Is today the day stoozing died?

jd87

With the base rate now 3% surely there aren't going to be any savings accounts with a high enough interest rate to make stoozing worthwhile, or am I wrong?

Surely the only way stoozing can continue is if credit cards start offering SBTs with fees of 1% instead of 3%.

JimmyTheWig

A good point. Particularly painful for people who have just started a stooz (i.e. just paid the 3%).

It will depend on what banks do with their savings rates.
I'd bet that there will still be 5.5%+ rates out there for people happy to ditch and switch to keep up with the best deals. And for a stoozer that's not much of a problem.
Banks are still going to want our money. They're still going to have to pay for it.

For non-tax payers (or for Rodent!) there will still be money to be made.

I don't think the credit card companies need to do anything to keep stoozers happy - I mean we can't make them much money, can we? I would imagine that they would be well chuffed if we were priced out of the game.
In terms of non-stoozers, even with today's cut, 3% for 12m+ interest free loan is a very good deal indeed.
I'd love to see a reduction in the fees charged (or go back to the days where there was a cap). Here's hoping they do it. Or maybe they'll start doing longer deals. Or maybe reduce their interest rate so _they_ pay _us_ 1.5% for the first 15 months!

Wyndham

Slow stoozing could still be worth it, especially if you plan a big purchase. Balance tranfers, with a 3% fee or thereabouts.... no, not worth it anymore at all.

But, if it means my mortgage rate is lower, then I'm all in favour. It was good while it lasted, but I'm not going to complain.

Clariman

The stoozing site is also discussing the idea of finding a high Fixed Rate savings accounts and using index-linked offset mortgage money (at rates around 3%) to move into a savings account (at around 6%). It's an idea.

russetred

I supose it will still be worthwhile for the small time stoozers who use it to fill their ISA quotas.

NickX

Wyndham wrote: »

Slow stoozing could still be worth it, especially if you plan a big purchase.

I agree, slow stoozing is the way forward. With no BT fee to factor in you should always make a profit although it will diminish with the rates on savings accounts dropping.

JimmyTheWig

I think slow stoozing is too dangerous for anyone on a budget. Would be very difficult to keep up with what you had spent.
Agree it's a good idea for a large purchase, but would be too nervous myself using the technique for everyday spending.

NickX

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I think slow stoozing is too dangerous for anyone on a budget. Would be very difficult to keep up with what you had spent.
Agree it's a good idea for a large purchase, but would be too nervous myself using the technique for everyday spending.

I do know what you mean Jimmy, it does require some self restraint.

I am currently slow stoozing everything I can from drinks in the pub to council tax and car services. The problem is the temptation is to think "Oh I'll buy that now because its going on a 0% card anyway". You really need to only buy things that you would have done otherwise and make sure you move the equivalent funds into your savings account.

I was aware that I had some hefty motoring bills and other expenses coming up anyway so decided to go for a 0% purchases card to stooze these bills.

It may not work for everyone.

Milarky

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I think slow stoozing is too dangerous for anyone on a budget. Would be very difficult to keep up with what you had spent.
Agree it's a good idea for a large purchase, but would be too nervous myself using the technique for everyday spending.

I would have thought an informal definition of 'a stoozer' is 'one is sufficiently organised with money to recognise which the money in their savings account really belongs to the stoozee* and to make sufficient arrangements to repay these before the interest rate changes'?

[*courtesy of Clariman (2005), it appears....]

JimmyTheWig

Milarky wrote: »

I would have thought an informal definition of 'a stoozer' is 'one is sufficiently organised with money to recognise which the money in their savings account really belongs to the stoozee* and to make sufficient arrangements to repay these before the interest rate changes'?

Yes, but there's a difference in being organised about this with a single balance transfer transaction and being organised about this with daily purchases.

NickX wrote: »

I am currently slow stoozing ... drinks in the pub

There speaks a man with more self control than me!

Wyndham

I started with slow stoozing, so know I can do it. I keep tabs on my money and make sure I move it around when I need to. I work off the bill - in the past I would have paid it in full, now I pay the minimum and stooze the rest. I have a note of how big my stooze pot is and I just don't touch it. The fear of losing it and getting into a mess with it is, for me at least, bigger than the 'I want it now' feeling.