The findings reveal how paying off the mortgage would change peoples’ lives with over half of people (52%) stating that they would take more holidays, just under a third of people would turn their attention to saving more for retirement (31%) and a quarter of people would look to change their working lives by either finishing work or moving to part time hours (27%).
As a result many people have been making mortgage overpayments, with the top reason cited for this to reduce the term of the mortgage (31%). Other people are looking to take advantage of the low interest rate environment (21%), and the fact that they have more disposable income as a result of reductions in their mortgage rate (13%).
James Hillon, head of mortgages at The Co-operative Bank, commented, "The research clearly shows that many mortgage holders are looking to take advantage of the low interest rate environment by making overpayments. Since the launch of our capital repayments pilot scheme we have had a significant interest from customers and as a result we are continuing to monitor the scheme in detail, with a view to looking at rolling out the scheme to more customers if successful."
