Stoozing: Make Free Cash from Credit Cards article discussion

dc

Tarting may be limited at the moment but the 0% route is ideal for consolidating existing credit card debt, I came here looking to reduce interest on "Life of Balance " deals taken up a long time ago which until the credit crunch/bank rate drop were still in profit. However as savings rates have dropped I am loosing out. Think this would apply to people with fixed interest for life of balance BTs that have been reduced over time to a manageable sum and where 12 or 16 month periods would virtually clear all outstanding balances.

I specifically refer to the Barclaycard 0% life of balance with £1 a month spend. Mine is down from £5k originally some 4years ago to £750ish at mo., but £240ish of that is the accumulated £1 a month spend on which the interest has risen to 3.4%ish. Plus a 2.9% life BT that unfortunately was used by a magazine to take a sub against my wishes and which I had forgotten about. DOH so that card is now up to 4%
I fancy Virgin to consolidate both with a BT transfer to an ISA. Any comments

Chrispy2009

What's the situation now (March 09) on stoozing. If I can get cash from my MBNA card 0% till next March is it worth spending it on Premium Bonds?

VoucherMan

Chrispy2009 wrote: »

What's the situation now (March 09) on stoozing. If I can get cash from my MBNA card 0% till next March is it worth spending it on Premium Bonds?

Unless you've got a 0% transfer fee as well as the 0% apr you'll probably end up worse off.

dc

Seems like Virgin have made it more difficult, SBT now has to be done as a Money Transfer which is loaded with 4% Fee.

Credit_Jake

If I get a 3k card with 0% purchases, can I buy premium bonds with it lol

danby22

I received a balance transfer from MBNA when I applied for their card as a new customer last year. Am still in the interest free period and have been only paying the minimum amount until now. Is it advisable to apply for the Virgin card if am in need for more cash? Is there a chance they will reject the application as both MBNA and Virgin belong to the same group?

Am in need of this money to top-up my deposit for securing a mortgage. Am aware of the egg money card option too and do have this option open for me as I hold an egg money card.

Or is this is a complete no-no option by any chance if you want to top up your mortgage (will this affect the credit ratings severely?). am quite confused if you see it...

LovinShoppin79

Hi I am new to this but have been an avid reader of all suggestions I have recently applied for the Virgin credit card to transfer the money to my current account for 0%, has any one else done this with the Virgin card as it looked as u could only transfer to another card??????

susangoldsmith

:confused:

I am a regular reader of Martin's email and often act on his advice which has been superb and has saved and made us money over the years.

On the advice of the last email I applied for a Amex Platinum Card to enjoy the cash back bonus as advertised. All went well and yesterday my card arrived and I duly activated it on the phone.

I then went through to Amex call centre to make sure that the standing order was set up to pay the balance off every month only to be told that this card was not the cash back card but a Standard Platinum card which would cost me £300.

I immediately told them this was a mistake - after a while on the phone they agreed and offered profuse apologies for the mistake. they are now sending me the correct card which will be too late for my husband to go travelling with so we have lost out on some cashback time.

I just wonder how many other people have been caught out like this - perhaps a word of caution on the site might be as well!

Sue Colchester :rotfl:

want2bmortgage3

is it really worth doing this now........

for example transferring £5000 from virgin card to current account with a 4% fee which will be £200. so debt is £5200.

What sort of interest rate will I need eg in a savings account in order to make the £200 fee back and more??

it seems like the credit card companies have got wise to 'stoozing'?

rb10

want2bmortgage3 wrote: »

is it really worth doing this now........

for example transferring £5000 from virgin card to current account with a 4% fee which will be £200. so debt is £5200.

What sort of interest rate will I need eg in a savings account in order to make the £200 fee back and more??

it seems like the credit card companies have got wise to 'stoozing'?

Well, if you have £5k in a savings account, and you want to make back your fee of £200, you'll need 4%, after whatever tax you pay. (That's based on keeping the money for a year, I'm not sure what their interest free time is?)