Questions about stoozing

sultanoflondon · 26 November 2016 at 4:50PM

Hi all,

I had a few questions about stoozing. I reference Virgin Money's 30 Month All Round Credit Card, but mostly my questions are about stoozing in general, using any of the UK's 0% credit cards.

Regarding balance transfers (Balance transfers are 0% for 30 months then 20.9% p.a.)
1. Am I right in thinking that I can transfer unpaid debt from my other credit cards to this card and pay no interest on this unpaid debt for 30 months?
2. Am I right in thinking that after 30 months I then have to pay off the balance in full, or pay the advertised 20.9% p.a.?
3. What is the limit to the unpaid debt that I bring on to this card? Could it be £20,000? £100,000? Does the same apply for other cards?
4. What is the Balance transfer fee of 2.99%? Am I right in thinking that this is the fee I pay on the balance that I transfer from another credit card?

Regarding purchases (Purchases are 0% for 30 months and then 18.9% p.a.)
5. Could I fully utilise the credit limit that I am given to spend on purchases for 30 months and not pay any interest on this unpaid debt for 30 months?
6. Am I right in thinking that after 30 months I then have to pay off the balance in full, or pay the advertised 18.9% p.a.?

7. What is the withdrawal fee of this credit card? For example, if I withrdraw £500 using an ATM, then what is the APR percentage on this? Can this unpaid debt be included in the purchases debt, and I pay the full unpaid debt at the end of the 30 month period?

8. what are money transfers? And what does the corresponding money transfer fee of "4.00% or minimum of £3" apply to?

9. How much of the above applies to all 0% credit cards?

All input is much appreciated! Thank you for your help!

TheShape · 26 November 2016 at 8:33PM

sultanoflondon wrote: »

Hi all,

I had a few questions about stoozing. I reference Virgin Money's 30 Month All Round Credit Card, but mostly my questions are about stoozing in general, using any of the UK's 0% credit cards.

Regarding balance transfers (Balance transfers are 0% for 30 months then 20.9% p.a.)
1. Am I right in thinking that I can transfer unpaid debt from my other credit cards to this card and pay no interest on this unpaid debt for 30 months?
2. Am I right in thinking that after 30 months I then have to pay off the balance in full, or pay the advertised 20.9% p.a.?
3. What is the limit to the unpaid debt that I bring on to this card? Could it be £20,000? £100,000? Does the same apply for other cards?
4. What is the Balance transfer fee of 2.99%? Am I right in thinking that this is the fee I pay on the balance that I transfer from another credit card?

Regarding purchases (Purchases are 0% for 30 months and then 18.9% p.a.)
5. Could I fully utilise the credit limit that I am given to spend on purchases for 30 months and not pay any interest on this unpaid debt for 30 months?
6. Am I right in thinking that after 30 months I then have to pay off the balance in full, or pay the advertised 18.9% p.a.?

7. What is the withdrawal fee of this credit card? For example, if I withrdraw £500 using an ATM, then what is the APR percentage on this? Can this unpaid debt be included in the purchases debt, and I pay the full unpaid debt at the end of the 30 month period?

8. what are money transfers? And what does the corresponding money transfer fee of "4.00% or minimum of £3" apply to?

9. How much of the above applies to all 0% credit cards?

All input is much appreciated! Thank you for your help!

1. Yes.
2. Yes, or transfer the debt to another balance transfer card.
3. Usually up to 90% of the credit limit.
4. Yes. If you transfer £1000 you pay a fee of £29.90 to do so. There may be a minimum fee though.
5. Yes. Up to 30 months from the date you open the card account.
6. Yes, or transfer the debt to a balance transfer card.
7. The APR will vary from card to card and usually very high. Usually Cash withdrawal interest will have to be paid from the date of withdrawal. It is not a purchase so wouldn’t be at 0%. You should never normally withdraw cash on a Credit Card.
8. Money transfers let you transfer cash to a current account. If you money transfer £1000 the fee would be £40. If you transfer £50, the fee would be £3 not £2 (4% of £50).
9. Most of it but you’d have to check the t&cs of each card.

Nebulous2 · 26 November 2016 at 10:33PM

You need to check any card you apply for is suitable for you. The best money transfer offers, balance transfer offers and purchase offers may all be on different cards.

Limits will depend on your credit history and income. The highest limit on your current credit card may give you an indication. I recently applied for a Virgin money transfer card and I was asked to say how much I wanted to transfer by selecting a value from a table. The top one available was £15,000.

