Mortgage implications if I were to quit my job shortly after being approved?
You mention that you would quit right after getting approved. But in the United States there would be one last check as a part of closing. Therefore it would be best to wait until after closing to quit your job. Waiting until after closing would also protect you from some hiccup that causes a delay in closing, thus requiring the need to reapply for the loan.
"Welcome to Money.SE. Please forgive what might sound like a cliche, ""How well do you sleep at night?"" I mean, specific to the mortgage. There are those who are in a group who consider debt, at any rate, to be inherently bad, and would not take on a 2% mortgage even if a different bank were offering 4% CDs. You just need to understand the risk.  Your mortgage cost after taxes may be 2.625% (if you are in the 25% bracket) therefore, your break even is 3.09% for long term investments. The recent ""lost decade"" had a return of -9.5% for the full 10 year period. This is just about the worst decade in modern history. The average 10 year return is a cumulative 183% gain, with a standard deviation of 138%. If a perfect bell curve, this means that 1 10 year in 6 will give you a return under 45%. In fact, of the last 100 10 year periods, 15 had returns less than 45%, and just 8 were less than 30%, right in line with the bell curve stats. We always need to say ""past performance is no guarantee of future results,"" yet, when it comes to the market (I use the S&P for my numbers, by the way) we do have history to give us an idea of the kind of volatility we might see over the years. In my opinion, your approach is sound, and your returns very skewed to the positive, the median 10 year return being 138%, vs your cost of money of 40% or so for a decade.  It's pretty easy to pull S&P data into a spreadsheet and analyze as you wish." I'm also a UK, Ltd company contractor that has pondered the same topic. I afraid, however, that I don't understand the maths in the original question. Mortgage interest is flat for the term of the mortgage rather than compounded, so, ignoring the tapering at the end of the lifespan of the mortgage, I get the amount of interest to something like £9,300 (7500 x 0.05 x 25). Does this make the decision any easier for you? As you point out, the total cost of this overpayment from your company account is £12,500. Using the above figure, it would take over 13 years to recoup the £5,000 difference (at £375 interest a year).  I used to be of the same opinion that the mortgage should be paid off at all costs first. But now I'm coming round to the American way of thinking; £12,500 invested in a pension with a 5% yield will easily outstrip the interest saved by making the over payment - 12500 x 1.05 ^ 25 = £43,300 - over 250% better off (£43,300 / (£9,300 + £7,500)). I now make no mortgage overpayments at all and instead pay all the money into my pension. This (amongst other things) keeps me below the upper earnings tax threshold, so I'm only paying corporation tax for the money I'm drawing as dividends. There's a massive caveat to this though; I'm 49. I should be able to draw the tax free element of my pension pot in six years time and pay my mortgage off and it's quite unlikely that the government will be changing pensions policy in that time (but drawing 25% tax free has been a feature of pensions for quite some time). I can then chose to keep working or retire. If my pension is still doing well (9% ish pa at the moment), I could chose to not pay my mortgage off at all. In the next twenty or so years, however, all this could change. In your position I would do a bit of both. Make a regular overpayment to pay down your mortgage (even a small amount that you'll barely notice will make quite a difference to the end date of your mortgage - £100 a month will take years off). I didn't start paying properly into my pension until fairly recently and so If you're not already, I'd also make quite substantial, regular payments into one now, directly from your company, 15-17.5% of your gross drawings. Leaving it until later will only make it more painful. Then when you get to retirement age, no matter what, you'll have a decent pension pot. An actuary I worked with pointed out that if you pay something into a pension, when you retire you should have some sort of pot; if you pay nothing, you are absolutely guaranteed to have nothing. And finally, if you haven't already, fix your mortgage. We're three years into a five year fix. The variable rate we were going to be transferred to was 3.99%. We fixed, not because of wanting any sense of security, but because the fixed rate was 2.59% with no fee. There are much better rates than that about now. Rates are starting to rise, so it's a good time. "Exactly it. I declared bankruptcy over 7 years ago. I was in a bad situation - I was laid off, the jobs in Salt Lake dried up after the Olympics, everything was in the crapper.  