Mortgage Free in Three Yrs

A question about : Mortgage Free in Three Yrs

Welcome to the Mortgage Free in Three Challenge!

This challenge started in April 2007 and was open to anyone who wanted to spend the next three years using tips and tricks from the MoneySavingExpert website to substantially reduce or completely pay off their mortgages (and/or debts)!

Below is a list of the challengers and their respective challenges:

01. Dithering Dad - Completely pay off his Ј150,000 mortgage.
02. ThankYouAndEnjoy! - Pay Ј84,000 off his Ј100,000 mortgage.
03. Tall Girl - Completely pay off her Ј45,500 mortgage.
04. cupid_s - Completely pay off her Ј66,500 mortgage.
05. Miss Penny Pincher - Reduce her Mortgage from Ј86,700 to Ј22,300
06. Kaz2904 - Reduce her mortgage/debts by 43,000.
09. catowen - Reduce her mortgage by Ј7500.
10. TrikerAndBiker - Reduce their mortgage by Ј2500.
11. gallygirl - Reduce her mortgage/loans by Ј25,400.
12. tigtag02 - Reduce her mortgage term by 10 years.
13. amazamum - Reduce her mortgage by Ј13,508 to less than Ј30,000.
14. minimoocow - Completely pay off her Ј51,051 mortgage.
15. hypno6 - Completely pay off her debts of Ј45,247.
16. daleyd - Completely pay off his Ј120,000 mortgage.
17. save-a-lot - Completely offset his Ј74000 mortgage against savings.
18. CFC - Reduce her mortgage by Ј10,000.
19. ailuro2 - Reduce her mortgage by Ј25,000.
20. financialbliss - Reduce his mortgage from Ј73,217 to Ј35,000.
21. sallyb17 - Reduce her mortgage from Ј114,437 to Ј100,000.
22. jobbingmusician - Completely pay off his Ј36,000 mortgage.
23. Superfast_Gran - Completely pay off her Ј46,626 mortgage.
24. rsrt130 - Reduce her mortgage by Ј36,000.
25. MancBrel - Completely pay off his Ј25,000 mortgage.
26. farhad1965 - Reduce his mortgage from Ј465,000 to Ј300,000.
27. ixwood - Completely pay off his Ј143,000 mortgage.
28. benbenandme - Reduce her mortgage to Ј50,000.
29. chickadee - Reduce her mortgage by Ј11,000.
30. shazzany - Completely pay off her Ј45,000 mortgage.
31. sturgeon62 - Reduce his mortgage by Ј3000.
32. Bargain Rzl - Reduce her mortgage by Ј7000.
33. pfpf - Completely pay off his Ј68,500 mortgage.
34. pinky8 - Reduce her mortgage by Ј20,000.
35. chica_fi - Reduce her mortgage by 40%.
36. Battleaxe - Reduce her mortgage length by 18 months.
37. Angeldelight - Reduce mortgage from Ј25,000 to Ј12,500.
38. Mushy61 - Completely pay off his Ј16,800 mortgage.
40. togashi42 - Reduce his mortgage by Ј10,000.
41. pa2539 - Reduce her mortgage by Ј6,300.
42. FrugalNotTight - Reduce his mortgage from 75,175.75 to Ј50,000.
43. taka - Reduce her Ј56,000 mortgage by Ј11,000.
44. betsanboots - Completely pay off her Ј39,444 mortgage.
45. pink fairy - Reduce her mortgage and debts by Ј74,742.
46. hosebergine - Reduce her mortgage from Ј100,104 to Ј75,000.
47. angelavdavis - Completely pay off her Ј130,806 mortgage.
48. Trying to be good - reduce her mortgage by 47,000.
49. Karen L - reduce her mortgage by Ј17,697.
50. sparklymessygirl - Completely pay off her Ј10,554 mortgage.
51. Limeycat - Reduce her mortgage by Ј10,000.
52. do it today! - Reduce her Ј129,000 by Ј5000.
53. BARGAINHUNTER! - Reduce her Ј45,000 mortgage by Ј2,754.
54. sarmia - Reduce her Ј120,000 mortgage to Ј100,000.
55. cazmanian_minx - Completely pay off her Ј31,982 mortgage.
56. Batgirl - pay Ј5000 off Ј200,000 mortgage.
58. md14_uk - pay 15,000 off Ј151,221 mortgage.
59. juliejim - pay Ј7000 off Ј52,910 mortgage.
60. brummiebabe - pay Ј2500 off Ј76609 mortgage.
61. LJD1 - reduce his Ј110,000 mortgage to Ј70,000.
62. heckmondwike06 - pay off his Ј71,149 mortage & save 100k towards next house.
63. GreenNinja - Reduce his Ј30,000 mortgage by Ј10,000.
64. CaroB - Reduce her Ј83,955 mortgage by Ј20,000.
