Stoozing Question

roaming_rhino

Hi

thinking about going down the stoozing route and making some free money from credit cards instead of them making money out of me

Question

At the Moment I have a balance of 8.5 at 0% until 1st sept with Virgin

First Direct are offering me a 0% for 6 months with a 22k limit

If I do a balance transfer say from FD to virgin that puts my virgin card 13.5k into credit then ask virgin to make a balance transfer to my first direct current account of 22k

would the alarm bells go off do you think from virgin wondering where 22k has come from then wonder where it is going once transfered into my current account

then of course I would need to open a high interest paying current account such as Alliance and Leicester one paying 5.36% which may /will ? involve another credit search ? (notice they only pay the interest 0nce a year annually in sept )

Dare not ask to open a savings account with first direct as they may think I am taking the proverbial and using the FD credit card balance to put into a FD savings account . They may withdraw the card if they see me doing this

any advice on best approach and best answers to this

cheers Roaming Rhino

Caped_Avenger

Credit card providers primarily make money out of customers by charging them interest, right? So, if the providers see their card in debit, but still within the credit limit, there's not going to be much of a problem, as far as i can see.

I'd be interested to see the reasoning that either company would provide if they did choose to withdraw your card (as you suggest could possibly happen). It might be worth a quick scan of the T&Cs of the respective cards before you do so, but i can't see there'd be a problem.

Walletwatch

Caped_Avenger wrote:

Credit card providers primarily make money out of customers by charging them interest, right? So, if the providers see their card in debit, but still within the credit limit, there's not going to be much of a problem, as far as i can see.

I don't think the OP is concerned so much about the FD card as he is about the guys at Virgin, considering that moving 22k into a credit card with a limit of 8.5k would put the card into credit balance by 13.5k.

I think the concern here is a valid one, but haven't done such a thing myself, so cannot help too much. I have read other posts on here though, with posters claiming to have put their egg cards into huge credit balances and then transfer these into their current accounts from egg.

stuwilky

My Egg account is use as a "mule" in my stoozing activity, has a credit limit of £9.5k - had a credit balance of £23k the other day, transferred out no problem.

Caped_Avenger

stuwilky wrote:

My Egg account is use as a "mule" in my stoozing activity, has a credit limit of £9.5k - had a credit balance of £23k the other day, transferred out no problem.

Ok, since this has been brought up here, i have a question:

I'm currently applying for an egg Visa, and will use it to pay off my fd card, which will be 0%, and no charge for actioning the BT (as there is with Barclaycard, etc.). Once my 0% period expires, will i still be able to do BTs (& SBTs, for that matter) free of charge? I guess i can, because it seems a lot of people use egg in this way, but wanted to be 100% sure.

I know i'll be able to get a new fd card with a healthy limit, so could maybe go for a bit of a stooze once egg is paid off, and was wanting to know some basics, being a bit of a newbie.

Chadsman

Yes! There will be no fee for doing a BT or SBT tho interest may still be charged if you owe them money at any point.
HTH,
Chad.

Reaper

Yes Egg allow free balance transfers at any time with no charges (except for interest on balances outside the 0% period of course).

Remember FD only allow you one free balance transfer but you will get another one if you swop to a different FD card.

zcaprd7

There could be two problems if you use Virgin as the mule (original question).

You might pay a charge when you move it on to your current account.

Also when your Virgin goes back into debit on the transfer this will be treated as a new balance transfer - are you still in the window for doing 0% balance transfers? If not it will get done at an expensive rate.

roaming_rhino

the virgin card 0% offer ends on the 1st sept but there is a balance of 8.5k on there

in response to my original thread does anyone see any problems in doing what I want to with SBT from FD to Virgin then SBT to my first direct current account or to a savings account

RR

zcaprd7

Just the fee (and maybe raised eyebrows) from Virgin - don't they charge?


EDIT:You know there is sometimes a difference between when the 0% offer ends and when you have to make the balance transfer to qualify for it (usually the first month or so after you get the card)?

Reaper

In principle it should be ok. Virgin don't charge for BTs if you are within the 0% period (the only MBNA card that doesn't). BUT...

1) Most MBNA staff don't know about the Virgin free SBTs so you might have to fight to make sure you don't get charged.
2) Some cards don't like you going positive and passing money through in this way. Some say they want it sent back to where it came from. I haven't tried it with Virgin (only Egg) so I don't know their attitude. I'm sure somebody here must have tried it before though. Anyone?