insurance, just waiting for the claim to be processed)

-£30 emergency dentist fees (Painful tooth infection and have another appointment next week so more £££ to be lost

-£200 on DF birthday gifts and meal


Money lost from emergency funds

-£50 to Homeserve (Excess paid for plumber to sort out leaking toilet -apt booked Friday pm)


Kind of over spent this month with unexpected outgoings but looking forward to payday next week to get back on track! With budgets and OPing


Also found £10 in an old coat pocket, going to live on that until next Friday. If I spend anything else it means going into savings!! Must avoid at all costs! Fridge and freezer are both full so it's do able. :j