Should I pay off my mortgage before moving next year?

[Tinbuck2]

Would it be easier to pay off my mortgage in this situation?

50k left on the mortgage and 50k in accessible savings.

Planning on moving in the next 12 months so will need a mortgage at that point. In the meantime, ISA allowance has been maxed, cannot put any more into pension, there are also separate savings and investments.

I think it would be better to pay the mortgage off and save the 4.65% interest that would accrue and also have more disposable income to put into high interest savings accounts. ChatGPT kept saying not to pay it off so there is cash in liquid form for any emergencies but I can’t imagine what I’d need 50k+ for in the next 12 months.

You are better off not paying it off entirely due to you needing a mortgage for your next place, as this will negatively affect your credit score if you have no debt (I know I know it’s bizarre but obviously if you move and don’t plan on moving again then yeh go for it)

would you potentially need extra cash for stamp duty & solicitors fees etc

if I was you I would pay the annual max over payment (make sure you don’t overpay as there will be a charge) as it seems your eager to chisel some of the mortgage/interest off. But leave the rest for these future fees you will likely need cash for.

I hadn’t realised that it would impact on my credit score - that’s good to know.

No, luckily we would be using the equity from our current house so there would be no shortfall and we have savings we could tap into if needed.

We won’t have a maximum we can overpay by. We could pay the whole thing off with no fees if we wanted to.