Should i be stoozing?

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Hi,

Sorry because this seems silly.

I have a CC (Natwest) - it was 0% with cashback, its now not 0% but i'm paying off in full. What I have been doing is using my card for every day spending - gaining the cashback from quidco and Natwest - and paying card off every month.

I have 4 bank accounts:

TSC Classic Plus (Savings - have around £1500 in here. There was more but i've just got a new kitchen!)

TSB Classic Plus (Annual bills - for example, money that I would need for my MOT is in here)

Halifax Reward (Everything goes in and out of here. Wages come in, annual bills, savings etc are all set up n Standing order to go out of here, along with "monthly" bills like my council tax)

Halifax reward - Shopping account. Purely just for groceries

I'm quite "tight" with money, theres not been a month, for years, where I've been "skint" so I don't see me blowing the money from a CC. I also don't have any debts anywhere other than the CC - which as I mentioned, gets paid in full - I leave the money in my current account with the Halifax then just transfer it at the end of the month. The only problem I may have is looking at the "negative" balance from the CC and panicking im in debt

Given that - would it be beneficial for me to stooge - bare in mind, my current credit limit with Natwest is a measley £1300 (been at this level for the past 3 years) and the best saving I could hope to get is around 3%

Thanks!


EDIT: The only thing that may hinder me is that I moved in December so my credit report may be different than what I imagine. I already used the Experian free trial ages ago and begrudge paying for it. The free noddle one gives a rating of 2/5 (It was 3/5 before I moved) the only "balance" on there is my NatWest CC


EDIT2 - I just also realised I never put myself on the electoral roll when I moved! ARGH!! Just done this now.

Quimoi

Do you have/can you get any cards with 0% on purchases or balance transfer?

Academic if you haven't/can't but £1,300 at 3% (before tax?) would earn about £40 in interest each year. Up to you whether you consider that worth it or not.

With interest rates so low on savings (and income tax on the interest) I see little benefit for the hassle of stoozing at the moment when you have to pay around 2-4% balance transfer fee.

Herbalus

Note that the electoral role will take a while to update. In that case, you're probably better off going to a lender who you currently have accounts with, or a high street lender to which you can take proof of address.

Moving house won't affect your credit history (the important part of your file, showing if you repay your credit bills or not), but lenders won't like it if you have credit accounts showing at different addresses, so you could fail the ID verification part. Hence my suggestions above.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Quimoi wrote: »

Do you have/can you get any cards with 0% on purchases or balance transfer?

Academic if you haven't/can't but £1,300 at 3% (before tax?) would earn about £40 in interest each year. Up to you whether you consider that worth it or not.

With interest rates so low on savings (and income tax on the interest) I see little benefit for the hassle of stoozing at the moment when you have to pay around 2-4% balance transfer fee.

I don't have any 0% - neither have I tried recently to get any. Would I need to transfer the balance? Would it be silly to cancel the card and re-apply for another?

Herbalus wrote: »

Note that the electoral role will take a while to update. In that case, you're probably better off going to a lender who you currently have accounts with, or a high street lender to which you can take proof of address.

Moving house won't affect your credit history (the important part of your file, showing if you repay your credit bills or not), but lenders won't like it if you have credit accounts showing at different addresses, so you could fail the ID verification part. Hence my suggestions above.

I cant believe I forgot about the electoral roll! For some reason I thought it affected your credit rating because of the changes? sorry! I don't believe theres any credit accounts showing at old address, they've all moved with me, will that not reflect on the credit score database?

Herbalus

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel wrote: »

I cant believe I forgot about the electoral roll! For some reason I thought it affected your credit rating because of the changes? sorry! I don't believe theres any credit accounts showing at old address, they've all moved with me, will that not reflect on the credit score database?

Changes in address won't affect credit rating that way. After all, you'll need three years worth of address on an application so lenders can see previous addresses. It's just if there are discrepancies in your file, such as the electoral role being at address A and your credit cards being at address B then they might not be able to identify you electronically by searching these databases.

Nuttydj

Quimoi wrote: »

With interest rates so low on savings (and income tax on the interest) I see little benefit for the hassle of stoozing at the moment when you have to pay around 2-4% balance transfer fee.

Agree with Quimoi for the interest it seems hardly worth it to be frank.

I use it so I have an emergency fund (recently bought a house which cleared savings) and for that its worth while for me but the interest is a little lacklustre unless you get very large amounts going