october 2011 Mortgage Payment

Balance $126,850.00
+$396.41 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$577.84 Principle Payment ($35.00 in change)
New Balance $125,665.00


$125K = 125 months left = 10.42 years left

Next month we will meet our goal for the year (getting under $125K), I can't wait!!

September 2011 Mortgage Payment

Balance $128,000.00
+$400.00 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$546.43 Principle Payment ($30.00 in change)
New Balance $126,850.00


$126K = 126 months left = 10.5 years left

YEAH this is the last month that we will ever have to pay over $400 in interest on our mortgage!

August 2011 Mortgage Payment

Balance $129,200.00
+$403.75 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$600.18 Principle Payment ($30.00 in change)
New Balance $128,000.00

$128K = 128 months = 10.67 years!

I shouldn't have.....but I couldn't resist throwing even more at the mortgage to get down to the next even $1000 dollar mark. Money is going to be very tight this month because of that and running the summer months on reduced income. But I am so happy with our progress! Also loving the hott hott weather! When you live in the midwest you take all the heat you can get!

Well I decided to bite the bullet and finally sign up for automatic mortgage payments. The only reason I was hesitant to do that before is because we pay extra to principle every month, and the amount varies every month because I use a spreadsheet to pay down to the next even amount, plus add our change to that. And sometimes we have some rebate or other bonus money to throw at it too. When you sign up for automatic payments it has to be the same amount every month. But the mortgage company is continueing to take forever to credit our payments....(PHH Mortgage - horrible customer service!).....last month I mailed our payment on 6/22/11.....they did not credit our account till 7/8/11! It makes me very nervous and I am scared of going through the whole horrible fiasco from March again. So we will make the auto payment for the regular payment and then still have to mail in our principle payment each time. I am also nervous about that....because I am sure that they will mess that up to since they can't seem to handle anything.

We got our semi-annual mortgage statement from our mortgage company.

Summary of payments for 2011:
Principal $6500.00
Interest $2516.12
Property Taxes $2248.60
Late Charges $0

Makes me very happy to see the principal is so much more then the interest!

July 2011 Mortgage Payment

Balance $130,300.00
+$407.19 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$503.62 Principle Payment ($34.45 from recycling and $80.00 in change)
New Balance $129,200.00

YEAH WE ARE INTO THE $120's!!!!!!!!

$129K = 129 months = 10.75 years!

June 2011 Mortgage Payment

Balance $131,400.00
+$410.63 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$507.06 Principle Payment
New Balance $130,300.00

$130K = 130 months = 10.83 years!

Awwww....so close to being into the 120's!

Got a bonus today of $1300! YEAH! The same bonus last year was for $800, so I am super happy that it went up $500! After taxes I am guessing I will take home about $800. We will be taking that with us to Wendover this weekend. Whatever we bring back, some is earmarked, some is for savings and hopefully we will have enough to have a little extra to throw at the mortgage for June. Our current balance is $131,400, after our regular payment and our normal principle payment we would be at about $130,300....so I would really like to find an extra $300 from the trip money to get under $130K, that would be a great feeling! Either way I am happy we will be going on our vaca without having to take any out of savings, and whatever we bring home is gravy!

May 2011 Mortgage Payment

Balance $132,437.50
+$413.87 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$447.80 Principle Payment
New Balance $131,400.00

$131K = 131 months = 10.92 years!

Since the MOH funds are now moved over to the EF, I had an extra account with our ING that wasn't for anything specific. I decided to label it Mortgage Payoff Account. I have been wanting to start an account for this for a long time, so am glad it is finally started, even if it only has $5 in it right now. We are still going to keep paying the extra to our mortgage on a monthly basis, so this account is not going to be going up in leaps and bounds or anything. But if we make all of savings goals for the year (we are on #4 out of #8) then I would like to put any extra for the year into that account. Then do the same thing the next year, check off each of the goals and then any extra would help fill the MPA again.....keep doing this and eventually the mortgage balance and the MPA balance will equal and then the house will be paid off, YEAH!