66. woostoon - Reduce his Ј145,000 mortgage to Ј80,000.
67. jackomdj - Reduce her mortgage from Ј80,811 to Ј8000.
68. mojo_jojo - Reduce his Ј120,000 mortgage by Ј18,000.
69. keren29 - Reduce her Ј126,284 by Ј10,000.
70. CountryWife - Reduce her Ј91,000 mortgage to Ј60,000.
71. Jonmurgie - Reduce his Ј171,499 mortgage by Ј33,500.
72. drenbo - Reduce his Ј126,190 mortgage to Ј100,000.
73. pariskate - Completely pay off her Ј22,676 mortgage.
74. Curv - Reduce her Ј145,499 to Ј107,000.
75. firesidemaid - Reduce her Ј105,675 mortgage by Ј25,000.
76. Bluelad - Reduce his 99338 mortgage by Ј7500
77. MoneySavingNovice - Completely pay off his Ј65,000 mortgage.
78. Pandora123 - Completely pay off her Ј38,150 mortgage.
79. inkie - Completely pay off her Ј29,345 mortgage.
80. JIMBOBC - Pay Ј100,000 of his Ј126,100 mortgage.
81. Redbedhead - Reduce her Ј65,726 mortgage by Ј20,725.
82. dawnylou - Reduce her Ј109,320 mortgage by Ј2500.
83. sachsaini - Reduce her Ј92,000 mortgage by Ј13,000.
84. freebird65 - Completely pay off her Ј146,088 mortgage.
85. kiwi88 - Reduce her Ј98,506.89 mortgage by Ј20000
86. Catshark88 - Reduce her Ј273,000 mortgage by Ј50,000.
88. Desperate Housewife - Completely pay off her Ј41,000 mortgage.
90. Optimistic Saver - reduce her Ј125,000 mortgage by Ј25,000.
91. Karmacat - Reduce her Ј42,900 mortgage by Ј10,000.
92. LookAfterThePennies - Completely pay off her Ј56,000 mortgage.
93. ptee - Reduce his Ј146,000 mortgage by Ј34,000.
94. meme - Reduce her Ј260,075 mortgage to Ј150,000.
95. Badger_Lady - Reduce her Ј137,500 mortgage to Ј100,000.
96. mountainlioness - Reduce her Ј261,385 mortgage by Ј25,000
97. maureen100 - Reduce her Ј66,500 mortgage to Ј34,000.
98. sarahe - Completely pay off her Ј13,151 mortgage.
99. Seahorse3136 - Reduce her Ј57,874 mortgage by Ј10,000.
100. kar - Reduce her Ј167,200 to Ј150,000.
101. HammersFan - Reduce his Ј193,600 mortgage to below Ј100,000.
102. molit - Reduce his Ј96,800 mortgage to Ј77,000.
103. Move To Portugal - Reduce her Ј135,850 mortgage to Ј85,850.
104. flibbertigibbet - Completely pay off her Ј100,219 mortgage.
105. esthomizzy - Reduce her Ј229,000 mortgage to Ј210,000.
107. Womblesmum - Reduce her Ј178,708 to Ј50,000.
108. lunasaver - Reduce her Ј45,320 mortgage to sub Ј30,000.
109. DickDastardly - Completely pay off his Ј95,690 mortgage.
110. ~daisy~ - Completely pay off her Ј36,000 mortgage.
111. savvykaz - Reduce her Ј45,700 mortgage to Ј30,000
112. Jonesy Bonesy - Reduce his mortgage from Ј95,000 to Ј25,000.
113. hughmungas1986 - Reduce his Ј55674.61 mortgage to Ј20000.
114. Marvin the Martian - Reduce his Ј66,495.93 mortgage to Ј14,764.13.
115. weezl74 - Reduce her Ј143,000 mortgage to Ј20,000.
116. Moneygoes2money - Reduce his Ј152,414.09 to Ј123,000.
117. RandomLight - Reduce his Ј92,000 mortgage to Ј72,000.
118. FreedomGirl - Completely pay off her Ј18,558 mortgage.
119. monkeymutz - Reduce his Ј112,700 to Ј67,620.
120. rockrat - Completely pay off his Ј97,600 mortgage.
121. 1274 - Reduce his Ј160,000 mortgage to Ј50,000.
122. TheBees - Reduce their mortgage from Ј57,000 to Ј47,000.
123. Miss_Pink - Reduce her Ј70,000 mortgage by Ј50,000.
124. Galster - Completely pay off his Ј97,000 mortgage.
125. tattycath - Reduce her Ј96,000 mortgage by Ј4000.
126. Susiesue - Reduce her Ј94,818 mortgage to Ј63,934.
127. Dumbledore55 - Reduce her Ј92,000 mortgage by Ј15,000.
128. OverlandLandy - Reduce his Ј79,000 mortgage to Ј25,000.
129. getmeoutofhere - Completely pay off his Ј23,248 mortgage.
130. catznine - Reduce her Ј85,000 mortgage to Ј61,965.
131. setmefree2 - Reduce her Ј182,557 mortgage by Ј75,000.
132. Lexxi - Reduce her Ј58,421 mortgage by Ј11,000.
133. sheslookinhot - Completely pay off his Ј21,000 Mortgage.
134. karenf - Reduce her Ј73,000 mortgage to Ј5,000.

