Credit Cards - I know this is supposed to be easy.....

hilary1

I've read the credit card section and still find it difficult to understand stoozing.

I dont have a balance to transfer as I mucked it up with A &L so used my savings to pay off my card but I would like to put some money into my ISA before the cut off date (and after hopefully) but do not understand which cards are the SBTs.

I have an Egg card - anniversary June
I have a Barclaycard (dont use now as no benefits) and a Goldfish
I've now got my new A&L card

Is there anything else and if I can do it with the cards I've got HOW do I do it? What about BT fees doesn't it take away the point of stoozing?
:grinheart

Bokken_2

http://www.stoozing.com/

Have a look at this stoozing page and hopefully your understand it better.
I would suggest re-reading Martins articles several more times yet so that it is clearly understood otherwise you will get into a right muddle.
You may want to get a large book and write all the movements down and where the money is going to this makes it easier to understand and less likely that your forget something.
I won't go into too much detail but basically your A&L card has credit card cheques write one to yourself hand it to the cashier at your bank and the money will appear in your account,Now move that cash as you would say you wages to a saving account.The interest earn here is stoozed money.
The debt is on A&L so you now have to pay them the minimum payment every month.
At the end of the cards 0% period you pay off the amount owed to A&L from you money in the savings.
The problem arrises if A&L debt is not at 0% interest.
This is the bit you need to read up on again again.

Don't do anything with your money until you understand it properly.
is that any help?
Yes you may well pay more in fees than interest earned stoozing.You need to read the terms and conditions of each card you have so that you are not charged fees.

grumbler

The only problem with A&L card is 2% handling fee (min.£2.50, max.£50) on: credit card cheques and balance transfers. If you want to pay this price for not losing this year cash ISA allowance, use it. Otherwise look for a card that dosnt't charge for BT and use your Egg Card as a mule (or apply for Egg Money card that is better for this purpose):
http://www.stoozing.com/0fees.htm,
http://www.stoozing.com/full.htm.
The Middle Route
AFAIK Egg Card does not charge for BTs outside introductory period. Check this.

frivolous_fay

The egg card would be ideal to use, as they don't charge to transfer any positive balance to your account.

Your next problem is finding a card with a 0% deal to transfer from. If you don't mind paying the A&L fees you could use that. Alternatively, if you have spare cards that are now redundant, it might be worth cancelling them to see if they offer a 0% offer to tempt you to stay. (I admit, this has only happened to me once :rotfl:)

So, let's say you've got a shiny card with a nice credit limit and a 0% deal on balance transfers. Ring them up and ask them to make a balance transfer to your egg card. When it's gone through, send egg a secure message asking them to transfer the positive balance to your current account. Once it's in your current account, transfer it to a savings account with a high rate of interest. I personally wouldn't suggest putting it in an ISA as I prefer to be able to get at the money if necessary, without taking any penalties on my tax free allowance!

I agree with the others that you need to check the info and make sure you understand this fully before proceeding!

YorkshireBoy

frivolous_fay wrote:

So, let's say you've got a shiny card with a nice credit limit and a 0% deal on balance transfers. Ring them up and ask them to make a balance transfer to your egg card.

To be pedantic (and for the OP's benefit), OP should ask the new provider to transfer a balance from Egg (the cash goes the other way).

When it's gone through, send egg a secure message asking them to transfer the positive balance to your current account.

Why involve call centre staff in these 'unusual' transactions? Much better to do the SBT online anonymously IMHO.

I personally wouldn't suggest putting it in an ISA as I prefer to be able to get at the money if necessary, without taking any penalties on my tax free allowance!

But OP doesn't have money to invest before the tax year end - that's why they want to SBT some cash to their ISA now.

frivolous_fay

YorkshireBoy wrote:

Why involve call centre staff in these 'unusual' transactions? Much better to do the SBT online anonymously.

Egg have never given me any trouble with transfering cash to me. I wasn't aware of a facility to DIY... do you get this with the standard green egg card?

YorkshireBoy wrote:

But OP doesn't have money to invest before the tax year end - that's why they want to SBT some cash to their ISA now.

Just my opinion

YorkshireBoy

frivolous_fay wrote:

I wasn't aware of a facility to DIY... do you get this with the standard green egg card?

Yes, and with Egg Money. From memory, you have 3 options for 'balance transfers' in the secure area...

1. Other credit/store cards
2. Current account
3. Loan account

Just transfer (ONLY) the +ve balance using option 2.