Well I made a little progress with the mortgage company about the fees I have been trying to get reimbursed (yes it's still going on....). I have still been fighting with them, trying to get supervisors to call me back and faxing in more information to them. Very annoying and frustrating. But today I logged on to check my balance since they messed up my last payment as well. I didn't post about that on here because I was soooo mad at the time that they had messed up another payment that I was ready to break something. I had sent in a principle payment for April, I wrote ALL over the payment coupon and check that it was for PRINCIPLE PAYMENT ONLY and they still applied it to May's payment......A N G R Y ! ! ! ! ! Anyways, I was logging on to make sure that they had corrected that (which they did) and saw that they have now credited me back the $12.50 I had to pay to make the online payment for March. So that is something at least. They credited the $12.50 to my principle balance, so that takes the mortgage down to $132,437.50. So now since the $60 was credited back from my bank and the mortgage company gave back the $12.50 fee, we are technically back to even. Still hoping the mortgage company will give back the $60 as they are the ones responsible for it. But if they don't at least now we are not out anything except for time and frustration.

April 2011 Mortgage

Here is the extra payment that got applied 2 weeks ago:

Balance $134,097.31
+$419.05 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$527.31 Principle Payment (March's PP)
New Balance $132,985.48

And here is the principle payment we are sending in for April with my account number in humungous letters written in 2 different spots on the check, and circled 4 times on the payment coupon.

Balance $132,985.48
-$535.48 Principle Payment ($45 in coin)
New Balance $132,450.00

For those that are wondering....I am STILL argueing with the mortgage company. After I called and talked to a supervisor 9 days ago....he said he would call me back in 2 days. I heard nothing back and have been calling everyday or everyother day and keep being told he is out sick or he will call me back tomorrow. Yesterday I called and asked for the supervisor's supervisor, they said supervisor #1 emailed you that he will call you back on 3/29/11. I never got any email, and let them know how I feel about their terrible customer service. So I will be calling back again Tuesday if I don't hear from him, which I am sure I won't. I think they are hoping I will just give up.....unfortunatley for them they don't know me very well....I might not get my fees back from them, but I will at least get a real answer by the end of this....

Today I did all the crummy paper work and faxed it into them. Ten min later I get an email that says they can not refund my fees since my account number was not on my check. I looked back and I have NEVER once written my account number on my check (but you can bet I will in the future) and not only have I NEVER written the account number on the check......the PAYMENT COMES WITH A PAYMENT COUPON WITH THE ACCOUNT NUMBER!!! And even if it didn't, type in my freaking name, match the name, spouse and address on the check to the loan number!! But anyways, it DID come with the loan coupon, so that is total BS about the account number. I called AGAIN today and spoke to a manager who didn't seem to be as useless as the others I spoke to and he is going to research and call me back. In the mean time, I sat in the driveup line for 20 min this morning at my local bank waiting for them to open at 7:30am and deposited $1000 to get me back in the black, but had already gotten $60 in fees. I called my bank to make sure that no checks had been sent back and they said no, and they OFFERED to credit back the fees without my even asking! LOVE my BANK! So I got the $60 back and now the fighting with the mortgage company is just on principle. If I get my $60 back I am going to but everyone at my bank some DQ!

March Mortgage

Balance $134,680.00
+$420.88 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
New Balance $134,097.31

April Mortgage

Balance $134,097.31
+$419.05 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$527.31 Principle Payment
New Balance $132,985.48

I may explode from anger! So I checked my checking account about 16 times today to see if the mortgage checks we mailed on 3/1/11 has been put through....all day they have not gone through. I get home and check the mortgage website and BAM there they are...ok that's annoying since yesterday when I called they said they had not received them yet....but now they are showing posted on 3/14/11 (the day I called) whatever. I call the mortgage company and the girl tells me they did not have them when I called (at 5pm?!) but they must have gotten them right after that. I argued with her for a few minutes that I did not understand how it takes 14 days to get my payment, but was going no where so I said fine and got off the phone. So if they just got them then I have a day or a few to get the extra money into my checking to cover the 2nd payments. So I go to look at my checking account to see what I need to cover them.....and lo and behold the checks have already gone through my account! WHAT! NOT electronic debits, the ACTUAL CHECKS and I can already see the images of them, and on the back they are stamped RECEIVED 3/8/11!!!!! OMG SOOOOOO MAAAAAD! So I call back and I am just fuming and trying to remember that the girl I am talking to didn't so this, so don't kill her. So she tells me again the checks were just received yesterday, I tell her that is not physically possibly for the checks to be received by them, ran through their bank, and then ran through my bank(local bank) in 1 business day, and also your stamp is on my check. She can not give me a good reason why that would have happened, keeps telling me it should have been credited within 24 hours, yada yada. So I tell her, now I am going to be overdrawn tomorrow because I was not planning on having both payments go through my account, and although those checks did not overdraw my account, I have 4 withdrawls coming out in the morning and even if I wait at the bank in the morning for them to open, the bank is on real time, so any autowithdrawls will come out first and I will have 4 overdraft fees now. So she tells me I can print off the copy of the check showing it was received on 3/8/11, and print of my account history showing that I was overdrawn and then fax them in with a note asking for the OD fees to be returned to me. UGH what a hassle!! So I got her name and employee ID and said I would do that but also explained to her that I should not have to do that since they messed up and kept my check on the shelf for a week........I also demanded my $12.50 fee back (the one I had to pay for making the last minute fee to my mortgage yesterday), I told her to credit that to the mortgage principle. Supposedly she is going to take care of that. Blah, so I am dreading tomorrow morning, cause even if they do reimburse the fees it is super embarrassing, annoying and just aggravating!
So now my regular payment was credited to March, the principle payment was credited to March, and the 2nd payment I made was credited to April, so I don't have to make a payment till May.

