Stoozing dying out?

epsilondraconis

Len_Beach wrote: »

I appreciate money saving as much as the next guy but the question flying around my mind is: Could you be @rsed?! That's £25 profit per month, one cheap meal with the wife and it's a gonner.

If stoozing was to become a hassle then I too wouldn't bother; however currently the direct debit takes care of the minimum payments and so I only have to transfer some money into our savings accounts each month (I now have money available at the end of each month in the current account due to not paying off the full credit card balance). So I only have to "be @rsed" to spend 5 minutes per month transferring the money into savings. I only have to then take some action at the end of the 0% period - which in some cases can last 13 months or so.

I agree that the £300 I quoted isn't a huge sum of money, but then again I am only 'slow stoozing' - plus this is my first year. Over the next few months I anticipate trying some of the other stoozing opportunities. I just wanted to ensure I didn't jump into stoozing with SBTs and balance transfers without first understanding where the pitfalls exist. I have now read a number of posts from people that have made money from stoozing and those that have made mistakes.

Len_Beach wrote: »

Not picking on you epsil but the whole concept of stoozing evades me. 83p a day to limit your further borrowing capacity.

I'll probably get shot down here but hey ho.

If I needed further borrowing capacity then I would seriously consider whether stoozing was right for me. I very much doubt it would be. Currently we are in a fortunate position where we have sufficient savings available that I could be out of work for 2-3 years before we had any problems and so it doesn't matter that I may be limiting further borrowing capacity as we don't need it. Also I'm not on a huge salary, I guess we've just been prudent with our money.

The reason I stooze is because it is free money for minimal hassle. Okay, £300 from stoozing isn't a huge sum of money and to be honest, we wouldn't miss it if we didn't have it.

I've just done a more thorough calculation and in the 12 months to October 08 I will make over £1000 from stoozing, cashback deals and other finanical opportunites I discovered through this MSE site. I'm happy that I found MSE - its just a shame I didn't learn of stoozing and MSE a few years ago.


Editted: To correct speeling mistakes and phrase things a little better!

Mutton_Geoff

Mine is up around £3,500 a year now. It gives me pleasure to see the interest rolling in on my OPM deposits of almost £80k ;-) (OPM=Other Peoples Money).

It took no time at all to recover all the interest that credit card companies had charged me over the years. I had a couple of new card rejections recently so I guessed I've burned my credit rating for the moment, but a parked card (Capital One, waiting for Jan 09 cashback payment) just offered me a 12 month 0% so I was able to top up just as my first (a six month 0%/0% Ulster Bank) was coming to it's end.

Doomcow

ya know.. i always talk myself out of stoozing...

been thinkin about it for ages and i want to do it, but i can never hit the submit button on the application,..

LongTermLurker

Julesmat50 wrote: »

Did you not find that requesting a lower limit made things more difficult? I was given to understand - probably wrongly - that requesting a lower limit set alarm bells ringing amongst the lenders, as they automatically assumed the reason you were requesting a lower limit was that you were financially stretched and therefore a bad risk.

No problem for me. There are various theories about, and I can't say which have more weighting (it probably depends on the lender). Some say that reducing your overall available credit reduces your credit/income ratio, which could be a good thing; others say reducing your available credit increases your "loan to available credit" ratio, which could be a bad thing.

I've never heard the theory you mention, but imo it would be a strange psychologist who thought someone desperate to make ends meet would automatically request to reduce their available credit, or vice versa. Besides, your credit report doesn't state that you requested a lower limit - I don't even know if searchers can see your historic limits, so they would just see that you have a low credit/earnings ratio.

In the end, they will look at my credit reports, ask me how much I earn and how much my mortgages and loans are each month and make a judgement on that - I earn more than I spend and have never missed a payment, therefore I believe myself to be as safe as anyone.

NickX

LongTermLurker wrote: »

imo it would be a strange psychologist who thought someone desperate to make ends meet would automatically request to reduce their available credit

I agree with you here, I would think that requesting a lower limit would be the last thing that someone with "financial difficulties" would do

Richard019

Len_Beach wrote: »

I appreciate money saving as much as the next guy but the question flying around my mind is: Could you be @rsed?! That's £25 profit per month, one cheap meal with the wife and it's a gonner.

Not picking on you epsil but the whole concept of stoozing evades me. 83p a day to limit your further borrowing capacity.

I'll probably get shot down here but hey ho.

You're calculating it the wrong way though.

My first year's stoozing is making me about £500. To do it I've had to set up a BT, complete a card application and set up a direct debit. In a few months time I'll have to make one off larger payments to pay off the cards. All in it's around an hours work. Now I don't know about you, but £500/h is a fair bit higher than my normal rate of pay. Next year I should be able to make more as I'll be able to apply for new cards and credit limit increases.