Stoozing: Make Free Cash from Credit Cards article discussion

NickX

Anji2008 wrote: »

I have just graduated from university and am not in employment yet so I'm sure this would bring the limit down right?

In all honesty, I would advise that you sort your employment out before you consider stoozing.

As you have alluded to, without any employment, you are going to struggle to get a Credit Limit suitable for stoozing - infact you may struggle to get a Credit Card at all.

I do not mean this to sound critical, but if you get a good job with a high salary, then you will be much better placed to apply for cards and get the high limits that you want to start the stoozing process.

However, having said that, it may be worth getting a straight forward Credit Card (perhaps from your own Bank) and just using it for day to day expenses. Pay it back in full and on time every month so that you don't pay any interest. This will help build your credit rating and again will help you get the high limits that you need when you start stoozing. This is exactly how I started many moons ago.

Good Luck.

JimmyTheWig

Anji2008 wrote: »

have never applied for a credit card. So i'm not sure what credit limit I would recieve - as in I have completely no idea! I am hoping it will not be as low as £5000??
...
am not in employment yet

In your situation, in today's climate, I would be well chuffed if I got a £800 limit. Yes, that's hundreds not thousands.

You can't tell the credit card company that you want the card for stoozing. As far as they are concerned they are lending you thin money for you to spend.
Would you lend someone in your position that sort of money?

Step 1.
If you have any contracts (mobile phones, hire purchases, etc) at the moment, make sure you pay the bills on time.

Step 2.
Ensure you are on the electoral role at your current address.

Step 3.
Get a job. Preferably a permanent one. Get the money paid into your bank account each month.

Step 4.
Apply for a credit card. Nothing fancy. Don't worry about 0% deals. Don't even worry too much about the APR. Don't worry about the credit limit. Just make sure there is no fee and you don't get charged interest if you pay the balance off in full each month. (Nearly all of them will fit into this category.) As per NickX's suggestion, your own bank may be a good place to start with this as they will know you are a reliable customer and will have seen your salary being paid into your account each month.
Set up a direct debit to pay off the full balance of the card each month.

Step 5.
Use the credit card for purchases you would have made anyway, e.g. supermarket, petrol, etc.
Ensure there is enough money in your bank account to meet the direct debit each month.

Step 6.
By now you should have a decent employment history and a clean and decent credit history. You can now apply for a 0% card for stoozing. You still might not get much of a limit. Doesn't matter. Still take it and stooz it. You'll still make money from it (as long as you follow the rules).

Step 7.
Once you've paid off that first 0% credit card your credit history will be looking all the better. You've consistantly met the payments over the last year and you've cleared a decent sized balance.
And you've got more of an employment history, and hopefully in that time you will have had a pay-rise or two.
Now apply for a different 0% card to stooz with. You should get a more generous credit limit.

Step 8.
Ensure that you clear all your balances before you apply for a mortgage.
You should treat stoozing as the icing on the cake. It can make you money, but not tons of money. Don't let it get in the way of something more important like a mortgage application.

jecika009

What the topic is about is that free cash.That all we like to have free money from any where we want to get. Actually waht the thing is in todays world every one is selfish no one want's to spend money so it would be good that credit will give us free money but it would not be happen.

Frugaldom

I received my 'tart alert' this week warning me I have 6 weeks left at 0% on my original card. I think I've used up all my options now, having juggled spending, claimed cashback and stoozed with 6 cards over the past year or so. As per T&C, I can't get rid of the Amex until the full 12 months is up or else I forfeit the 5% cashback from the initial 3 months spending. Do I now just pay the full balance off the next stooze card and then wait until I am able to fully cancel Amex before starting to look for another deal? Also, does the cashback get paid to a bank account or is it credited to the card, which gets paid in full every month. Apologies for asking again, but I keep getting lost in the forums.

bigpat

Hi,
I've never stoozed before but I'm thinking of giving it a go now, as my wife got an offer from MBNA of 0% until Aug 2009 with a fee of 2.75% including "cash transferred into your current account".

My questions are:
1) Do all cards allow you to transfer money into your account like this? If not how does it work?
2) I've read some posts in this forum and to be honest I'm getting bewildered by the options. I checked the stoozing.com site (but who are they?) and they seemed to be recommending the Virgin Money card at 0% for 16 months, with a 3% fee. I havn't done the maths yet, but gut feeling says that's a better deal. Any advice anyone?