So I went to deposit our Deadwood money in the bank today and when I got my receipt I was surprised at how much we had in our checking account. So when I got a chance I went online and checked our internet banking and saw that our mortgage payment had not come out yet! We mailed it on 3/1/11.......so I called the mortgage company and they said that they had not received it. So I could pay by phone ($17.50 fee) or by internet ($12.50 fee) or I can wait and cross my fingers that somehow the payment gets applied by tomorrow otherwise I get a late fee ($50.00). UGH! So I paid by internet, but just made the regular payment, and did not make my principle payment because if the checks are received then they will get cashed too and I didn't want like $4K coming out of my checking account at once. The rep I talked to said if they do receive the checks they will cash them and apply them to Aprils payment. BLAH so irritated by the whole deal. Guess we will wait and see what happens now.

Balance $134,680.00
+$420.88 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$527.31 Principle Payment ($40 in change)
New Balance $133,570.00

$133K = 133 months = 11.08 years left!

I didn't have much to do today.....DH turned on some Netflix and I sat at the kitchen table and made a Mortgage Meter. I took a few large pages of accountant lined paper, taped them together and labled each line from $160K - $0 in increments of $1000. Then I drew a large thermometer going through all of the pages. Then I took a pink highlighter and filled in the lines from $160K - $135K. Everytime we get under another $1000 mark (we should go down at least $1000 each month) I can highlight the next row. Dorky I know, but visual motivation helps me. I put it on the side of the fridge and DH laughed at me.

Balance $135,740.00
+$424.19 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$480.62 Principle Payment ($55 in change)
New Balance $134,680.00

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling!
I love that we are going down over $1K a month now! We hope to keep that up, so that means $134K = 134 months. Which is only 11.1 years left......or less! So if we stay at that pace I would be 37 or less! Yipee!

Balance $136,800.00
+$427.50 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$483.93 Principle Payment ($60 in change)
New Balance $135,740.00

Mortgage for December

Balance $138,000.00
+$431.25 Interest
+$307.59 Escrow
-$1311.16 Regular Payment
-$627.68 Principle Payment
New Balance $136,800.00

So happy to be done with the refinance and going one way.......D O W N !!!!

When we refinanced last month I did not realize that the local credit union that we were going through would not be keeping our loan. They sell all of the loans off to another company. So I had assumed that I would just go in to pay the mortgage like I had always done at our previous lender. I never set up an automatic payment since we always pay extra, and the extra is a different amount each month. Anyways, we got a coupon book in the mail from the new company....I was not very excited about this since now we would have to pay for a stamp each month, and also make sure we mailed it earlier enough to get to the lender on time, where as before I could go in the same day it was due and pay it. But then I saw that they had a website, I registered and logged in to check it out. It is actually a very nice website, you can view payments and history, and also order an amortization schedule. You can also set up auto payments for every month, or you can set up one time payments, along with extra principle payments. So I am pretty excited, seems like a good site to use and track history. We also got an email from the credit union with our new amortization schedule. It is only 4 pages . Our last one was like 7 pages, and the one before that was a book. YEAH!

