It's official. I have a m-m-m-mortgage.
The day’s half over and I haven’t done much. I haven’t started painting the bathroom. I haven’t taken out the garbage. I haven’t started organizing the kitchen. I haven’t even made my lunch. But I have done one very important thing:
I made my first-ever mortgage payment.
This is my first owned home. I have rented up until this point. I was concerned, with the poor weather, that I would have problems getting my January mortgage payment in on time: that is, early enough not to be late, and late enough that I wasn’t really losing much interest. The bank who holds my mortgage is based in this state, so knows quite well about the local weather conditions. They know that the mail hasn’t been getting through reliably, just like garbage pickup is problematic (more so in some areas than in others - our recycling company picked up that stuff, but the garbage bin is filled. Weird.) However, when I went to my mail box today, there was a letter inside detailing not only the amount of my first payment (which I already knew) and where I needed to send all payments (which I also already knew, since it was on the closing documents) but gave a card listing ways that payments could be made, and how much each of those methods would cost. I could pay by mailing a check. I could pay by taking a check to any BankName branch. I could pay from a checking account using either a toll-free number, or a web site. I could sign up for automatic regular withdrawals from a bank account. It told me which options included a fee, when that fee would be applied (if I spoke to a live human, or if I was making the payment after my “grace period”), and how much the fees were. The bank carefully thought of every possible roadblock to people giving them money…and removed those roadblocks, then paved them over. (Smart bank.)
So I got my bagel and coffee, sat myself down, and…made my mortgage payment.
Easy as petting a sleeping cat.
Yay, me!! I’m a homeowner AND I’ve made my first mortgage payment and everything! (Though if this means I have to Grow Up Now and give up my boxes of crayons, I shall be most sorely vexed.)
