Stoozing and in (minor) debt! - Newbie

cb1964

Hi all

I am completely new to all this, so hello to all that read this.

A friend recommended Martin's book, The Money Diet and it has been a bit of an eye opener. In short I have consolidated my existing credit card debt of £2,875 onto a Capital One 0% balance transfer card which is interest free until 1 JUly 2007 by which time I aim to have it cleared. Also due to a minor !!!!-up by Capital One I managed to get them to waive the balance transfer fee! I have also opened a new Sainsbury's Bank 0% purchase card which again is interest free for 10 months. I have opened a savings account into which I am going to transfer, each month, from my current account an equivalent amount as I spend on my Sainsbury's card. The aim being to pay the minimum amount due on the card each month and then settle in full before the 0% period expires. A mini-stooze if you like.

My main question is, and I am getting to it!, Martin recommends not attempting stoozing until you are debt free. Can someone please explain. I would have hoped it was possible to stooze and use the interest to reduce the existing debt quicker. Also, and this is where I am being a bit thick, I understand the principle of stoozing, I think, but am struggling to work out which cards are best to use. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Martinslovechild

cb1964 wrote:

I understand the principle of stoozing, but am struggling to work out which cards are best to use.

I recommend that you check out the Stoozing website for loads of info on this subject.

cb1964

Thanks guys for your comments. I have read a lot about the Egg card although I seem to have missed out on the benefits. Apologies if I appear a bit dim on the subject but can you make some suggestions as to which cards are best. Thanks.

YorkshireBoy

cb1964 wrote:

...can you make some suggestions as to which cards are best.

Very briefly, you need an SBT card (eg Egg Card, Egg Money, Mint, Virgin) and some 0% BT cards - avoiding (S)BT fees wherever possible.

I would strongly urge you to spend some time reading up on the subject before starting out on 'fast-stoozing'. Have you checked out the link provided earlier in the thread?

There's also some useful information on this site - in the 'stoozing' and 'super BTs' links above your first post.

cb1964

Thanks for the advice YorkshireBoy. I have read the links you refer to and feel that I am in a good position to take advantage of stoozing. I have identified one 0% BT card with no fees but could do with some advice on others. I am not sure if I am missing the point here but the Egg and Mint cards appear to charge for balance transfers. Apologies if am not getting this, can you explain how I can transfer funds to a high interest account via my current account, without attracting fees. Thanks.

YorkshireBoy

cb1964 wrote:

...can you explain how I can transfer funds to a high interest account via my current account, without attracting fees.

Use the Egg Money card, as explained in Martin's The Middle Route and stoozing.com's New Egg Money Card - Stoozing Analysis (and subsequent discussion).