To feel suicidal about mortgage/interest rates

[mortgagequandary]

I am sorry if this post upsets anyone but my mind is constantly occupied with the fear of losing my house. [PART OF POST REMOVED BY MNHQ AS WE DON'T ALLOW MENTION OF SELF-HARM/ SUICIDE METHODS]

But I don't know where to turn and can't tell anyone in real life . I wake up every morning and feel hopeless. I am too scared to do anything but I wish I could go to sleep and not wake up

I am terrified of losing my home and not being able to provide suitable accommodation for my children. I have been here 13 years ago when I was evicted from a rental as a young single mum and the fear and shame about not being able to even provide a roof for your kids is awful. I was lucky enough to get a small council house which would not happen now, this made me able to save a deposit and 7 years ago we bought a tiny house. I then moved to a slightly bigger house in 2019 but it's just still modest 3 bed terrace - I was told I could borrow over 100k more but I stayed sensible

We don't have any kind of flashy life. We live paycheque to paycheque. Between me and H we have 5 jobs. I work about 40 hours in 3 pt jobs and he has a main job and an evening job. Since last year when rates started to rise I have used every spare penny I have making overpayments. I have now paid about £5500 but still got 103k owed so feels pointless and not enough as I don't think will make any difference to what my new payments will be

I have a year left now til my fixed ends. and I feel like that will be it then, I won't get to keep my house

I am worth more dead to my family because if I died my mortgage would be paid off and then my husband and kids would always have a home .

Hi op - it’s been advised the buyers move over to interest only if that’s cheaper? Are you entitled to any tax credits?
Im dredging my re mortgaging early next year.
There is always a solution and you dying won’t change anything. You could do with some counselling or CBT as your thoughts are over working. Speak to your GP and see what local services are available. You maybe depressed? 🌺

I just wanted to offer a hand hold 💐
You do matter and are worthy of a place in this world.

Agree with the pp whi suggest seeing your GP - your reaction is disproportionate to the situation and you are completely catastrophising.
FWIW, I had similar concerns with regards to the interest rates - I was on a decent fixed 5 year that ended this year. When I was looking at the end of last year, it was looking like my mortgage repayments would increase by around 400. I'm actual fact, they have increased by about 150 which is manageable.
I think it's pointless looking at rates now when you can't switch without (more than likely) paying an exit fee, and the rates can change between now and next year.
I would work on paying off any other debt e.g. credit card before considering overpaying, or start saving to help pay the extra when your tariff changes.

You are absolutely crazy to be making overpayments if money is tight, it’s completely unnecessary. You are better off banking that as savings to use when rates go up.

But you sound like you need mental health intervention rather than financial help. A small mortgage with 2 people working that can currently overpay is really nothing to be bothered about. It’s a disproportionate response for which your GP can help.

I am embarrassed

I was poor growing up and my parents were skint. I have absolutely clawed my way out of poverty and had years and years of being "the poor skint friend" judged and looked down on by society and people I met in life for being single (I am not single now) and having kids by different men and living on a council estate

Now I privately own a modest house in a decent area and have what is the middle class life I never believed I'd have I would be so ashamed and gutted to lose that

Mumsnet can you just edit the post instead of taking it down?

OP you have nothing to be ashamed about. You work hard and are doing your best.

Please try not to worry, no one knows what will happen with the mortgage situation in the next year, it could get a lot better. We could have a sudden drop in inflation that calms the markets down. It could be much less bad than you think. And even if it isn't, banks want their money back so they will look at lots of options to help you.

I agree with a PP though that your fixation on this situation is probably linked to a wider mental health issue. Do go and see your GP and get some help. Good luck OP.

I agree with talking to a mortgage advisor, London and Country are free and recommended by Martin Lewis. Secondly, I agree with everyone saying that overpaying right now might not be the best thing, it might be better putting those overpayments into a savings account so you have extra money to draw on for any increased payments.

How old are the children and can you cut any expenses there? ie activities or childcare coming to an end etc? Can you retrain for another field of work that might mean 1 job instead of 3?

It isn't as worrying as you are making out. You have a year before your fix ends. What rate are you on at the minute? I understand it is scary but you are not alone in this. Lots of people are worried about their mortgage rates. You are much better off here with your family, they love and need you.

