I'm paying my mortgage off 14 years early while making £10K saving

A savvy homeowner has revealed her strategy for slashing £10,000 off her mortgage payments and potentially settling the debt 14 years ahead of schedule.

Katherine Copeman, a 38 year old resident of north Norfolk, was left with an outstanding mortgage on her three-bedroom terraced home after she bought out her ex-partner in 2020. With £67,000 still to pay at that point, the mother of two sought ways to reduce her long-term mortgage expenses.

In August 2023, Katie came across the mortgage app Sprive. This innovative application employs artificial intelligence to set aside funds based on a user's spending habits, enabling them to make additional mortgage payments when feasible.

Sprive offers two key features: 'Shop With Sprive', which allows users to earn cashback from their regular shopping, and the newly launched 'Sprive Surveys', where users can earn cashback by completing surveys, with the money earned going directly towards mortgage overpayments, reports the Mirror.

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Katie shared her experience: "When I signed up I used a code to get the £5 starter bonus and the Sprive rewards for my weekly Asda shop to get cashback. I've been using it weekly since joining and every little bit adds up. I normally spend between £70-£80 on my weekly shopping which at 3% cash back is great."

Katie, a Sprive user, has been able to make sizeable overpayments on her monthly mortgage of £220 ranging from £20 to £60 every month. Embracing the app's new survey feature, Katie completes a series of surveys daily while having breakfast.

She stated: "The money incentive is a large reason that I like taking part in surveys, and I normally complete them on my phone app, and they can range from being about household items, food shopping information, television watching and lifestyle questions. The most I've done is four in one day."

According to Sprive, completing a 10-minute survey can earn users anywhere from 70p to £1.75. On this topic, Katie explained: "Some longer ones are about 15 minutes, these are more money too which is good. The quickest are a few minutes long and are pretty simple. There is usually a good mix of short and longer ones. You still get 5p towards your balance even if you can't do the whole survey."

Sprive estimates Katie could pay off her entire mortgage loan 14 years and seven months early if she continues the overpayment rate. This would not only mean a savings of £10,000 in interest but also an opportunity to pay off her mortgage by 2040 instead of 2055.

She stated: "If this does happen this will be great. I'll have extra cash for holidays or maybe think of moving house and taking on another smaller mortgage if that is possible."

Despite the optimism, Katie is concerned about the increasing costs of mortgages presently as they are "significantly" higher compared to when she secured her deal four years ago. As she expressed her worry, she said, "It will definitely affect me when my fix ends next year, I'm hoping it won't go up too much but I know it most likely be another £100 a month. so saving as much as I can now. Though, I hope to keep saving and cutting down the years and money by using Sprive to its full potential."

With around 40,000 users registered on its app, Sprive imposes no sign-up or usage fees. The platform earns revenue through agreements with brands that offer shopping opportunities to its users.

Among the approximately 60 brands within Sprive's network are household names like Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose; high street retailers such as John Lewis, Primark, Halfords, Ikea and M&S; and brands like Costa, Deliveroo and Uber.

The app also includes a feature that compares your mortgage with the market on a daily basis to help you find more affordable deals. If Sprive assists you in remortgaging, it will receive a commission from your mortgage lender.