Stoozing mistake -aarrgghhh!!!!

nogoodwithmoney11111

Debt number 1
Debt name VIRGIN
Balance£11,440
Standard APR 21.9%
Introductory interest rate of 0% for 12 months (optional)
Minimum monthly payment £ fixed, or 1% of balance

The Bottom Line It will take you 1152 months to pay off these debts if you snowball correctly. During that time, you'll pay £225,117,598.00 in interest.



I think I have broken the snowball calculator - I wanted to see what would happen if I just paid the 1% of the balance minimum payment that Virgin allow you to do. Can anyone tell me the APR on that? I am not sure I can afford £225million of interest, although on the upside I will be debt free by the time I am 132 years old.

datostar

questionabout wrote: »

You could lend the money back out - check out Zopa. :beer:

From their front page:

"Over the last 12 months Zopa lenders have made an annual return of 8.3%"

Even if you don't get 8.3% you should still be able to get 5-6%. :T

But over the 3 and 5 year loans they specialise in, you wouldn't have all the money back within a year.

splatt30

Chalk it up to experience.
Stoozing is tricky in the current climate. Works for me because mine offsets the mrotgage which is fixed at 5.98%.
Also the fees to transfer between cards are lower (2.9/3%) than to transfer into a bank account (4%).
Slow stoozing is the only way to make money as there is no fee but the returns are pretty dismal with the rubbish interest rates.
Come next year thought things may be different so look at what balance transfers are avaliable then and put the numbers into the stooze calculator on the stoozing site.

chattychappy

splatt30 wrote: »

Come next year thought things may be different so look at what balance transfers are avaliable then and put the numbers into the stooze calculator on the stoozing site.

Somehow I don't think things will improve. I'm sure part of the payback for CCs was people taking a 0% BT deal and then using the same card for purchases. This lifts the effective interest rate because of the way they'd apply payments to the 0% deal first. This "subsidy" to 0% deals is disappearing from next year (or Sept in the case of MBNA).

redpete

nogoodwithmoney11111 wrote: »

So how does it work? I can appreciate how, mathematically, it works, but no card i can see lets you take cash out for less than 2.9% or 3% and no savings account pays more than that so how on earth can anyone make money from it without taking additional risks such as investing in shares?????

It used to work because there were plenty that did balance transfers for no fee. It can still work if you use the money to earn more than the fee, as others have suggested by offsetting against a higher interest mortgage, or using it to fund matched betting.

I wouldn't recommend the latter to someone who doesn't understand percentages.

Judith_W

Hi, another way of making stoozing work is by getting one with 0% on purchases and using it for all your daily spends rather than your debit card, you then have money in your bank account to put in a high interest a/c

gordikin

NGWM1111..etc...excellent username...very apt!

KiKi

Hi OP

I really, truly mean this in the kindest way possible(!), but if you have only just gotten out of debt, and if you knew it was 4%, but didn't work out what that meant in £s and ps, then I really, really wouldn't try and do anything else complex with it like lend out through Zopa.

Stick to either refusing the product (if they have a cooling off period) or your plan of getting a bond so you're only down a little bit instead of £440.

There may be threads on here on stoozing, and Martin may have discussed in on GMTV, but you really do have to do all your own research and make sure you are fully aware of the consequences before trying to make money in that way! You can definitely chalk this one up to experience!

Well done on getting out of debt though - that must feel really good!


KiKi

nogoodwithmoney11111

The worst of it is the fact that I have a maths degree. I was well aware of the percentages etc but a lack of common sense was my shortcoming. I just assumed that stoozing made money. My fault. Sucked into believing the hype.....

I will stick to the nicer debt free wannabe boards from now on. Some of you people with money really don't suffer fools gladly do you??? Lololol.

Considers knuckles duly wrapped and definetly not giving up the day job!!! ;)

Rupert_Bear

nogoodwithmoney11111 wrote: »

The worst of it is the fact that I have a maths degree. 0

Dont make me laugh:rotfl: