House Deeds

[Winky151]

Gonna be clearing the last few £k off my mortgage next month but I seem to recall growing up my parents saying about leaving £1 on it so the bank continues to look after your deeds securely. Anyone experience of this or just rubbish unknowing parents spout?

[rsbmw]

Never heard of it, but I expect unless you're already on one you would need to move to interest only or you would repay it the following month anyway. This would probably be prohibitive as most (all?) mortgage products have a minimum loan value.

[Tahiti]

Aren't house deeds stored electronically now?

[Ozzie Osmond]

I have heard of it and some muppets used to do it. But unless you live in the middle of nowhere the paper deeds have very little relevance these days.

Just pay off your mortgage and enjoy living debt-free!

[otherman]

Tahiti said:

Aren't house deeds stored electronically now?

Yes. When I paid off mine recently I expected to get the deeds back (I held them myself for a while but when I last remortgaged they insisted on having them) but they said they'd trashed them and now they're held electronically with the land registry and I can pay to get a copy. Needless to say a bit miffed.

[33q]

When I last remortgaged they were sent back to me. Can't remember if it was the old or new lender. Effectively they were the same though. Bank if Scotland to Halifax

[98elise]

Winky151 said:

Gonna be clearing the last few £k off my mortgage next month but I seem to recall growing up my parents saying about leaving £1 on it so the bank continues to look after your deeds securely. Anyone experience of this or just rubbish unknowing parents spout?

That was worth doing when paper deeds were still used. Since its now electronic there is no point. When I remortgaged my house they sent me the paper deeds.

[98elise]

Winky151 said:

Gonna be clearing the last few £k off my mortgage next month but I seem to recall growing up my parents saying about leaving £1 on it so the bank continues to look after your deeds securely. Anyone experience of this or just rubbish unknowing parents spout?

That was worth doing when paper deeds were still used. Since its now electronic there is no point. When I remortgaged my house they sent me the paper deeds.

[Winky151]

Ozzie Osmond said:

I have heard of it and some muppets used to do it. But unless you live in the middle of nowhere the paper deeds have very little relevance these days.

Just pay off your mortgage and enjoy living debt-free!

At least I wasn't the only one who'd heard it.

Definitely looking forward to seeing the extra in the account each month although it does mean more money available for 'toys'.

[Jockman]

Wasn't the idea of leaving a small amount on the mortgage more to do with keeping a facility open with a lender for any future borrowing needs?

[mrmarcus]

Isnt there a limit you can only overpay your mortgage down to? Im sure a Halifax mortgage person told me that you could only pay it down to £500 if you wanted to keep it??

[Robertj21a]

Yes, it used to be common practice to leave a nominal amount outstanding so that the lender kept the title deeds. Shouldn't be necessary now that they are maintained electronically.

[Ean218]

Jockman said:

Wasn't the idea of leaving a small amount on the mortgage more to do with keeping a facility open with a lender for any future borrowing needs?

Yes, we did that on a Nationwide mortgage which we horribly overpaid and then drew down part of it again to fund an extension. All done on the same terms as the original mortgage and with no extra paperwork other than a letter saying please send me some money.

[Easternlight]

When I paid off my mortgage with Abbey national/Santander several years ago, 50p was left on it so my deeds were kept in their "deed safe " scheme.
Get a letter every year confirming this.

[Robertj21a]

Easternlight said:

When I paid off my mortgage with Abbey national/Santander several years ago, 50p was left on it so my deeds were kept in their "deed safe " scheme.
Get a letter every year confirming this.

It was just an old-fashioned way of still keeping in touch with their customers. They hope that many will return at some point if they had good service.

[bad company]

I paid my mortgage about 10 years ago and store the deeds in an envelope at the bank (£20 per year). Presumably mine won't be stored electronically as I still have them?