PS. Pretty sure my credit history is decent. Lots of cards in the past when I was surfing the 0% deals to clear a debt which is now gone.

YorkshireBoy

bigpat wrote: »

0% until Aug 2009 with a fee of 2.75%

That's a good offer. An existing card per chance? The 'official' deal has a 2.9% fee.

1) Do all cards allow you to transfer money into your account like this?

No, only a select few. Most notably the MBNA run cards and Egg.

If not how does it work?

You can read up on the stoozing site at http://www.stoozing.com/g_sfull.htm and/or check out the MSE article at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/stooze-cash-credit-cards.

2) I've read some posts in this forum and to be honest I'm getting bewildered by the options.

You need to read the aforementioned guides...then read them again...then read them again!

I checked the stoozing.com site (but who are they?)

Check out the 'about us' link on their site at http://www.stoozing.com/about.htm, but they're sponsored and supported by MSE and Martin Lewis so you shouldn't have any worries.

and they seemed to be recommending the Virgin Money card at 0% for 16 months, with a 3% fee.

Hmmm, don't think so. The Virgin card is 0% for 15 months with a 2.98% fee. Maybe you're confusing it with the Capital One card at 16 months with a 3% fee?

I havn't done the maths yet, but gut feeling says that's a better deal. Any advice anyone?

Check out potential returns using the calculator at http://www.stoozing.com/calc.htm

PS. Pretty sure my credit history is decent.

Pretty sure? Why not confirm it by ordering your credit reports before you start? That way, you can do any tidying up now...and not following a rejection.

bigpat

Wow Yorkshire Boy. Now THOSE are what I call answers!
Yes we do have an exisiting MBNA card which we haven't used for long time. I should probably cancel that one at the same time I take a new one out.

I might have confused the two cards on stoozing.com. I do recall seeing the Capital one card but something about it rang an alarm bell somewhere. Can't remember what now though!!

I'll get back on there and give it a thorough going over. Tomorrow night....going for my bath now!! :-))

MarkV_2

We transfered a balance to the MBNA 0%. It was done over the phone, in the middle of May and the direct debit increased from £100 to £400 at the same time, as we already were a customer. First payment to go out on the 29th June. We have just had a statement with a £12.50 late payment fee and £230 interest (29%).
We phoned and when he looked on his system said that the direct debit for £400 was not set up and that he would do that straight away so that the £400 would go out on the 29th July. He then refunded the £12.50 but said that they would connect us to someone else to sort out the £230.
When we spoke to a superviser she said that we were told, when we set up the direct debit, that the first payment of £400 would be on 29th July. This is not true.
We did point out that why would we make a balance transfer to 0% them break the conditions by making a reduced payment. Also the first person we spoke to said that the direct debit was not even set up but the supervisor said that it was, but the first £400 was due to be made on the 29th July. Not only is this a contradiction but when we looked at our statement it said that the next payment, due 29th August, was still for £100. The Supervisor would not discuss this by saying that she didn't understand the point being made.
She would also not discuss the issue that if she was correct in what we were told, that it would take 6 weeks for the increased direct debt, then how can the first person, we spoke to set it up and assure us that the £400 would go out in 3 weeks.
My thought was that the direct debit had not been set up correctly so that one part of the system was saying it had when another was saying it hadn't. However while telling someone about this I was told that he was on the 0% with MBNA and hadn't noticed that on his statement the payment date had been changed to earlier in the month so that there were not enough funds, so he found himself on 29% interest. I then looked on the internet and found that this seems quite common with MBNA and Capital one.

bigpat

Hi MarkV,

Thanks for this warning. That does sound like a horrendous foulup by MBNA. I wonder whether the situation would be simpler for me as I don't have any existing direct debit with them and would be starting from scratch.

In your shoes, I think I would get this all down in writing, in chronological order and write to the MBNA complaints address (I think they have to give it to you if you phone and ask for it).

Then ask them to explain which of the people you spoke with was correct. They will then have to draw the conclusion that at least one of their staff handled your case badly and thenm you may have better grounds for reimbursement. Good luck with this.

JimmyTheWig

I believe that the only way to be certain is if your monthly statement says soemthing like
Minimum payment due: £xx
This will be collected from your bank by direct debit.

If it doesn't say this then phone them up and check.