Stooze Dilemma !! - Nearing end of 0% Period

elephant_guy

Dear All

I currently hold £30,000 in premium bonds kindly donated by the following three credit card companies (Yippee!!!) :beer: :


Egg - £7,000 - 0% Period Ends May 2005

Halifax One - £6,000 - 0% Period Ends June 2005

Virgin - £17,000 - 0% Period Ends July 2005


As you all can see the 0% deadlines are all rapidly approaching..........

Two weeks ago I applied for a Capital One Card (18mnth) for the full £25,000 limit and am yet to receive any reply. Hope I get a decent Limit !!

Ideally I would like to SBT from the above cards to new ones (hopefully one being the Cap One 18mnth) in order to continue to hold my premium bonds.

The problem is who should I approach for a new card ? I am reluctant to apply for any MBNA based card due to the fact that it appears that they will decline me (and damage my credit rating!!) as I already hold an MBNA Card (Virgin).

The only other card I currently hold is a Tesco's non stoozing card which I use for ordinary purchases.

In case my Capital One application fails :eek: or I am given a low credit limit can anyone suggest any non MBNA cards that provide 9 month interest free with decent credit limit's or any other suggestions that could help ?

Many Thanks

Elephant_Guy

fatboyonadiet

Maybe try Morgan Stanley or Royal Bank of Scotland.

elephant_guy

Thanks for your post Fatboy

But both of these cards sites suggest that both interest free periods are only 6 months....

Regards

Elephant_Guy

Martinslovechild

Citibank are currently doing 9 months 0%. I don't know what kind of limits they're offering though. I've just been accepted, but they don't tell you the limit until they send the card through.

lazy_worker

elephant guy, an interesting alternative to the traditional places to park the stoozed cash. Never considered premium bonds as an interest producing product. What is the general return on the 30K investment ?
lazy worker

bethyblue612

The odds are currently 1 in 24000, so someone with average luck and £30k invested should get 1.25 prizes per month, or 15 a year. More than likely, they will be £50 prizes, so you'd expect to get £750 return (or 2.5%) on your investment.

OK, so that's only equal to just over 4% if you're a higher rate taxpayer, but you might win £1million! (or you might win nothing!).

I bought £8k of bonds with stoozed money in Feb and I've already beaten the odds with £100 won this month - so maybe I should cash them back in, whilst my return is still effectively 5%!!

elephant_guy

£30,000 in premium bonds should provide the holder with roughly 15 wins a year. Most of these wins are likely to be £50 wins as there are far more of these than the higher value prizes. A non (or lower rate taxpayer) probably is better off statistically putting their money in a high interest account. On the other hand there isnt much difference between the two products if you are a higher rate tax payer (Premium bond wins are tax free).

As a higher rate tax payer I'm about as well off as if I had the money in a high interest account BUT I also get the possibility of a really big return if I get lucky !!!!!!

I get to have a bit of a gamble with absolutely no risk :beer:

Elephant_Guy

elephant_guy

Now here's a worrying development......

Got a reply from Capital One this morning regarding my 18mnth 0% application. I had asked for £24,000 SBT. They are requesting the last 3 months credit card statements from the cards I wish to SBT to !!!!

Could be a sign of changing times, perhaps this is an attempt by the card companies to ensure that a 'Real' credit card debt exists in the first place to prevent stoozing even starting ?

Thats three weeks to get to this stage with Capital One & I need to get accepted on a 6 or preferably 9mnth card for (Non MBNA, Halifax or EGG) for £7000 by 1st May 2005. Anyone got any ideas ?

Elephant_Guy

Cardinal-Red

First time I've seen a card asking for statements!!!

A potentially worrying development indeed.

I don't keep mine once I've reconciled them, and they are shredded...

YorkshireBoy

elephant_guy wrote:

Now here's a worrying development......

Got a reply from Capital One this morning regarding my 18mnth 0% application. I had asked for £24,000 SBT. They are requesting the last 3 months credit card statements from the cards I wish to SBT to !!!!

Your the first one to point this request out.

Maybe its just due to the sheer size of the BT at £24K? - certainly hope so!