Support Group:
01. AnW'sMum - Team mascot & chief cheerleader.
02. groatie queen - Cheerleader & challenge to return to full health!
03. wisewoman - Cheerleader & mortgage free example.

Press cuttings:
MFi3 challenge mentioned in the Telegraph (Thanks Angela )

The challenge ends on the 1st April 2010!

Please Note: As we are now two years into the three year challenge, the challenge is closed to new MFW's. If you want to join an 'ongoing' MFW challenge please enroll on one of the other MFW challenge threads.

Good Luck with your quest!!

Best answers:

• Welcome to all new members I hope you will find it motivating to be part of our little MFI3 gang.
  I am in charge of keeping the chart up to date every 3 months so if you want to be included this is what you need to do.
  Please PM me every 3 months with you:
  1 Your name & quest number
  2 Your current Mortage Balance (we will update this every quarter around the 15th of the month but choose your own date). Please incl regular payments and any overpayments you may have made.
  I have worked out the percentages in terms of how much you want to clear so it gives everyone a chance to complete the challenge. If you have savings you offset agains your mortage feel free to include those or wait until the end it is entirely up to you.
  Update as of 1st February 2010
  Please note last but 1 update will be 12th March then final one 16th APril so get your figures to me by then if you want to feature next time.
• Hi,
  I am pretty new to MSE although I have been reading the boards for a while now.
  I am not sure if I am that eligable to join, but after reading some of the negative comments about people on lower salaries not being able to pay off some or all of the mortgages, I would like to prove them wrong! Stubborn female and all that
  I have a few small debts to pay off first, mainly due to buying ex out of the property but I would still like to try, although might have to miss off the first month.
  If its ok to join I will post my relevant info.
  Also the best of luck to everyone doing this! A big to all
• HI Shineyhappy, welcome! I've added your name to the member list, so can you post your 3 yr challenge and I'll update your details. Remember to make it challenging, but not impossible!!!
  Though saying that, I wonder if my quest is impossible. No!! Positive thinking!! With help from the MFin3 gang, how can I fail?!
• Thanks very much!!
  Ok, its not looking too great so any ideas or suggestions please feel free to mention!
  Mortgage 142 000 interest only
  Secured loan 10 000 (needed to buy ex out) also interest only
  Take home salary 1120
  Rental income 360
  I would like to completly pay off the 10k loan, which would only mean an over payment of 277.78 a month over three years. I would also like to pay off as much as possible of the mortgage, not quite sure how much, but hey even 10k would be great! Money far better in my pocket!
  I think in total (incuding the secured loan) I would like to pay off 40k. Not sire if this is too much or not enough.
  Once the 10k loan is gone that is an extra 100 a month I will have spare to throw at the mortgage and every little helps.
  This is my first property and yes it was a big mortgage but my ex was such a snob, that he wouldn't live here there or anywhere that would ahve made this challenge easier and me being a fool went along with him, oh well!
  Currently I rent out my second bedroom, but I am thinking of renting out the entire flat and either moving in with my bf (this has been discussed) or announcing to mother I was moving home (she wouldn't mind at all). Is this cheating?
  Currently I am ebaying and amazoning like mad and have joined Quidco and Pigsback.
  Hope I fit in with the challenge critera!
• I wish everyone the best of luck! I dont have a mortgage yet, but I'll watch this thread with interest
  Nicola x
• I like this new thread and feel honoured to be part of the gang.
  Unfortunately I won't be able to take part in the challenge as our mortgage was paid off last year when my DH died. Although before he died we had made the decision to pay it off ASAP so that we could save towards our children's future (uni, house, weddings etc etc). So whilst I can't take part literally I am with you all in spirit and would hae joined in if circumstances were different.
  Perhaps I could be team mascot/cheerleader?
• Woohooo thanks DD
  Give us an 'M', give us an 'O', give us an 'R''....... going to be here all afternoon at this rate!
  Go gang go *in all American style*
• Does this mean you will be coming up with little cheers for us?
  Be careful with all this talk of cheer leaders or you will be giving the boys naughty ideas!
• Hello Questees
  Have you realised
  If all of us complete our goals within the next 3 years, we will have accumulatively paid off over £half a million