So I thought we we going to get a check from our old Escrow account for about $1300, but instead I got a check for $17.00 So I called them yesterday and they said the $1300 was used in the payoff of our loan, and she will send me the breakdown of the payoff. So that was a bummer cause I had assumed we would be getting those funds back. Oh well, nothing lost I guess. We also still have not received the amortization schedule that we had requested from our new mortgage lender, so called them and requested it again.

We finally signed the papers today so we are officially at 3.75% for 15 years! The mortgage provider also gave us a $25 giftcard to a local resteraunt for refinancing with them. After we signed the papers they gave us our copies.......but they didn't give us an amortization schedule....so I asked if we could have one and the mortgage guy was all surprised....he was like "Oh you want that?" UMMMM YES! Guess I am a big weirdo for wanting to know where we are at on our payoff. So he is going to mail me an amortization schedule because they didn't even have one there. PUMPED!

Since we are refinancing this month we don't have to make a payment on our mortgage. Our mortgage guy gave us 2 months off of payments since the paper work took so long to go through, so no payment needed for October and November. I have already put half of October's payment into savings and the rest I have sitting in checking to give us a little more flex for Christmas. Finally got our "official" EF account to $1K (we have over $7K in savings, but only $1K is "designated" as EF, though all of it would be used as EF if we needed it). We were also informed that the new mortgage company would be sending us a check for $1987.00, they always make sure they overestimate when they do refinances so when the numbers come back you get money back instead of having to pay more. So we have a check coming for almost $2K, plus $1300 November payment, plus $1300 surplus in our old escrow account that we will get a refund for. So that is roughly $4600 that we will have unexpectedly. I really want to put it against the new mortgage.......but I know that is not best for us right now. DH and I discussed it and are going to put the full $4600 in savings. That will get us to $12K in savings. We know that we will need at least one, if not two new to us cars in the next couple of years. We will drive our cars till they drop, but I do NOT want to have a car loan, especially when we are sending all of this extra money to the mortgage....it would be dumb to get a car loan at 6%+ when we have our mortgage at 3.75%. So we will save all of that money and just start right up again with the accelerated payments in December. Goal right now is for the balance to go down $1K a month, that would mean we will have 138 months left to pay, about 11.5 years. Then I would be 37! I am having a hard time not sending the money to the mortgage, I really don't want the amount of the loan to go up, but such is life. Closing costs and the over estimate will cause it to go up, but it will be better for us in the long run to keep the cash in savings. We will be so much more comfortable, and we will still be putting more into savings while we send extra payments to the house. Ok, I am done with my rambling now.

$130,950.00

No change since we don't have to make a payment this month due to the refinance.

DH's best friend is considering moving here from another state and moving in with us. He has a "lady friend" that lives here and they broke up a year ago, but are talking about getting back together. He is staying with us for about a week now while he decides. So I think it would be awesome if he moves in, he is a great friend, it be fun to have him around, plus he would pay some rent too. We figured $250.00 a month, which would cover rent and utilities. He would have his own room and bathroom, plus we never use the living room downstairs so he would have an area to himself with a TV. Then we could put that full $250.00 to mortgage principle. Of course I have had roomates before and I know it is not all fun and smiles. But the friend is very laid back and sweet and don't think it will be like when I had female roomates when I was 18, lol. So probably getting ahead of ourselves already, but if he did move in that would be awesome for the mortgage, so we shall see!

Our home appraisal for our refinance came in today. Our house went up in value $15K! WHOOOOHOOOO! This is good news on numerous levels. $15K in just 3 years since we bought it! I am surprised and happy. The only thing we have renovated on the house is the second bathroom. Which we only spent $800 on that. Soooooo, the increase in our home value means that we are D O N E paying PMI on our mortgage! YEAH! We were paying about $70 a month for the PMI, so now we can redirect that full amount to principle on the mortgage. Now we just have to wait for the paper work to be all prepared, will be all done soon I hope!

Mortgage for September 2010

Balance $131,400.00
+$533.81 Interest
+$345.57 Escrow
-$1286.00 Regular Payment
-$43.38 Principle Payment
New Balance $130,950.00

I can't wait till we are done with the refi so that we can get back to making bigger principle payments!

Mortgage for August

Balance $131,850.00
+$535.64 Interest
+$345.57 Escrow
-$1286.00 Regular Payment
-$45.21 Principle Payment
New Balance $131,400.00

Additional Principle Payments 2010 = $3457.29
Current Position on Mortgage Amortization Schedule....December 2015...5 years and 5 months ahead of schedule!