How much does the average stoozer make?

iAMaLONDONER

jamesd wrote: »

Normal funds held outside an ISA in a fund account. Things like emerging markets funds and UK stock market trackers. When I did the borrowing markets were at low levels/prices so I benefited from the recovery in those prices.

The same opportunity isn't around in those places at the moment because prices are higher today. If you want to copy that, either don't use funds or wait until after the next substantial market drop, rather than the small drop there's been this year so far. Be sure that you can repay or at least BT the card balances if things don't go as you'd like, like a slower recovery in prices than desirable or more drops.

Others have done things like funding their ebay trading or helping out with property deposits for BTL.

None of this is the safe and certain stoozing using savings accounts and offset mortgages. It's the sort of thing you should only be doing if you really can handle the ups and downs and only for a suitably modest portion of your total wealth, so you won't get too badly hurt if it all goes wrong somehow.

What I like to do is keep at least enough to clear the highest card balance in a mortgage offset account. This still lets me invest much of my emergency fund but leaves me with options if it's not a convenient time to repay or if I can't get good BT rate for some reason. And these days my ISA and other accessible investments are enough for me to live on for years, probably until state pension age and on, now. They weren't at the start, so I was more cautious at the start. A mixture is good, don't get carried away with the big numbers and always have a plan for what to do if you can't refinance a card.

Thanks for the advice. Personally I'm rather risk adverse at the moment, however I did have a S&S ISA last year which I closed down to fund my 5% NW Flex account

I would be interested in buying stocks and shares however I'm weary of the fees involved

Tixy

apple_mac_user wrote: »

is stoozing good/bad for credit rating? (currently have good gredit rating)

It can affect your ability to get accepted for new credit products (as the level of debts will be a factor in any new affordability assessment) but it all depends on your circumstances, what is on your file, the size of your stooze pot compared to the rest of your finances.

Equally if you didn't have any existing credit agreements at all, weren't using any credit then it could improve your ability to get credit (as you are maintaining an active credit history).

adindas

I can understand the logic behind the +£1?
But how could you do that if you are using DD ? DD is either minimum payment or full balance ....

EasierThan

We use the interest free credit card deals for purchase and then put the cash in Premium Bonds. Better than playing the lottery as it isn't your money. Not as guaranteed as offsetting your mortgage, but every month, there's that excitement that you might win anything from £25 (quite likely) to £1,000,000 (not happened so far!).

We put all our normal household expenditure through the card (many of which also have cashback or rewards (enjoying a lot of £10 Sainsbury's vouchers recently) so long as nothing incurs an additional charge.

We run up the maximum on each card, pay the minimum each month and put the rest in Premium Bonds. A month or so before the interest free rate is due to expire, we cash the required amount and pay it off.

All risk free, although you do need to keep on top of when those bills are due. Miss one and all your hard work could be undone as they slap interest charges on.

How much have we made? A few hundred a year, but with the all elusive chance of a million.

planteria

kemo_2002 wrote: »

Hi eveyone, how much on average do you make per yr from stoozing?

difficult to say, and it depends what you include..

i have kept £30-£40k of debt 'in the air' for several years, so ive been able to save/invest/spend that money rather than paying it back.. i don't really put a 'value' on the benefit.

and do we include Cashback generation? if so, consistently 4 figures/year.

aurion22

adindas wrote: »

I can understand the logic behind the +£1?
But how could you do that if you are using DD ? DD is either minimum payment or full balance ....

Could you set up a Standing Order to pay the extra in each month as well as the DD for the minimum payment?

Tixy

Anyone have experience with this and could confirm that it is working
?

If it is not working, Do you have another effective method to make
minimum DD +£1.00 to avoid being detected making minimum payment ?

It depends on your particular card. Some cards will take the minimum repayment DD regardless of other payments during the billing period.
Other cards will adjust the DD taken to take in to account any repayments made after the statement date and before the DD is taken.

The former is easy - you just set up a SO. If you have the latter then the easiest method is probably just to make a manual payment anytime after a couple of days before the DD is due to be taken or you could set up a standing order to be taken roughly just after the DD is usually taken (although obviously depending on the billing cycle this sometimes could fall before the DD is requested).

Thistlewhistle

I made £180 the first year I did it. I kept it simple so that I wouldn't mess it up.

Got 0% H*lif*x Card, spent grocery / fuel / everyday bills on it, paid money from Current account to my ISA immediately (you've got to be disciplined) (also with H*lif*x). DD to pay minimum amount. At end of term, paid off in full, then waited til April for interest in ISA to be paid (£180).

Made doubly sweet by fact that H*lif*x paid me to use their card!

T:D

Coveredinbees!!!!

I have natwest card that is full up saving about £10 a month on interest but a side bonus is the £60 worth of free shopping I have had with their vouchers from collecting point which come free every time you spend. I'm currently filling up a 0% M&S card that also comes with points to get vouchers for M&S, hopefully will have enough by Christmas to get some of the present shopping paid for this year.