Opinions on options please

nukebox

Hi all,

I'd like to get your opinions on a couple of options open to me at the moment.

Day-to-day - always paid in full.
o Egg Money - £10k limit
o Amex Platinum - £7.5k limit

Stoozing
o Natwest Platinum - £7.5k limit. £7k stooze ends 04/2010.

Mortgage
o C&G mortgage, 78% LTV :-(

Options
o Halifax has offered me £10k @ 0% for 12 months with a fee of 3%

o My current Virgin Amex stooze is coming to an end in May (£23k limit). I can pay it off in full, so that's not a problem. I called and asked if it was likely that there will be more offers, but was told no. In my experience though, after paying it off and calling there usually is. But in this economic climate, I'm not too sure.

I'm debating whether to take Halifax up on their offer or close it off. I gather having unused credit affects your credit rating badly.

The problem is, I don't know what to do with the stooze - it sounds odd, but I don't have an offset mortgage to make the best of the money and savings accounts are generally not offering much in the way of interest. Offset mortgage sounds like a good move, but I'd much rather get a fixed rate. However, with my LTV, it's working out cheaper (for now!) to stay on the SVR.

The flip side is, letting go of a £10 card seems silly these days as well - I'm not sure I'd be able to re-appy in the future and get similar offers. Also, what do I do with the Virgin Amex card after I pay it off? £23k of unused credit can't be good for the credit rating.

What would you guys do?

CannyJock

I'd reduce the Egg Money credit limit to a maximum of two months spending, you've got a large credit limit there.

Unless you can do better, I'd use the Egg Money positive balance at 4% for my stooze pot (net 3.2% for standard rate tax payer)

The 10K from Halifax you won't make much of a profit on, but I'd be tempted to take it anyway to tide you over to next year when hopefully the stoozing opportunities will start coming back again.

I'd also put in an application for a Virgin Money card before the Halifax 10K appears on your credit report. MBNA repeat deals are few and far between but always worth getting an MBNA card in your deck and look to use the credit limit transfer trick when an opportunity presents itself.

Right now, I'm playing the long game and taking anything I can make even a small margin on just to keep the activity going on my credit report and looking for more profitable stoozing next year.

nukebox

CannyJock wrote: »

I'd reduce the Egg Money credit limit to a maximum of two months spending, you've got a large credit limit there.

Unless you can do better, I'd use the Egg Money positive balance at 4% for my stooze pot (net 3.2% for standard rate tax payer)

The 10K from Halifax you won't make much of a profit on, but I'd be tempted to take it anyway to tide you over to next year when hopefully the stoozing opportunities will start coming back again.

I'd also put in an application for a Virgin Money card before the Halifax 10K appears on your credit report. MBNA repeat deals are few and far between but always worth getting an MBNA card in your deck and look to use the credit limit transfer trick when an opportunity presents itself.

Right now, I'm playing the long game and taking anything I can make even a small margin on just to keep the activity going on my credit report and looking for more profitable stoozing next year.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Yup - agree with reducing the Egg Money limit.

So, I think you'd suggesting to take the Halifax 0% offer and transfer it to Egg Money (at 4%).

I'm a bit unclear about the Virgin Money application. I don't think I'd get one, given that I've already got a Virgin Amex card (both MBNA).

I think what you're suggesting is:

o Pay off existing Virgin Amex card.
o Hopefully, if I get the Virgin Money card, transfer the limit from my Amex card to that and use the 0% offer on the extended limit.

What if I don't get the Virgin Money card. Should I still hold onto the Virgin Amex card? I'm a bit cautious about having an unused limit of £23k though...

NickX

nukebox wrote: »

I'm a bit cautious about having an unused limit of £23k though...

Not a problem. I've had £26k sitting unused with MBNA for over a year now, just waiting for an opportunity to arise

nukebox

NickX wrote: »

Not a problem. I've had £26k sitting unused with MBNA for over a year now, just waiting for an opportunity to arise

So, I take the it the trick with this is to build up a decent limit on a card, use it and then have it sitting unused...

... until MBNA come up with a tempting offer on a different card. Then apply for it, and if approved, ask them to shift the limit from the old card to the new.

Do you then close off the old card - presume so since it now has zero limit!

So, right now, my options looks like:

o take up the Halifax offer - put it somewhere to make the best of it.

o If I choose Egg, I'll probably apply for a different card for purchases.

o apply for the Virgin Money card (you never know!)
o pay off the Virgin Amex card and keep it hanging until MBNA throw out a decent offer. Ideally, it'd be on the same card to avoid another credit search, by hey ho.

o If I'm accepted on the Virgin Money card, shift the balance and start over straight away.

This stuff can get complicated so quickly... :rolleyes:

nukebox

CannyJock wrote: »

I'd also put in an application for a Virgin Money card before the Halifax 10K appears on your credit report.

Just a clarification on this - should I pay off the Virgin Amex card and then apply for the Virgin Money card - or just apply for it regardless of the outstanding balance on the Virgin Amex card?

One option I have is to the BT from Halifax to Virgin Amex and then apply for the Virgin Money card.

Is the outstanding balance/card likely to be counted against the new application?

nukebox

nukebox wrote: »

Just a clarification on this - should I pay off the Virgin Amex card and then apply for the Virgin Money card - or just apply for it regardless of the outstanding balance on the Virgin Amex card?

One option I have is to the BT from Halifax to Virgin Amex and then apply for the Virgin Money card.

Is the outstanding balance/card likely to be counted against the new application?

Any thoughts on above please?

CannyJock

Yup, clear the balance on one before you apply for another one. Standard tactic historically has been to then apply for new card and transfer "most of your credit limit" across to the new card. Reason as Nick says is so you can then at a future date hopefully get a decent off on the "old" card and transfer "most of the now increased credit limit" on the new card back to the old card. Few people transfer the credit limit leaving only £ 100 on the old card to keep it active.

Just hot off the press though (you'll have got the email as well no doubt) that the Egg Money 4% positive balance is being scrapped in 9 days time.

Best to find another home for your stooze pot.

I'd definitely still keep the Egg Money card for the 1% cashback and for future SBT as the changes they've announced don't seem to affect how the card can be used as a mule card for future stoozing.

nukebox

CannyJock wrote: »

Yup, clear the balance on one before you apply for another one.

Just hot off the press though (you'll have got the email as well no doubt) that the Egg Money 4% positive balance is being scrapped in 9 days time.

Best to find another home for your stooze pot.

I'd definitely still keep the Egg Money card for the 1% cashback and for future SBT as the changes they've announced don't seem to affect how the card can be used as a mule card for future stoozing.

Bummer - haven't had the-mail yet, sure it's on it's way. They don't give much notice do they?!

Agree with keeping the Egg money for the cashback, but I thought they cut it 0.5% sometime ago. I'm probably mistaken though.

CannyJock

nukebox wrote: »

Bummer - haven't had the-mail yet, sure it's on it's way. They don't give much notice do they?!

Agree with keeping the Egg money for the cashback, but I thought they cut it 0.5% sometime ago. I'm probably mistaken though.

It's still 1% with increased cashback offers on specific things if you buy it via their website and pay with your Egg card. Nothing spectacular in the offers whenever I've looked but if it's something you're going to buy anyway ...