Do you see mortgage as a debt or a do you see it as just another bill?

[burpsburp]

I was talking to a friend recently and she was aghast that we were overpaying the mortgage to reduce it as much as we can and hopefully be mortgage free sooner than not. Our payments aren't ridiculously high as some others' on MN but we aren't high earners and have a very modest income so it's a decent chunk to us.

She perceives her own mortgage as a bill lik rent etc and eventually it will finish at the end be of the term which is so mant years ahead that it's not worth stressing over now. She'd rather spend the money on whatever now and enjoy life right now and doesn't see it as a debt. Whereas I've always seen a mortgage as a debt. A bloody massive one at that and one I want to get rid off. I do understand where she is coming from but even by paying a little bit extra each month, I can see the years slowly going down. She thinks I'm being mad and I'll be dead before I've even paid it off and it wouldn't have been worth it. I see her point.

Does anyone else see it as a massive burden like I do or just another bill like utilities etc and part of daily living costs?

[BlueLobelia]

Oh i definitely see it as a debt. I overpay as much as possible also.

[iamverytired]

I hate having debt and calculate all my outgoings each month and look at how I can overpay credit cards etc, but mortgage to me is a different matter. It's such a long term that I couldn't possibly start counting down the payments and as it's here for most of my life, I'm not going to start worrying about paying it off sooner!

[Waxonwaxoff0]

Just a bill for me. But I have a very small mortgage (£55k) and will have it paid off before I'm 50 without making any overpayments. I suppose it depends how big your mortgage is.

[Horehound]

I want to pay line off asap but not to the detriment of buying luxuries basically.
Each time we've remortgages we've managed to reduce the term. We bought our first home 4 years ago with a 29 year term and now we have a 19year term. So that feels quite good!

[SnarkyBag]

DH sees it as a massive burden o don’t give it a second thought TBH. I know we will have to downsize in order to be mortgage free which we will do in maybe 15 years so until then I’m not concerned. If I had lots of spare income I’d over pay but at this point I’m more concerned with building my pension and savings

[ILoveYourLittleHat]

Absolutely I see it as a debt and we overpay too.
The more you can pay now the less 'bills' you will have later in life as reducing the capital has so much impact.

Even if you never pay it off, if you move or remortgage your Loan-To-Value is really important.

We are a bit unusual in that we try to live debt-free (I know there is good debt, I have a credit card that I pay off in full each month) but obviously a mortgage is somewhat necessary unless you're renting. I wouldn't say it's a 'massive burden' but it is there to put a roof over your head.

If you overpay you can usually 'reclaim' that if you need to if your circs change, i.e. what you've overpaid will count towards your ongoing mortgage payments so you could potentially reduce your payments temporarily if needed - is that right? It's like 'banking' it in case you need it.

That said I wouldn't go without the essentials in order to overpay. I'd work towards remortgaging to a better deal if LTV improves etc.

[Chillychili]

We see it as both I suppose, it’s a debt but also a bill. We aren’t worried about it like I would be with a debt, but we overpay to reduce it (we don’t stretch our selves to overpay)

[ShoppingPrecinctPrincess]

People can become mortgage obsessed. I overpay a little but I don't understand people who use all their spare cash to overpay as much as they can when there are more sensible ways of getting a return on that money.

[Standrewsschool]

I don’t think I ever viewed it as a debt, more like a regular bill that you paid every month and will eventually end.

However, I wished we overpaid, so we would have more disposable income sooner.

I think you can strike a happy medium. Ie. Have enough disposable income so you can live and enjoy life now, but also overpay to shorten your mortgage. There’s no point overpaying, if you have no quality of life now.

[bengalcat]

It’s a debt - albeit a debt that is acceptable to run over a period of many years due to its usual size .

[Angelica789]

Financial advisors never recommend over paying as interest rates are low and you’ll get a better return by investing spare cash elsewhere. I would only over pay if I wasn’t going to be mortgage free by retirement age.

[CeeceeBloomingdale]

I see it as both. We never overpay but always reduce the term when we remortgage.

[KFleming]

I don’t see it as a massive burden, however I do see it as a debt and we do overpay a bit every month. In a few years, once we’re no longer paying over a thousand a month for nursery, we’ll overpay by more.

[HedgePutty]

Just a bill/something to pay.

[Fispi]

I see it as a debt but dont get stressed about it. When I can afford to I will over pay it if possible because I would like to be rid of it early so I have more choice about work later in life.

[gingercat02]

It's debt/loan in my mind and we are keen to pay it off, but it's not a stress or worry as even if you don't overpay and haven't over stretched yourself it will be paid off in time

[doomonic]

I do find the MN obsession with paying it off quite strange tbh compared to people in RL.
But I'm in London which perhaps skews it.
We save/invest spare money

[redcandlelight]

it's a debt, but day to day I see it as rent money. i.e. I need a roof ever my head and the bank is renting it to me.

[OneRingToRuleThemAll]

I don't overpay, but I bought my flat when I was 21 and never moved so I will be mortgage free by 40 ish. I realise that's sooner than most but I was just lucky with the market at the time.

[waitingpatientlyforspring]

It us a debt but not one that overly worries me but also would like to over pay if we could be bothered to do that.

[Timeforabiscuit]

It's too complicated a question, overpaying makes sense in certain financial stages - but it's not hard and fast best use of excess funds.

If your not planning on moving, have a youngish family, and steady jobs with decent chunk in savings - interest rates are low so makes sense to replace the boiler (or splurge).

[Dogsandbabies]

Of course it is debt.

But I never overpay it. I invest my money elsewhere and get much better return than the interest I pay for my mortgage. I see it as cancelling each other out.

Only, by investing my money I will actually be able to buy my house outright earlier than if I overpaid.

[Trinacham]

I see it more like you do, OP.

We overpay our mortgage by the maximum we can, which is 15k a year. We are well on our way to finishing it off by our early 30s. We may well upsize at some point but it'll be nice to have this one paid off. We still enjoy ourselves and spend money on things we enjoy whilst we're still young.

[CrazyHorse]

It's a very planned debt - we never overpay because we'd then be scrimping in other areas. If we could afford to overpay we would probably have bought a more expensive house and had an even bigger mortgage. So I see it as a bill.

[Badgershy]

Debt and we've made a huge effort to get it cleared. 12 months left and I'll be 41 when it's finished. Failing health due to chronic illness and I want a secure roof over our heads.