Your mortgage-free date, and what overpaying does to it.

No. Mortgage Meadow has no bank connection and is not an Open Banking provider. It never asks for banking credentials and imports nothing from your accounts — every figure in it is one you typed in yourself.

No. Mortgage Meadow encrypts your figures on your own device before they are backed up, using a key derived from a passphrase that never leaves the device. Mortgage Meadow stores the encrypted result and holds no key, so the balance, the payments, the budget and the inventory cannot be read by Mortgage Meadow or by anyone who obtained a copy of the database.

You use the recovery code issued when backup was switched on, which unlocks the same data independently. If both the passphrase and the recovery code are lost, the backup cannot be opened — it cannot be reset by support, because a way in for support would be a way in for anyone. Turning on the free encrypted backup is the safeguard against losing a device; with Pro, an occasional CSV export is a second copy that does not depend on us.

Because a device only sends and receives figures once its backup is unlocked. Signing in identifies your account; entering your backup passphrase is what actually opens the encrypted backup on that device — two different steps, and each device needs the passphrase entered once. Until a device is unlocked, anything changed on it stays on it, and anything changed elsewhere cannot reach it. Unlock the backup on both devices and they stay in step from then on.

Three things have to be true: you have invited them and they have accepted; your own device is unlocked, so your edits have reached the backup; and their device is unlocked with their own passphrase, so the backup can reach them. Each of you has your own passphrase — yours never opens their device and theirs never opens yours — and every record shows who entered it. If they have accepted your invitation but see nothing new, the usual cause is one side not being unlocked.

No. While a device is unlocked, every change is encrypted and backed up automatically within moments — there is nothing to remember to do. The tracker shows its backup state as you use it: when it says changes are only on this device, unlocking is the one step that gets them into the backup and out to your other devices.

No. Mortgage Meadow never moves money and never makes a payment on your behalf. It is a record and a projection: if a month passes with nothing logged against it, the balance goes up and the app says so rather than assuming the payment was made.

No. Mortgage Meadow is a calculator and a record, not an adviser. Mortgage Meadow is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, names no lenders or mortgage products, and makes no recommendation about whether to overpay, remortgage or switch. For a personal recommendation, speak to a mortgage adviser on the FCA's Financial Services Register.

Not to the penny. Mortgage Meadow applies interest monthly while many lenders calculate it daily, and it excludes fees unless you enter them. Your lender's statements are the authoritative record of your mortgage; where the two differ, the lender is right.

Mortgage Meadow is free to see where your mortgage stands — the balance, the mortgage-free date, the interest still to pay and what leaving early would cost. Pro adds payment logging, the household budget, the what-if calculator and export, at £3.99/mo or £39/yr. There is also a £29.99 one-time early-access price for lifetime access, £69 one-time after that.

Most UK mortgages allow overpayments, and many fixed deals include a penalty-free allowance each year — often a percentage of the loan — with an early repayment charge on anything above it. The amounts and dates are set out in your own mortgage offer and vary by deal, so check yours. Mortgage Meadow works from the allowance and charge bands you enter from that offer and shows how much of an overpayment plan falls inside them.

An early repayment charge (ERC) is a fee some lenders apply when a mortgage is repaid — or overpaid beyond its allowance — during a deal period, usually a percentage of the amount repaid, stepping down over time. The bands and dates are in your mortgage offer. Enter them into Mortgage Meadow and the dashboard shows what clearing the balance would cost today, and what an overpayment plan would be charged.

From the figures you enter: the balance, your rate periods, the term and the payments you log. Interest is applied monthly, a payment counts when you log it rather than being assumed, and the projection re-runs on every change. The method is set out in full on the How we work it out page, including where it will differ from a lender that calculates interest daily.

Yes. Mortgage Meadow is built for two owners: the mortgage is split by share, each owner sees their own progress alongside the shared mortgage-free date, and every payment and expense records who entered it and who it belongs to.

The Android app is on Google Play, and Mortgage Meadow also runs in any browser — on iPhone, use it at mortgagemeadow.app; an iPhone app is planned. The same account carries your figures between phone and browser. Because the backup is end-to-end encrypted, moving to a new device needs your passphrase or your recovery code.