We’ve just borrowed 250k for 31 years taking our end of mortgage to 74 I think, which the broker wasn’t remotely bothered about. DH is about the same age as you.

I would call a broker if I were you and find out if extending the term is feasible for you, which will give you the breathing space and knowledge that you’ll be ok even if the rates are more than you’re paying now.

And, for the love of God, do not top yourself over this. It’s just bricks and mortar, the home is the love and security you provide to your children. Please see your gp for some help if it’s becoming a real problem on your mh.

Honestly there will be options. Extend your mortgage. Go interest only for a few years.

if you can currently overpay then on a 100k mortgage you might not need to pay as much more when you’re out your fixed period as you’re overpaying now

interest rates might come down in a couple of years. Energy prices are reducing, fuel is coming down.

There is absolutly no shame in being poor growing up. None whatsoever. Dump that shit. You are great, you got yourself in a position to buy a house ffs. Try to be a bit nicer to yourself (gently like x)

Wyour mortgage is a very small one. You might have options like extending the term when you remortgage. Its not ideal. I dknt think you should worry about losing your home. You are a long way from that.

Not an expert in this but why were people not advised to do long fixes when the rates were so low? They couldn’t really get any lower.

Increasing your mortgage to 20 years at 6% your repayment would be £717 a month

Extending to 25 years would make your repayment 644 a month

Once your kids leave home you’d be much better off

then you can overpay later down the line

I have reported and asked them to do this

I hope they don't take it down 😞 I really need it

Maybe consider going interest only for a couple of years. You can overpay but yoir amont paid monthly is going to go down.
You need to be good about not saving towards overpayments but you will be glad to get a bit of breathing space.
Interest on this type of mortgage is going to be lower than for a fixed mortgage.
You will have to pay the fee for new product anyway regardless of type of mortgage.

As someone said if you both work ft you would be bringing in £3600 after tax

Also you’ll get child benefit

Do you have other debts?

I'm so sorry you're feeling like this OP, I imagine the current headlines are so triggering to you given what you went through when you were a young woman, and understandably so. Please speak to your GP, your family will very much want you here with them, although I can understand why you're feeling the way you do given the trauma you went through earlier in your life.
On a practical level, you've been overpaying already, so when you come to renew the mortgage if you keep the term the same then you will owe less than you were scheduled to owe at that date, meaning the payments will be slightly less than they would have been without all of your repayments. What you could also do when you come to remortgage next year is to add five years to the term, but work out what the repayments would be if you hadn't done that and aim to pay the difference each month as an overpayment- most mortgage companies will allow you to overpay by 10% each year without penalty. DH and I are both freelance, so we do this- we've set up a Standing Order for the extra payment each month. It means we can aim to pay off the mortgage as we had originally planned, but we have a bit of wiggle room as we can cancel the Standing Order at short notice if we have a lean month.

Also, the advice to put the overpayments cash into a savings account is really good. Say that your current mortgage fix is around 2% but you can get around 5% interest on a savings account then your money is earning an extra 3%, and working just that bit harder for you- you'd just take the money out from the savings account and use it to pay off a chunk of your mortgage right before your current fix runs out next year. By doing this the outstanding mortgage balance should be lower than if you'd just made regular overpayments.

Also stop overpaying

In a few years you can then reduce your term if your financial position improves

Depends on when you bought as to the value. Houses in that part of the market are holding value well generally because demand remains high. It's unlikely to have reduced much if at all tbh.

I want to quickly explain about my work and why I have 3 pt jobs not a ft one

My main part time job is a business which is potentially very lucrative it is quite niche and outing so I don't want to specify but it is in the field of aesthetics / beauty

I work from home and have little to no outlay for it .

So I can't get a full time job as I want to grow it it's been slowly growing since I started however it has admittedly stalled a little now everyone is bloody skint !! But I can potentially earn very well with it if I perserve plus I absolutely love it

Can you buy sponsored/targeted ads on FB?

Can you give a free treatment away if it gets shared and liked so many times?

I’ve seen businesses get heaps of trade this way - local butchers for example! Nail salons!