The key to offset mortgage success is to watch the pennies – if you keep a careful eye on your finances at all times you are bound to save more with an offset loan.

And you’d be amazed at how much the pennies can save you – money.co.uk has revealed that, on average, the nation’s shrapnel savers claim to have £24.54 squirreled away. Incredibly, that means as much as £385m could be stored in almost 16m jars, bottles and piggy banks across the UK – in a savings account that figure would fetch around £12m in gross annual interest and even more if it were to be invested into offset mortgages.

Chris Morling, managing director of money.co.uk, said: “It’s amazing how it all adds up. Twenty five pounds is hardly a king’s ransom when you look at each household in isolation but, together, it seems these penny pots contain a staggering amount of money.

“In fact, it would appear that the total amount ‘saved’ in this way has shot up over the last two years, from £100m in 2007. According to our figures, three times as many households are now ‘watching the pennies’, which explains the rise – perhaps simply because people are more careful with money in tougher times.”

This is just an illustration of how much you can save if you stick to routine, budgets and habits. Offset only works to its full if you invest into it each and every month. It might only be a few pounds each month stashed away in the piggy bank but that all helps towards reducing your debt and reducing your monthly outgoings.

SOURCE: Money.co.uk, 16/02/10

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