Fingers crossed

caymankermit · 22 August 2015 at 2:17PM

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to start posting on here to show that you can overpay on your mortgage even if you can't afford to throw hundreds of pounds a month at your mortgage.

I think I'm a little anal about paying back extra, I have been known to pay off 1p! The mortgage is held with the main bank and so whenever I check the online banking any extra pennies goes to the mortgage to round down to the nearest pound (which seems a tiny amount but soon adds up). I'll even go as far as buying milk (food normally is paid for through the joint account) with money from my purse and then transferring the same amount to the mortgage. Also, any time money is saved (eg Tesco Clubcard vouchers) that goes off too.

Currently owing £76,500 and have 18 years to go. £7000 of this is a homeowner loan taken out three years ago which is subject to the same terms as the mortgage, this is the first one I'm trying to get rid of. According to the Overpayment Calculator, I have cut around 7 years off this one so far! No idea when to aim for, as soon as possible but although I picked an amazing career, it's not the best paid in the world...

I'm new to this so hopefully it makes sense... Good luck to all you other mortgage free wannabes!!!

ourcornercottage · 22 August 2015 at 2:45PM

Good luck, i totally agree that small amounts all add up and then compound the interest over 18 years and tahdah you have a big saving! I aimed to almost half my term I have a bigger mortgage on 18 years and a smaller one on 14 years. Im hoping for / aiming for 10 years

Dalradian · 22 August 2015 at 3:11PM

Good point - even small payments add up. Good luck on your journey

Thistlewhistle · 22 August 2015 at 3:15PM

Good luck caymankermit.

I think Albert Einstein said that one of the strongest forces in the universe was compound interest. Or something like that.

T:)

caymankermit · 3 December 2015 at 9:07PM

Thanks all. I actually changed mortgage recently. The new one is also a tracker (to be honest, I didn't know what the last one was, just figured it would go up with interest rates), and a lower rate (yay!) of 2.49% (down from 3.29%). I'm planning to put the extra saved into the smaller loan which should (according the the overpayment calculator) cut about 5 years off the timescale.

I'm also earning vouchers in various places ipsos isay, shop and scan (received an invitation through the post, finding this great, you can volunteer and when they have a gap you may get in, I earn around £1.60 a week), and have just started tvsmiles, time will tell on that one...

Good luck to all of you!

Down to £75162 (£6500 in smaller loan)

caymankermit · 29 December 2015 at 1:49PM

I think I'm a bit mortgage nuts, anything extra always goes off the mortgage. Down to any vouchers I have from my reward accounts are saved until there is something we need, then the equivalent goes off the mortgage. Spent £20 of vouchers the other day which (according to the overpayment calculator will save us £10) went off the mortgage. I also had some pennies today, 34p... Every little helps!

caymankermit · 11 October 2016 at 10:24AM

Apparently I'm no good at this blog thing! I changed mortgages a few months ago and reduced our rate from 3.29 to 2.49%, and as it's a tracker am now paying 2.24%. Fairly hefty saving! Of course all of the saving is going onto the mortgage.

Owing now is £70000 total - £4400 of which is the homeowner loan which (touch wood) should have gone within 3 years!

Good luck to everyone else and hope the mortgage free journey is going well!

Fingers crossed

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