Paid off mortgages mamas - Page 2

[PrettyBird]

Thanks for this thread, I'm definitely taking notes! Dh and I are buying a house next year and want to pay it off as quickly as possible. These days I don't think putting money in investments is a better deal than paying off mortgage. I think having a paid-for home will be great retirement security for us.

[notkept]

Originally Posted by mamamelia

we've never had this issue, but we are also not with citibank. just wanted to raise the point for everyone to read thier contracts word for word as not all banks would have the same rules regarding this. the ability to reduce the principal amount owing immediately through making a payment then and there is up and running in our account, it doesn't sit idly until a certain date. if i did then yes are you are right there would be little point in extra frequent repayments.
with your loan debt of 65K, it's probably not going to be worth your while to pay the $350 extra every year to have that advantage of "principal reduction" when ever you want it. but for someone with a higher loan value, like well into the 400 and 500K's, it might actually turn out to be a saving. one needs to sit down one kid-free evening with a calculator, a notepad, pen... and a large cup of coffee and start calculating away (it's sick people like me who actually enjoy this stuff). some mortgage plans do actually keep you on top, it depends on your circumstances and if you utilize the plan well. in your case, i'd say your far better off putting that extra $350 into your loan than giving it to the bank to keep funding a certain type of loan.
and btw, way to go! single mama and almost mortgage free.

You're right! Of course everyone should look at their specific terms. Which is what I was thinking when I wrote my message, but never bothered to say.

I'm not really almost mortgage free, my mortgage started out at $66,000. lol I purchased a small home in a low COL area. I remodelled with cash for materials and lots of family sweat equity. My friends and family are amazing. Long term, I plan to stay here when I finish school and pay this mortgage off rather than moving up.

[notkept]

Originally Posted by SleeplessMommy

Citimortgage is a little broke right now - Citi is laying off 50,000 employees. I think the $350 fee per year is just and attempt to get them a little extra cash.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/17/news...roup/index.htm

If you make a partial payment with written instructions to pay off principal, I think they have to take it (unless your mortgage note says differently.)

Oh, I can prepay against the principal. What I can't do is make my payments bimonthly on my own. For instance: If my payment of $500 is due on the 30th, I cant send $250 on the 15th and $250 on the 30th and have the first payment of $250 credited as my regular payment. I can instruct that money to go against the principal, but it won't count as the payment. If I want it to be my payment, then it won't credit until the rest of the payment is made on the 30th.

Am I making any sense? lol

[Stone Fence]

Thanks for all the inspiring stories!

DH and I refinanced from at 30 year mortgage to a 20 year mortgage with a lower interest rate. We had 5 years into the first one so we saved 5 years. We've been paying an extra $70 towards principal each month. The plan is to be free of a mortgage by the time DS goes to college. We will be free of other debts by April 2009. After we save up 6 months of expenses we are going to kill the mortgage quicker.

PS-We don't pay enough in taxes and interest to itemize our deductions. The tax savings of having a mortgage don't apply to us.

[phathui5]

So you're saying that they'll only take a full payment from you?

Wells Fargo does the same thing with us unless we sign up for their program.

[notkept]

Originally Posted by phathui5

So you're saying that they'll only take a full payment from you?

Wells Fargo does the same thing with us unless we sign up for their program.

Kind of. I can send an extra payment in the middle of the month. If it's applied right away it is purely extra. I'll still owe the full payment on my due date. At least this is my understanding from the operator to whom I spoke. She could have just been trying to talk me in to the plan. lol Paying off my mortgage isn't in the plan until I finish school anyway, so I'm concentrating assigning my dollars to other jobs right now.

[Drummer's Wife]

you all are an inspiration, to say the least.

I can't even imagine being mortgage-free... oh wait we don't have a mortgage as we are renting and looking at coming up with $60k just for the down payment.

I was thinking a goal of (well, first buying the house) paying off a mortgage by the time we retire. I guess I just know too many people who are hoping to stop working in the near future but have refinanced their loan so they still owe a hefty amount. Now, I see paying off your house much sooner than that is possible for some people.

[CameronsMama]

These are such great inspiring stories, everyone, thanks for sharing. We are just coming into a position financially where we will be able to start paying a few hundred extra each month toward the mortgage to get it paid off sooner. I am really excited about this, so I'm happy to read this thread and see others who are doing the same thing! :

[rabbitmum]

Ooh, I'm hoping to join this club eventually! We have a mortgage with a bank, we owe them 304 160 USD (2 120 000 NOK).

I would like to have a plan to pay it down as soon as possible, and definitely much sooner than the 25 years that the bank wants us to - but my husband isn't into it! He says "Everybody has a mortgage" and "A mortgage is just something you have to live with" - and when I tell him that presently we are just giving our money away to the bank for nothing, paying lots of interest every month, he doesn't get it at all!

Every kroner that we pay into that mortgage reduces our monthly costs immediately, and with the interest rates that we have in today's economical climate, 10 000 paid in is actually more than 10 000 earned in the long run as well. How do I get my husband to understand this? He hates math, whereas I'm this nerd that likes to sit and calculate downpayments and how much they save us.

As for now I occasionally manage to talk him into putting in a lump sum when we get tax money, bonuses etc., and I also save up lumps in my own account and pay them in when they reach a reasonable size.

I would love us to be more systematic about it, though.

[Synchro246]

Originally Posted by SeekingJoy

Can someone recommend a good online calculator to show how much earlier a mortgage will be paid off? We have been putting extra here and there, and knowing each time we knock a year off would be great motivation.

I really like http://www.bankrate.com/brm/mortgage-calculator.asp because you can put in different types of extra payments and show the ammortization table and see how it's affected differently with different strategies.

[SeekingJoy]

Laura, this calculator was very helpful. This is what we figured out:

If we pay an extra $100 monthly - it takes about 9 years off the loan
If we pay an extra $200 monthly - 13 years
$300 - 16 years
If we double our mortgage payment - we will be mortgage free in 5 years.

A double mortgage payment is a pipe dream for us, but starting last month we are directing all our snowball power to our mortgage. :

[PJJ]

recasting

Anyone have experience with this?