New cashback website helps homeowners pay off their mortgage quicker

A NEW cashback website lets homeowners pay off their mortgage quicker by shopping at their favourite retailers. The free Accelerate My Mortgage (AMM) service makes automatic mortgage overpayments once you’ve built up a cashback balance of at least £50. Using the same principle as cashback websites including Quidco and TopCashback, AMM has partnered up with […]

A NEW cashback website lets homeowners pay off their mortgage quicker by shopping at their favourite retailers.

The free Accelerate My Mortgage (AMM) service makes automatic mortgage overpayments once you’ve built up a cashback balance of at least £50.

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Using the same principle as cashback websites including Quidco and TopCashback, AMM has partnered up with 45 retailers so far including Asos, Boots, Iceland, Topman and Wilko.

Homeowners can do their shopping through the website, and every penny earned as cashback will later go to pay off your mortgage.

The top cashback interest rates on offer are currently 15 per cent at Moonpig and Topman, meaning if you spent £50 in a month at either retailer, you’d earn £7.50 in cashback.

This means you could reduce your outstanding mortgage balance by an extra £90 in a year, but you’d also save money on interest.

In comparison, Quidco currently offers 18 per cent in cashback at Moonpig and 3 per cent at Topman, while TopCashback offers a rate of 7 per cent at Topman only.

Just make sure to double-check the terms of your mortgage deal first, as some will be penalised for making overpayments.

Lenders typically allow borrowers to overpay 10 per cent a year of the outstanding balance.

AMM told The Sun it’ll transfer the funds directly to you if its cashback rewards push you above the yearly overpayment balance.

Keen to try it? You should only use cashback websites if you need to buy something, or else you’re saving any money.

How does it work?

To sign up for the cashback rewards, you need to create an account on the Accelerate My Mortgage website.

You then upload information about your mortgage including when your deal expires, but you don’t need to use the site to arrange the mortgage.

Once you’ve racked up a cashback balance of at least £50, AMM will transfer the cash to your mortgage provider.

The service will have the details of your mortgage account, meaning you don’t need to get involved in the process.

What do the experts think?

Peter Gettins of L&C Mortgages told The Sun the “ability to make overpayments effectively without noticing could well have some appeal”.

But he and Paula Higgins, chief executive of HomeOwners Alliance, warned homeowners to be aware of early repayment and overpayment charges as it could wipe out the cashback.

Mr Gettins added: “Mortgages are generally the cheapest form of debt people are likely to have (in terms of interest rate), so if there are any other debts like credit card balances, unsecured loans or overdrafts it’s better to pay those off first.

“So in that case it may be better to sign up for a cashback scheme that pays money directly to you, and use it to clear the most expensive debts first.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Hagger of Moneycomms, said: “Paying extra money off your mortgage is a smart move as it cuts your interest bill and reduces the term of your mortgage.

“However, buying from a limited number of retailers means you may not be getting the best deal on your purchase – so you could potentially get a better deal if you looked at the whole retail market and save more than the cashback you’re being offered.”

Last year, an online tool promised to help homeowners find a better deal on their mortgage almost instantly – and it could save you thousands of pounds a year.

While a new Habito tool lets first-time buyers make cash offers while they wait for mortgages.

Homebuyers can also check whether they’ll be eligible for a mortgage without it hitting their credit score.