  And; we would have probably saved that much again in not paying Interest Charges to the Banks over the full term of the mortgage!!
  Hands in the middle ---- gooooooo team! EDIT (My apologies, must remember to learn my place)
• Give us a '1', give us a '2' give us a 'free in 3' yeayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
• We have a new thread. How exciting?
  I looked at the first post and thought 'DD's made a mistake, my mortgage is more than 66500'. Then I realised it's not and so it's not really very much at all. We should be able to manage that in 3 years (says the jobless girl with the jobless husband).
  If we can collectively pay off half a million that would be amazing. It's so nice to be part of a pay off your mortgage collective cos most people I know 'in the real world' think I'm crazy for trying this.
  I do need keeping on the straight and narrow though. We had an emergency on saturday which cost us over £100 and there was nothing we could do about that. And now we want new flooring in the lounge (the old stuff is crap and was only ever a temporary measure). Hmmm, flooring/mortgage mortgage/flooring. I just don't know!
• This looks really interesting, wish I could join in, but just about to start all over again! It's taken 6 years to go from 62.7k to 15k (which we are very proud of), only now to have agreed a 179k mortgage for our 'family' dream house in the next few months. Now if I could pay THAT off in 3, I'd be happy! Informally, I'm going to hope for a term reduction of 25yrs down to 17 years in 3yrs time. That will do for me.
  The best of luck to you all, it's amazing what pennies can be scrapped together (and what a difference they make). It sounds small, but I always make our own sandwiches for lunch now, and avoid nipping out to the cob shop. Avoiding buying a can of pop when shopping and waiting to make a cuppa at home. Small things, but it's the kind of patient thing I've learnt through all on this site.
  Good luck, again.
  Edited: Been on the mortgage calcs and revised target to knock 8yrs off in 3... as our wages are likely to decrease as we add to the family!
• Can i join please???
  No chance of being able to pay off my mortgage in 3 years, but definatly want to be able to reduce it. At the moment its 82K, and in the 36 months, i would like to aim to pay an extra 7.5K off - so a target of £200 a month.
  Oh - im 5ft 8 1/2, so within the height range!!!!
• Hello
  Bless Grand Parents and Aunts!!
  My girlfriends Nan and Aunt have just given us Ј100 each to celebrate Baby Charlies birth - Gonna go straight into his account when we open it.
  Looking For Advice re this subject - please help.
• My apologies, but I'm going to have to very reluctantly withdraw from the challenge. At some point in the next year I'm going to have to take a prolonged absence from work for health reasons - had hoped not to, but it is now inevitable, but I'll continue to put what I can spare into the offset till then - will need to live off every penny I can save - paid sick leave lasts just 6 weeks, then it will be statutory sick pay and living off my savings till they are down to income support levels.
  I have no doubt that I will lose my job because it will be up to two years before I can work again, and my charity simply cannot leave my post unfilled. It's sad because I am passionate about what I do, but the end result will be worth it, as I am guaranteed a return to health. I will be healthy and able to find something else to do. At the moment I'm not well enough to be fully enjoying life, so I'm looking forward to better times to come.
  So, best of luck and perhaps I can join the cheerleader team!
  All the best
  GQ
• Sorry to hear about your health probs GQ, I hope everything turns out well for you.
  Great to have another cheerleader, thought I might look a bit daft waving pom poms round on my own welcome to the team
• Please can we join the gang???
  We've only a relatively small mortgage and would love to pay it off as early as poss. We'd love to say we plan to pay it all off in three years but we need to spend some of our hard earned cash on improving our place and generally keeping it in good nick as we hope to sell up and emigrate to New Zealand (well its either that or the banks of the Menai Straights on Anglesey!!! lol) (ten year plan btw)
  Anyways heres what we have
  Ј37200 on interest only & Ј7400 on repayments.
  Term left is just over nine years, would love to reduce this by at least a year leaving us with a couple of clear years before the dream becomes reality! lol
  So can we join?? (And I'm just under the height restriction at 5'11" )
  Ladybiker
• Hi Cat & Lady Biker! I've added you both to the OP.
  groatie queen, I'm sorry to hear about your health problems. I've added you as a cheerleader, but also put a challenge of getting back to full health, which I'm hoping will take you much less than 3 years.