Bryony Clarke and partner Charlie say they will have the last laugh after being criticised for taking a 40-year mortgage out to pay for their £247,500 home
A young couple who secured a 40-year mortgage have fired back at critics branding them ‘stupid’. Bryony Clarke, 27, bought her three-bedroom semi-detached property in December 2023 for £247,500 alongside partner Charlie, 27.
The pair put down a 10% deposit of £24,750, borrowing £222,750 from their lender. Faced with choosing between a 35 or 40-year mortgage term, they plumped for the extended option to keep more money “in their pockets” — slashing their monthly outgoings while allowing them to reinvest in their property.
On a five-year fixed rate of 4.6% with Nationwide, they’ve been paying £1,015 monthly, managing to pocket £50 each month thanks to reduced repayments — which would have stood at £1,068 on a 35-year deal. This enabled them to renovate the woodwork, replace carpets and install a new boiler, spending £20,000.
Following pay rises for both this year, the couple are now overpaying by £100 monthly, with Bryony insisting the sooner they clear their mortgage “the better”. After sharing details of their home purchase online, she says vicious comments labelling her “stupid” have left her “lost for words”.
Bryony, a content creator from Leicester, Leicestershire, said: “We thought at the stage we’re in in our lives right now we’d rather sign up for a 40-year term with payments lower and have money in our pockets for now, just for the next couple of years or so.
“We thought we can always reduce the term down by making overpayments if we wanted to. I do remember sending my mum through the two mortgage offers and her immediately ringing me saying ’40 years? That’s absolutely absurd can you not do a shorter one, it’s such a long time’.
“She had a little panic but as soon as I explained it she was very on board and understood. A lot of people online were assuming I had no idea how a mortgage worked.
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“There were quite a lot of offensive comments telling me I was ‘stupid’ or ‘why don’t you understand this’ etcetera. When I sat down and did a video saying ‘this is how repaying a mortgage works’ there were so many comments from people telling me it was really helpful and the way I’d explained it finally made sense to them.
“I think if we could retire in our fifties, even if it’s a month before our sixtieth birthday I think we’d both be really chuffed with ourselves.”
Bryony and Charlie initially purchased their home in December 2023 for £247,500, with their mortgage adviser offering them only 35 or 40-year terms. She said: “It wasn’t really a difficult decision to choose between the two when looking at the actual amount we were paying per month it only worked out at £50 to £100 difference.
“I think times have changed so much from when our parents started to get on the ladder 20 or 30 years ago – it wasn’t a thing back then to take out a mortgage for a longer period of time.” While they’ve not yet determined whether this will be their permanent home, Bryony says should they choose to remain there indefinitely they “absolutely could”. She said: “Once our five-year fixed rate is up it might be worth investing in this property or buying something that’s got everything we would want and is ready to move into.
“We upped our repayments recently as we both got pay rises earlier this year so upped it to £1,115 per month.”
After posting mortgage and property content on TikTok, Bryony was left “very shocked” by the responses she received following her explanation of the 40-year term.
She said: “I walked in, picked up my mortgage annual review letter and read it for a 30-second video and it got 50,000 views. It was not the reaction I was expecting.
“A lot of people were assuming I had not read my mortgage terms. Obviously, I very much did understand that the first year of our mortgage we were paying off interest and as it trickled through the interest payment portion reduced and the principle increased.”
Bryony intends to “pay off the mortgage earlier” through additional monthly payments where feasible and by shortening the mortgage term upon renewal if circumstances allow.
“I would love to retire early – how early it obviously depends on the situation,” she says. “The earlier we pay off our mortgage and are totally mortgage-free, the better.
“I’ve also started making extra payments to my private pension as well as investing in a stocks and shares ISA which will hopefully work towards a pot of money that will allow us to retire earlier than whatever the standard age is when we reach it”.
Bryony’s mortgage
Total re-paid so far: £27,873.45
Total re-paid towards their principal: £5,288.17
Total of principal left to pay: £217, 461.83
