Q) Can I change my overpayment if I want or need to?
A) Yes, simply email us at customerservices@vipms.co.uk or use the link on our contact page of the web site, quoting your name, customer number and what new level of overpayment you wish to make. We will make the necessary amendments and this should be reflected in the following month’s payment. Please remember that processing this change may take a few days so if the next payment is imminent, the change may not take place until the following month.


Q) I could do this myself. Why do I need your help?
A) You probably could, but consider these points. We’ve realised that there’s a real need for this service after years of experience with mortgage customers. We found that;
  • 1) everybody wanted to achieve these results
  • 2) nobody wanted to pay any extra or risk over committing their finances
  • 3) most people, if left to do it themselves, would forget (or start overpayments and never adjust them) or are just too busy to do it
  • 4) many people find mortgages so confusing, that they are uncomfortable with the thought of fiddling with them & 5) most people would like to take advantage of this type of plan.
Consider this – if you set up a permanent overpayment on your mortgage, it will initially speed up the repayment of your debt - and then later it could actually slow it down, so you would end up with almost your original mortgage term. Achieving the savings we can offer is far more complicated than just putting some extra money into your mortgage each month.


Q) Will you tell me if my overpayments are going to exceed my lender’s overpayment limits?
A) No, but we will try and help you as much as we can. Once our annual review has determined the new payment we will send you an automatic confirmation email. This will confirm the monthly overpayment amount to be used for the next year. It will also include the annualised amount of your overpayments. The email will prompt you to check that this sum does not exceed your annual limits. As we will not have direct access to your main mortgage details we will not be able to confirm that this is within your overpayment limits.

Most High Street lenders offer an overpayment allowance of 10% of the current years balance (per annum) and on a mortgage balance of £100,000 that’s £10,000 per year, or £833 per month. Not many of us will be able to overpay at this rate. We expect that most VIP customers will only reach their limits in the last few years of the mortgage.


Q) What happens if I change to a mortgage deal that does not allow overpayments?
A) It’s impossible to accurately predict future mortgage trends but we believe that mortgages will continue to become more flexible rather than less flexible. If you do find yourself on a mortgage deal that does not allow overpayments, or if you feel you may exceed the annual limits, it’s vital not to lose the momentum that you have built up. We feel that for most people it would be best to temporarily redirect all or some of the overpayments to the most tax efficient savings account available at that time. Currently, a Cash ISA would be a good option.

If your lender only reviews your interest payments annually, any monthly capital payments along with overpayments will just sit on the mortgage doing nothing until the next annual review. In this case we would again recommend that the overpayments go temporarily into a Cash- ISA to generate as much tax efficient interest as possible.

Whilst you could just arrange a shorter term for the new mortgage to produce the same effect on your overall payments, you would probably lose the ability to vary those payments if you have an affordability issue and your lender may not allow you to make subsequent annual term changes to maintain the effect of payment indexations.


Q) I don’t think I could afford your VIP scheme as interest rates might rise.
A) We understand these concerns. No one likes the idea of interest rate rises or the effect on your pocket. However you have two main choices. 1) You can keep you fingers crossed and hope that you might be able to afford any future rises, with little or no prospect of early repayment. OR 2) You can use the accumulation of voluntary overpayments to build yourself a financial safety barrier. If you ever find the effect of rate rises too much to cope with, you will have the option to stop or reduce your overpayments and use this money to cover other bills.

Also remember that our VIP scheme involves relatively small sums each year, roughly in line with how wages increase so you shouldn’t really notice the impact of our overpayments.

So you can either – HOPE YOU’LL BE OK! – or – PLAN TO BE OK!


Q) What if my partner and I split up? Who will own the plan?
A) Separations can often be difficult. Primarily in cases like this the VIP plan should stay with the mortgage and whichever party continues on that mortgage. Possible compensation for the exiting party may be investigated on a personal basis between the customers. If the current mortgage is redeemed and each customer takes a new mortgage and still wish to continue VIP schemes, we may (as long as there is mutual agreement with all parties involved) offer fee discounts for two new separate VIP plans.