How a 24-year-old is paying off her mortgage 25 years early with cashback app
A Liverpool-based first-time buyer has found a simple way to chip away at her mortgage without feeling the financial strain — and it could save her tens of thousands in interest.
Martha Collins, 24, bought her first home with her partner Harry in January 2025 for £137,500. Like many young people today, the couple faced the challenge of managing a 40-year mortgage while also funding a full house renovation. What changed everything was discovering Sprive, a free app that rewards everyday shopping with cashback directed straight towards mortgage overpayments.
Here’s how it works. When you shop at participating retailers — supermarkets like Tesco and Morrisons, coffee shops, clothing stores, even cinemas — you enter the purchase amount into the app before checkout. You receive the equivalent in vouchers plus cashback rewards, which land in your account within hours. The clever bit? You can instantly use that cashback to overpay your mortgage with just one tap.
Martha’s approach feels different from simply transferring money manually. Because the rewards come from shopping you’d do anyway, overpaying doesn’t feel like a sacrifice. In just one year, Martha and Harry have overpaid over £800 towards their mortgage — plus another £712 from weekly prize draws the app offers.
At their current rate, they’re projecting to save around £30,000 in interest and become mortgage-free by their early 40s, rather than their mid-60s. That’s a game-changer.
The strategy works because overpaying a mortgage, even in small amounts, reduces the principal and the interest charged over the life of the loan. Every extra pound you pay saves you far more down the line.
For first-time buyers struggling with the reality of long-term mortgages, this approach offers genuine psychological relief. Martha describes it as having “little incentives” that make the mortgage feel manageable rather than overwhelming.
If you’re a homeowner looking to accelerate your mortgage payoff without drastically cutting your lifestyle, apps like Sprive show how small, consistent actions add up. Check which cashback schemes your bank or mortgage lender recommends, and start putting those rewards towards your mortgage today. Every penny counts.