According to a new survey by by the Co-operative Bank, one of the UK’s leading commercial so-called ‘ethical’ banks, almost two-thirds of mortgage customers in the UK have genuine ambitions to be free of their mortgage commitments before or at least when they get to fifty years of age, revealing that around 62% of those responding to it the were aiming for this goal. The report also hinted at interesting additional information in respect of what such mortgage freedom might have on British people’s lifestyles, and the research and responses suggest that the impact would be significant indeed.

As an example, over half of respondents (some 52%) said that they would in the event that they were mortgage free take more holidays each year, whilst a little under a third would look to increase their savings considerably. Also, 27% of those questioned told questioners that in the event that they were able to become mortgage-free they would examine ways in which they could fundamentally alter the way in which they work and their working patterns. They would look to do this by switching to part-time hours in some cases and by quitting work altogether in others.

Head of mortgages at the Co-ooperative, James Hillon, commented on the survey, saying that ‘The research clearly indicates that many mortgage holders are seeking to take the best advantage of the continuing low interest rate levels by making overpayments on their mortgages’ in addition to locking in reasonable fixed-rate mortgages and even utilising re-mortgages to clean up old residual debt to help put them in a better position to pay off all mortgage debt at a later date. Also, according to recently released figures from the Bank of England, mortgage customers that are on tracker products are currently enjoying mortgage rates that stand at their lowest levels since 1997. The figures state that, with the base rate of interest still remaining at 0.5%, the average tracker mortgage rate stood at 3.63% which compares very favourably with the figure of 3.92% that was recorded in December 2009.