RE th 0% flexibal loan offer from cahoot

kragen_ironfist

I noticed bin the other thread on this topic someone mentioned getting the loan and sticking it in high interest savings until the 0% was up.

1 what is the best savings account to use?

2 would ISA's be a better alternative - can you have more than one? (say open enough ISA's to stash the loan then close them when its time to pay?)

3 how would you work out the interest you would earn? dou you have to divide the advertised rate by 12 to work out how much interest you receive each month?

Woby_Tide

I noticed bin the other thread on this topic someone mentioned getting the loan and sticking it in high interest savings until the 0% was up.

1 what is the best savings account to use?

at the time it was Cahoots own savings account with introductory rates, probably changes pretty often at present with intro deals from various places

2 would ISA's be a better alternative - can you have more than one? (say open enough ISA's to stash the loan then close them when its time to pay?)

depends, cash ISA's are £3k only per year and you can only have one I believe, also the fact you have to pay back the flexi loan means you may e wasting your allownace if you aren't careful

3 how would you work out the interest you would earn? dou you have to divide the advertised rate by 12 to work out how much interest you receive each month?

thats a very rough way of doing it yes, will give an approximate figue

johnllew

Egg are paying 5.5% on their internet savings a/c at the moment (see link below), better than Cahoot's current offering of 5.1%. The advantage with the Cahoot savings a/c is that you can move it from the Flexible Loan a/c to their savings a/c and back again instantaneously.

If you're going to apply for the flexible loan, however, you'd better get a move on. The 0% rate finishes on the 1st March next year and they're very slow in dealing with applications because of the demand.

Robert_Sterling_3

3 how would you work out the interest you would earn? dou you have to divide the advertised rate by 12 to work out how much interest you receive each month?

If you can be bothered use a calaculator and divide by 12.8 rather than 12 to get a more accurate result although for most people dividing by 12 is near enough.

Debt_Free_Chick

If you can be bothered use a calaculator and divide by 12.8 rather than 12 to get a more accurate result although for most people dividing by 12 is near enough.

Steady on PaleRider .... This sort of stuff is not automatically in the "comfort zone" for many people and one of the benefits of a board like this is that people can sense check their understanding of financial matters.

The fact that kragen had got the answer pretty much right (enough for this exercise) and was asking for confirmation didn't suggest to me that he/she was being lazy, so your castigation seems a little harsh.

A pity that you didn't spend your time posting something a little more positive & helpful. We don't want to put people off posting any questions - they could face further financial ignorance, which is not what the Boards are about.

At the top of each page, Martin has some guidance for posting. It includes this

AND... please be nice to other MoneySavers. There's no such thing as a stupid question on here.

No offence intended, but I couldn't let you get away with that one

Kind regards

Reaper

Even though I posted the orginal deal I'd say it is suitable for very few people, particularly as you are coming into it late.

I suggest you look at 0% credit cards. Read Martin's article on how you can take money out on them and put it into savings accounts. It's here. Some cards last up to 18 months compared to the 3-4 months on this.

The loan was handy for me because I was already a Cahoot customer so they gave me a high limit, and because I will need a big chunk in a couple of months when I'll be moving lots of money around.

I'd suggest you use this as the last place to stooze, not the first.

Shinds

Ok,

So who's actually successfully managed to stooze from this 0% loan from Cahoot?

Reaper

Me. £13,500.

Shinds

Me. £13,500.

8)

Mr_Clingford

Me too. To the tune of £7000. That's plenty of bottles of wine from that interest.

Shinds

Peeps,

Can I just confirm that this loan is totally Interest Free till 1st March 2005? and there is no other fees at ALL?

Thanks