pay off my mortgage

$104,000, and 30 years left. My dream is to have it paid off by age 35, or 2017.

I paid the loan down another $4K this month. Also important, I paid my September payment in a timely manner.

However, I feel that this is a sort of “booby prize” because I would be happier if I were spending the money to get things repaired.

Since my loan is a HELOC, I can always draw money out of it again, when I DO need it, so I still have liquidity.

My mortgage will take years

With a layoff and new job I’m back to a $50 prepayment each month.

We have just bought our first house (after selling our first owned home; a condo) and are happy to see that our 25 year mortgage is starting at 18.7 years due to the biweekly payments and extra $100 per payment. I love to see those numbers drop.

today, the final payoff went out

now I only have the home equity line of credit to limit (cap) or pay off.

It used to be the thing people dreamed about.

I just bought my first apartment earlier this year and am now locked into a fairly massive debt! Whenever I plan a holiday, go out with mates, think about working on the car – I am forced to consider the financial feasibility of my actions! The truth is the positives outweigh the negatives for me – I am more careful with cash and feel like I have achieved something in investing in property.

-Ray

This money has just been sitting around in my checking account. It was money I saved toward trying to pay off the mortgage when I was worried about not being able to refinance.

Since the HELOC allows me to still draw money, I am not giving up much liquidity by paying down my principal.

This brings my principal balance down $3900 from about $21,400 to $17,500.

I was under a lot of stess earlier this year. It seemed that I owed too little to find a mortgage a good fit. Yet, my credit was not so good, and I had trouble qualifying for a HELOC.

Some lenders also insisted that I could not have a HELOC without a first mortgage.

Anyway, I refinanced in June. And meanwhile, I had saved up about 8K to put toward principal. Because my balloon lender refused to modify my loan, I chose not to pay it to them.

Just as I hung up the phone getting the good news that my new loan was approved, the phone rang again. My original lender offered me the modification that I had originally wanted.

Too little, too late! I signed the HELOC.

The foreclosure counselor and my son both disapproved of this loan, because it is a variable rate, with no cap. However, I can lock in a rate, if I choose to.

There is an annual fee ($75 or so.) Also, there is a penalty if I close the HELOC within three years. But the penalty is only if I close the line of credit, I am still allowed to pay it down.

With the APR currently at 5.5%, I feel little motivation to pay this loan down.

I’ve paid off all but the last few pounds on the mortgage, so I’ll be paying the balance off next Saturday in the branch at the building society. We’ll be celebrating on the day with a meal out and I’ll be using my late August wages to pay for a holiday (first proper holiday not seeing family for 9 years). I am so giddy already.