Mortgage officially...

Merlin5 · 10 Oct 2017 at 16:05

...finished! I've had a mortgage since 1987, and extended it in 2012 for 5 more years. Today I found out that my last payment was 28th September and Halifax have closed the mortgage and are sending me the deeds and a £9.39 refund.

To be honest, I extended it in November 2012 so I thought I had another two payments to go. I'm £747 better off now.

Jamesyboyjim · 10 Oct 2017 at 16:08

Congratulations! i hope you're young and healthy enough to be able to enjoy being a bit more financially free. It must feel good

Uther · 10 Oct 2017 at 16:26

Excellent, now flog that puppy and go buy a mansion in the countryside or near the coast on the proceeds!

DomBruv · 10 Oct 2017 at 16:29

Uther said:
Excellent, now flog that puppy and go buy a mansion in the countryside or near the coast on the proceeds!

This ^

Merlin5 · 10 Oct 2017 at 16:56

It's bittersweet really. Lease has been extended thank goodness and Mortgage has finished, but so has work unfortunately. Gotta find a job now. Was going to buy a house but that's scuppered. Well at least I don't have to find £4,500 each year anymore. I'd get about £350K for this one bed flat. I suppose I could always buy some £70,000 flat in Benidorm and live off the profits. Nah!

robfosters · 10 Oct 2017 at 17:12

Merlin5 said:
It's bittersweet really. Lease has been extended thank goodness and Mortgage has finished, but so has work unfortunately. Gotta find a job now. Was going to buy a house but that's scuppered. Well at least I don't have to find £4,500 each year anymore. I'd get about £350K for this one bed flat. I suppose I could always buy some £70,000 flat in Benidorm and live off the profits. Nah!

That would still get you a nice little 3 bed semi where I live in Bexleyheath. 20 min train journey into London. All due respect, but a 3 bed house with a garden in Bexley has got to be better than a one bed flat in Finchley?

Merlin5 · 10 Oct 2017 at 17:30

robfosters said:
That would still get you a nice little 3 bed semi where I live in Bexleyheath. 20 min train journey into London. All due respect, but a 3 bed house with a garden in Bexley has got to be better than a one bed flat in Finchley?

Yeah, I could buy a 2 or 3 bedroom house right now, even closer than Bexleyheath. But I really have to bide my time until I get work again. Taking on a house means twice the buildings insurance I pay now plus who knows what other unknowns. At least with this flat I know what my weekly bills are and there's no work that is needed on the building.
I have my own garden by the way, not shared. This is an old house converted to two flats.

On the other hand, if I bought a house with at least 2 bedrooms, I could take in a lodger.

HangTime · 10 Oct 2017 at 19:11

Glad you are getting your deeds back. I know they don't mean much these days, but I was a bit annoyed that the bank destroyed my deeds without prior notification never mind permission.

Psycho Sonny · 11 Oct 2017 at 16:57

did you move in-between? or remortgage? interest free mortgage for 25 years? surely house prices were so cheap 30 years ago you could have paid it off within a couple of weeks?

Uther · 11 Oct 2017 at 17:13

Psycho Sonny said:
did you move in-between? or remortgage? interest free mortgage for 25 years? surely house prices were so cheap 30 years ago you could have paid it off within a couple of weeks?

I'm not so sure people thought about early repayment in the past, just paid it every month until it was done.

Psycho Sonny · 11 Oct 2017 at 17:20

Uther said:
I'm not so sure people thought about early repayment in the past, just paid it every month until it was done.

yeah i had a colleague at work say her mortgage was finished. and then someone said you can now use all that spare cash to go on holidays get a nice car, etc.

she then told us her mortgage was only like £125 per month. so it meant she could maybe go out for a meal in a nice restaurant twice a month or something.

psd99 · 12 Oct 2017 at 13:08

Congratulations! what an amazing feeling that must be. I'f I'm around in 2060 then I might just have the same feeling lol

what are your next plans? I'd suggest investing into benidorm that sounds like good fun and there are plenty of us British people out there to keep yourself entertained

Psycho Sonny · 13 Oct 2017 at 09:38

psd99 said:
what are your next plans? I'd suggest investing into benidorm that sounds like good fun and there are plenty of us British people out there to keep yourself entertained

worst decision he could make.

I personally specialised and dealt with cases through the EU MARD agreement and I would never ever buy a house in France, Portugal or Spain. Anywhere else in the EU you will be fine and you won't get bent over and robbed repeatedly of all your money. I know of dying pensioners who were robbed of over £200K in Portugal by the authorities.

They see ex-pats as easy targets to rip off.

LeeUK · 13 Oct 2017 at 11:13

Has your mortgage been with Halifax since the start, if so you would have got the shares in 1997. Everyone in my family had mortgages with either Halifax or Woolwich, and the free money was sloshing around everywhere back in the late 90s.

Merlin5 · 13 Oct 2017 at 21:47

Yeah, been with the Halifax since the start, though it started alongside Halifax as an endowment mortgage with Legal & General and then I changed it to a regular repayment mortgage when I realised an endowment mortgage was no good.

I never got any shares that I recall.

Got my closure letter

Would have been nice if they'd have said congratulations and thanks for making us a bit wealthier over the last 30 years

It seems I don't get the paper deeds.

koolpc · 15 Oct 2017 at 14:35

Finished our mortgage approx 13 years ago when I was 40. It is a great feeling. Congrats mate

bobbarley · 15 Oct 2017 at 18:00

Congratulations! I'm in he same position, with the exception of 374 payments to go lol!

F355 · 16 Oct 2017 at 21:08

Well done

The way I read it you will get the paper deeds, you took the mortgage in 1987 which is before 2003 when the LR went fully computerised. Make sure you keep the deeds safe in a fireproof box or with a solicitor.

koolpc · 16 Oct 2017 at 21:15

Doesn't matter about the paper deeds. They all get put onto computer.

F355 · 16 Oct 2017 at 22:51

koolpc said:
Doesn't matter about the paper deeds. They all get put onto computer.

When you sell the house, or pay the LR. His house probably is registered already but neither of us are in a position to make that assumption. The result of being wrong could mean he has no legal claim to his house, which wouldn't be good. Either way, the deeds are useful to keep for checking boundaries, covenants, etc. You have to pay to get a copy of deeds held by the LR.

My grandparents' house is not registered, so I've been researching this lately.