I was talking about this to my wife last night, and apparently they send quarterly statements on the mortgage. Those statements include a coupon to use if you want to make an extra payment to be applied to the principle. So I think we'll probably go with the 20 year note, do automatic deductions for the exact amount, and just use those coupons each quarter to make an extra principle payment with a check.

It's nice to have the choice be between different good options. That never seems to happen. Usually it's "Do you want the shit sandwich or the shit soup?"

If you do automatic deductions will they continue to send a coupon book?
I'm betting you'll always find something you'd rather spend the money on, than send some extra to the mortgage company.
You may have more discipline, but you'd be bucking the odds.:D

We do the automatic deductions now and they send the coupons.

And you're probably right. We could have been doing the extra payments all along with our current note, and haven't been. But I think if we get in the habit of it, we can do it. Even if we don't, we're still saving money and paying the house off sooner.

Paying the mortgage is something I didn't think much about. The rent/mortgage was just a fact of life, something I did every month like utility bills. Even when I re-mortgaged and shortened the note, it was just something to pay every month, until one day I got a letter saying the next payment would be different, because it was the last. Surprised the shit out of me. :haha:

financial discipline is just a habit. either you make the choice to cultivate it or not. some people who are paid biweekly even go so far as to set up auto payments for half of the mortgage payment with each and every paycheck. That effectively makes one extra payment per year. That extra payment plus the interest that wasn't compounded typically pays a 30 year mortgage off in roughly 22 years.

Oh wow. I don't own a house, but I need to start paying attention to my finances! It's ridiculous. I'll be getting a bonus soon that will get me out of the debt I accrued getting my teeth fixed, then I want to start saving so this doesn't happen again.

I may pick (or even eat) the brains of some of you gurus!

LJ, you mentioned that HSBC got out of lending for cars.

Does that have anything to do with the letter I got informing me that some bank I never heard of bought my car loan? Or is selling loans something that just happens these days? I never had that happen before...