I found new work - in California. Went off and lived there alone for six months while my wife and children stayed behind. We used all of our savings keeping up on the mortgage, paying bills - and living like paupers. Once my wife came down, we knew we couldn't afford a place in CA *and* our home, so we rented it out.  To people who didn't pay their rent for six months, and we were so far away we couldn't just fly back to make it happen. And my wife was pregnant this whole time.  Finally, because of my wife, we gave in. And I felt awful. I had failed my family, I had failed my wife - and I felt like I had failed myself. I remember being so ashamed I told *no one* for almost 6 years.  Until I found out I wasn't the only one. Until I had close friends tell me of their troubles. I hadn't been overly irresponsible, I hadn't been buying up big TVs and junk. I was just trying to make a living, did good work - and just got caught up in bad luck.  But the shame didn't go away. And it's only now, when I know more, when I see companies declare bankruptcy, or very wealthy people do so, that I realize that yeah - I have to take care of my shit, and I do everything I can for that. But at the same time, if bad stuff happens, I shouldn't spend my life beating up on myself because I had ""shit happen.""   Shit happens. Everybody should have a second chance to try again. Learn from the mistakes you made, plan better if you can, and realize that the best laid plans of might and men oft go awry. Try again, and hopefully it'll work out better next time." My first credit card was a JC Penney card, 30-ish years ago.  I had a steady job paying maybe $11/hr at the time, and putting that on the application (with no other long-term debts) was all it took.  They gave me a card and a $4100 limit!!!!  I bought some clothes and stuff there every month or so, and paid the bill in full every month by the due date.    After a few months of that, I was able to apply and get approved for a Visa card (having the JCP card already helped).  After that, just keep on buying and paying in full every month.    Eventually you'll buy a car, and the credit history from the cards will help you get approved for that.  Continue making your payments on time every month.  Same with a house/condo (just bigger).  Basically, don't spend more that you can afford, make your payments regularly and on time.  Pay in full--do NOT just make the minimum payments...that's a recipe for disaster!!!  Don't miss payments, and try not to be late on them.  A late payment once in a great while isn't the end of the world, as long as you pay the late fees and interest charges. There is no issue - and no question - if you get married.  The question is only relevant in the event that you go separate ways.  Should that happen, you imply that you would want to refund whatever amount your girlfriend has paid toward the mortgage. The solution, then, would seem to be to exempt her from any payments, as you will either give that money back to her (if you break up) or make her a co-owner of the condo (if you get married).  If you actually need her contributions to the monthly nut, you could give her a written agreement whereby you would refund her money (plus interest) at her discretion. I'm assuming this is the US. Is this illegal? Are we likely to be caught? What could happen if   caught? If you sign an occupancy affidavit at closing that says you intend to move in within 60-days, with no intention of doing so, then you'll be committing fraud, specifically mortgage/occupancy fraud, a federal crime with potential for imprisonment and hefty fines. In general, moving in late is not something that's likely to be noticed, if the lender is getting their money then they probably don't care. Renting it out prior to moving in seems much riskier, especially if you live in a city/state that requires rental licensing, or are depending on rental income to carry the mortgage. No idea how frequently people are caught/punished for this type of fraud, but it hardly seems worth finding out. "Assumption - you live in a country like Australia, which has ""recourse"" mortgages. If you buy the apartment and take out a mortgage, the bank doesn't care too much if your apartment gets built or not. If the construction fails, you still owe the bank the money." You could walk away from your mortgage.  When you signed the mortgage you and the bank agreed that if you stopped making payments the bank would get the house.  Give them the house.  Of course this would be a huge hit to your credit score and you would probably not be able to obtain another mortgage at a decent rate for at least 7 years.  You may have trouble obtaining other financing as well (i.e. auto loans).  If you plan on moving to an apartment and don't need to finance car purchases this may be OK.