Remortgaging to finance a wedding

P

Perty

Guest
I'm due to get married next year and we were considering remortgaging our house to finance the wedding. We bought the house about a year and a half ago and took out a mortgage of EUR315k over 35 years on a 3yr interest only rate.

Is this a mad idea, would I be better off financing the money some other way?
 

No offence but I think you are mad! Can you not save for a wedding?
 
You would be much better off saving as much as possible first.

You need to take a hard look at your finances, especially if you have gone interest only on an owner occupier mortgage.
 
I would also advise caution. You are on a very long term and have not paid off any capital on the original loan as you are paying interest only. If your loan to value ratio (loan amount as a percentage of the property value) is high then this is another warning sign. Topping up the mortgage to fund he wedding sounds, on the basis of the partial info posted, to be a bad idea as you would be digging yourself into even more debt. Maybe I'm wrong and your means/income is more than enough to cover you but if that was the case then (a) you probably should not be borrowing so much, for so long and only paying interest and no capital and (b) you should be able to save or otherwise fund the wedding from your income. Also remember that unless you clear this topup over a few years rather than 30 odd years then you will be paying for your wedding for decades to come and the cost will probably exceed what it would have cost elsewhere and certainly what it would have cost by clearing the topup sooner.
 
Hi Perty

Most of my friends that have got married have said that they received most of the cost of the wedding in the form of wedding gifts so could you save as much as possible and get a loan as near to when it is required as possible and repay as much as possible of it soon after the wedding.
 
What is your rough budget for the wedding?
How much do you both earn (gross)?
Do you have any debts other than the mortgage?
Do you have any savings/investments?
 
Thanks for all the advice. At the moment we are on about EUR110k joint gross income. Our only other payments besides our mortgage are a car loan of EUR150 per month and our utility bills, food etc. We haven't paid off any of the capital on our mortgage. I estimate that we would need about EUR20k for the wedding. My parents are refusing to let us ask for cash as gifts for the wedding as they see it as being rude. I have about EUR15k from SSIA payments but my fiance has no savings.
 
Perty said:
we would need about EUR20k for the wedding. My parents are refusing to let us ask for cash as gifts for the wedding as they see it as being rude. I have about EUR15k from SSIA payments but my fiance has no savings.
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As far as i can see this is a no-brainer! You need 20k, you have 15k already, you both seem to have v good salaries. Surely saving 5k between now and next year wouldnt be that difficult. As you said, you have very few major overheads. Theres no way id be remortgaging for that amount.
 
Perty said:
My parents are refusing to let us ask for cash as gifts for the wedding as they see it as being rude.
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No offense but perhaps that is an old fashioned way of looking at things? A lot of people prefer to give cash as it is more useful to a young couple, particularly a couple who already have set up home together and have plenty of saucepans and bedsheets (and whatever the other usual wedding gifts are).
 
I think you need to be increasing your mortgage by a minimum of €20,000 if you are remortgaging anyway. €5000 over a year is less than €50 a week each to save anyway. Most people nowadays seem to give cash gifts as wedding presents anyway so you won't need to ask for them.
 
Sounds reasonable to me.
Perty said:
My parents are refusing to let us ask for cash as gifts for the wedding as they see it as being rude.
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Why are you letting your parents dictate to you what you do on your big day?
At the moment we are on about EUR110k joint gross income. Our only other payments besides our mortgage are a car loan of EUR150 per month and our utility bills, food etc. We haven't paid off any of the capital on our mortgage.
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Why are you on interest only by the way since it looks like you can well afford to be making capital and interest repayments on the mortgage?
 
Please don't ask for money as a gift for your wedding. If people want to give you money, fine. But if you can't afford the wedding and need to ask your guests to pay their way (shock horror) then best to have a low key, tasteful affair or to get married abroad with a small wedding and have a big party for everyone else when you get back.

20k sounds like a lot of money to drop on one day for you if you can only afford an interest-only mortgage. Just saying...
 
Get the €5k from your parents. Tell them you will repay them with all the lead crystal, toasters, blenders and dinner sets they want in 12 months time.

Seriously, I would have thought that people are more than likely to give you cash anyway.

Save your money to cover the shortfall. Then, once you are married change your mortgage to an annuity and make life easier for yourselves in the long-term.
 
god don't top up your mortgage to pay for one day for the next 35 years, just save. You won't need to ask for cash majority of people give gifts of money/vouchers and I think it'll look nice that your not asking for cash people will more likely give it that way. I know that's how I feel when I get invites. still surprised with such good earning power in your household why you haven't considered saving, do you live the highlife!!
 

Being perty is not cheap these days
 
ah i take it they boyf loves his sun fx, manicures, pedicures, ghd styling products etc he'll be robbing your limelight on the big day!
 
Why are you on interest only by the way since it looks like you can well afford to be making capital and interest repayments on the mortgage?
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Good question. Are we missing a vital piece of information? 315k mortgage is very modest for couple with 110k income. Why arent you able to pay it off? Is there some outgoing expense we are missing?
 
I think your parents are correct about not asking for cash. Besides being rude it will almost certainly back-fire on you. I was at a wedding recently where the invites went out asking for "brown envelopes only" jokingly. Alot of people were offended, some didn't turn up and alot of people who were going to give cash went out of their way to buy a "gift" intead of the cash. Weddings are an expensive day out for the guests too!!

110K gross is a good salary and should allow plenty to pay off capital and interest especially when you only have one car loan. I think you should spend your own money. It's your big day afterall. If you don't want to spend much you could always go to a registry office. But if the party and white dress is important then spend your own ssia money.
 
Perty said:
At the moment we are on about EUR110k joint gross income.
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and you can't afford to pay outright for your wedding, surely you have a stash of cash hidden somewhere

Perty said:
Our only other payments besides our mortgage are a car loan of EUR150 per month and our utility bills, food etc.
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why have you got a car loan if the only expenses you have are mortgage and utilty etc...

Perty said:
We haven't paid off any of the capital on our mortgage.
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why not?

Perty said:
I estimate that we would need about EUR20k for the wedding. My parents are refusing to let us ask for cash as gifts for the wedding as they see it as being rude.
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its none of their business, you could say something like 'cash gifts welcome, at guests disgression'

Perty said:
I have about EUR15k from SSIA payments but my fiance has no savings.
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mabe reconsider marrying her, i gather she has a healthy income also and must be 'blowing' it somewhere if she has no savings'
 
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