Virgin money are struggling under the weight of applications. A decision could well take 2-3 weeks.

sultanoflondon · 27 November 2016 at 1:45PM

TheShape wrote: »

1. Yes.
2. Yes, or transfer the debt to another balance transfer card.
3. Usually up to 90% of the credit limit.
4. Yes. If you transfer £1000 you pay a fee of £29.90 to do so. There may be a minimum fee though.
5. Yes. Up to 30 months from the date you open the card account.
6. Yes, or transfer the debt to a balance transfer card.
7. The APR will vary from card to card and usually very high. Usually Cash withdrawal interest will have to be paid from the date of withdrawal. It is not a purchase so wouldn’t be at 0%. You should never normally withdraw cash on a Credit Card.
8. Money transfers let you transfer cash to a current account. If you money transfer £1000 the fee would be £40. If you transfer £50, the fee would be £3 not £2 (4% of £50).
9. Most of it but you’d have to check the t&cs of each card.

Thank you for your reply!

Regarding #3, would this be the aggregate credit limit of the year or the duration of the 0% offer? For example, if I was given a £1,000 per month credit limit, could I bring 90% of £12,000 (12 months in a year of £1,000 credit limit per month)? Is that how it would work?

Regarding #4, are there any cards which do not have a balance transfer fee?

#7, are there any credit cards which have ATM withdrawals with no fee? I presume not...

Regarding #8, are there any cards which do not have a money transfer fee?

Thank you for taking the time to answer my thread!

Nebulous2 wrote: »

You need to check any card you apply for is suitable for you. The best money transfer offers, balance transfer offers and purchase offers may all be on different cards.

Limits will depend on your credit history and income. The highest limit on your current credit card may give you an indication. I recently applied for a Virgin money transfer card and I was asked to say how much I wanted to transfer by selecting a value from a table. The top one available was £15,000.

Virgin money are struggling under the weight of applications. A decision could well take 2-3 weeks.

Thanks for your reply!

So could you bring more than £15,000 by calling them? Or was it simply not allowed?

It seems to me that the best was to do this would to have different cards, as you said, for different purposes. For example, after a 30 month 0% offer, transfer the balance to a credit card that has no balance transfer fee (find one that doesn't have one), get a credit card that has a long 0% offer, but transfer no balance to it, rather simply use it for purchases (find one that fits the bill, like this Virgin Money card), then find a card for money transfers at 0% for the longest period of time without a money transfer fee and also another one with free cash withdrawals. I don't know there are cards with these characteristics and it would possibly be difficult to keep on top of all of this, but this is probably the best way to 'stooze'.

What does MSE think?

tempus_fugit · 27 November 2016 at 2:28PM

Regarding the credit limit, it doesn't tend to be a monthly or yearly limit, it's an absolute limit, ie you can have a maximum of that limit on the card at any one time and your available amount to spend is the credit limit less the current balance on the card. So the transfer limit would be 90% of that absolute limit assuming that you have a zero balance on the card before you transfer the balance of the other card to it.

Re cards without a balance transfer fee, yes these do exist, you just have to search them out. There's plenty of info about these on this site.

Re ATM withdrawals without a fee, the re are many of these too, eg the Halifax Clarity card, although interest starts to accrue as soon as you make the withdrawal, so that has to be factored into the cost depending on how quickly you pay it off.

Nebulous2 · 27 November 2016 at 5:32PM

sultanoflondon wrote: »

So could you bring more than £15,000 by calling them? Or was it simply not allowed?

It seems to me that the best was to do this would to have different cards, as you said, for different purposes. For example, after a 30 month 0% offer, transfer the balance to a credit card that has no balance transfer fee (find one that doesn't have one), get a credit card that has a long 0% offer, but transfer no balance to it, rather simply use it for purchases (find one that fits the bill, like this Virgin Money card), then find a card for money transfers at 0% for the longest period of time without a money transfer fee and also another one with free cash withdrawals. I don't know there are cards with these characteristics and it would possibly be difficult to keep on top of all of this, but this is probably the best way to 'stooze'.

What does MSE think?

I've asked for £10,000 money transfer as part of my application, but it hasn't been agreed yet. This is one of three applications I've made at the same time.

A lot of different credit card deals are available in the main part of the site, rather than the forum, if you click here. That will tell you the best offers around.

It is important to remember that offers and circumstances change. Spending money which isn't yours, even at 0%, carries a risk. If your earnings dropped you might not be entitled to another deal and at the end of the time could find yourself paying 20% interest. Having the money saved and keeping it separate to get interest carries much less risk, as you could pay it back when the offer expires.

phillw · 12 December 2016 at 3:12PM

Nebulous2 wrote: »

I've asked for £10,000 money transfer as part of my application, but it hasn't been agreed yet. This is one of three applications I've made at the same time.

Don't make any more applications. There is no hard limit, but one application every three months is!what a lot of people recommend.

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