Paying off secured loan

It all depends upon the contract. I don't believe that there's anything illegal about it.

How long has it got until, paid off ?

What penalties are there for changing timespans/repayments ?

Can you change the monthly payments to something huge and leave £1 to be paid off in n years ?

No doubt they've got this all tied up, so just getting shot of the thing and taking the penalty is probably the least bad option. If it's any consolation, you can get interest of ~6% on your savings.

Daytona

I believe 'early redemption' penalties have been around for along time and apparently not illegal.

Don't know how this fits with the current hulabaloo over bank 'penalty' charges: perhaps what they can charge may be limited to some formula based on what they have lost..?

If you can pay of 50% but the mothly payments stay the same, presumably the time of the loan is then shortened..? In this case paying off the 50% may be the best bet.

Check whether the terms of your contract were fair or not.

Thanks for the advice and the links, which I will study in detail after I find the small print section of my agreement. In the short term, I'll probably take the 50% option. Perhaps then after a year or so, I could pay off another 50% without penalty and then keep on repeating the process?

Terry D.

Can you afford to pay it off now including their fees? Try negoitating hard again perhaps to get their fees down but ultimately unless you can make as much money in interest as it's costing you then you're losing out.

Once you've paid it off, why not keep putting the amount you were paying into an account to save up. :)

Presumably there is a legal charge (or is it a "caution") in their favour registered on your house (as it was a secured loan) and that cannot be removed until they agree. You cannot just tell them to get stuffed and expect them to remove the charge on the house.

Robert