For millions of homeowners the dream of being mortgage free seems a long way off. With so many other living costs to meet making extra payments on your mortgage can be difficult. That said the benefits can be huge, paying an extra £100 per month off a £100,000 mortgage could help take 6 years of a 25 year mortgage and save you around £25,000 in interest repayments.
The main point to remember is that any over payments made on your mortgage go to immediately reducing your outstanding capital meaning your monthly interest payments are also reduced as you have less debt.
The following ideas can be used to help you pay off your mortgage more quickly;
• Switch to a lower rate mortgage, this sounds simple enough yet many people are still paying the banks standard variable rate on their mortgage. By switching to a lower rate mortgage, be it fixed or tracker, you can make a potential saving of £100 per month which can be saved up and used to pay off a substantial amount of capital outside of any redemption period, or straight away if your mortgage lender allows penalty free overpayments.
• Avoid high mortgage fees; many mortgage lenders now make their profits by charging fees for their products, these can include arrangement fees, booking fees and valuation fees. Together these fees can add up to significant amount. Any savings you make in this area can be used to repay more capital, again reducing your outstanding debt and interest repayments
• Get a flexible mortgage; over the last few years flexible mortgages have become more popular as they allow the borrower to make penalty free overpayments to reduce their outstanding capital. The level of flexibility varies from a percentage of the outstanding debt right up to fully flexible where you can pay off as much as you like without penalty, expect to be charged a higher interest rate for a fully flexible mortgage. The level of flexibility you need will depend on the amount you can realistically afford to pay each month. When looking for a flexible mortgage search on a web comparison service can help you compare mortgages more quickly and identify those that offer flexible features and competitive rates.
• Switch to an offset mortgage; this option is suitable for those who have savings that are relatively large compared to their mortgage. Offset mortgages work by freezing interest on the portion of your mortgage that matches the amount held in your savings account. In return for freezing this interest you do not receive credit interest on your savings balance. If you have a large amount saved up buy don’t want to spend it this option may be for you. Offset mortgages do not generally carry flexible features so put any savings into an interest bearing account and use them to pay off a lump some outside of any redemption period.
• Make savings in other areas; simply put, make savings anywhere you can including insurance, travel and your general cost of living. By combining these savings with a flexible mortgage you have the potential to take years off your mortgage and save thousands in interest payments. A good place to start is the forums at moneysavingexpert.com, they are full of money saving ideas that can help you find extra money to pay off your mortgage.
Whatever combination of mortgage repayment tips you use always make use of the internet to compare UK mortgages With literally thousands of products out there an online search can speed up the process remarkably and help you narrow down your choices before contacting an independent financial advisor.
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