Mortgage - overpay or save ?

[Snorkers]

Can anyone help advise on this please?

160k mortgage taken out in 11/22 at 2.48% for 23 years.

Standard repayment is £760 a month.

On top of that we can overpay max 10% of balance as it stands on Jan 1 each year.

So far we've overpaid quite a bit and current balance is £133,451, but now interest rates are high I'm wondering if saving in a fixed term cash ISA would be a better bet?

I can lock away for five years at 5.26% but obviously then cannot repay the mortgage so it will accumulate interest.

Next year our max overpayment will go down, same following year etc.

Is anyone good enough with sums to show me overpay v save figures, or share a website/tool that calculates it for me?

Thank you!

The calculations are great, yes - and often there are (as above) financial advantages to saving.

But the more human, qualitative factor here is: Savings can be dipped into. Indeed - when life throws lemons, the going gets tough, there can be very many "it's just this once" moments, where one dips into savings intended for the mortgage lumpsum.

I really think, amidst the times we are living in, approaching the OP versus Savings issue as a pure, cut and dry financial calculations matter is misplaced. There are other, softer, human, messier factors that shape people's financial lives - and OPs which disappear and are gone into bringing debt down - versus savings which accumulate, and can be dipped into if disease/divorce/job loss hits - are not solely comparable by comparing interest rates.

@MikeRafone yes it's a gamble! Maybe it's best to do 50/50 mortgage/invest.

@combusting thanks - I did say I had savings for a rainy day /emergencies too. This is purely a question about paying off mortgage or paying into long term savings. As it is I am paying into a 5 year fixed ISA which cannot be touched (will incur a year's worth of interest as a penalty if I do).

my comment is not directed at you and your circumstances. It is a general comment on the matter of overpaying versus saving which reappears on the bill board frequently and is often understood as a calculation alone . In your particular circumstances, of course you make your decision that makes sense, but like I say mine is a general comment for anybody who might be reading the thread more broadly.