Stoozing: Make Free Cash from Credit Cards article discussion

madmum8335

Hi
I'm new to stoozing and have read the article through.
Can anyone see any probs with this scenario-
I already have a Virgin card and mbna (originally A&L) both with debts on (£900 & £1885 respectively), both coming to an end soon. I've applied for a Santander card to transfer the balances to and have been provisionally accepted but don't know what credit limit I'll get yet.
Here's the root of my question, I foolishly didn't set up a direct debit for the Virgin card and have just missed my payment so have incurred a £12 fee for late payment (probs with regards Faster Payments Scheme - but that's a seperate issue).
As the Santander card hasn't arrived yet I was wondering if I could do a Super Balance Transfer from mbna - promotional rate 0.1610% - to my current account and then pay the Virgin balance off quickly. Then when the Santander card arrives I could save myself one of the balance transfer fees cos both debts would be on the mbna card?
does this sound feasible or can anyone see any pitfalls?
Your help greatly appreciated

CannyJock

madmum8335 wrote: »

I could do a Super Balance Transfer from mbna - promotional rate 0.1610% - to my current account and then pay the Virgin balance off quickly.

Virgin 900 (not including the £12 fee and residual interest?)
MBNA 1885

You'll pick up a 4% money transfer fee for this remember in addition to any interest. You'll need to transfer enough to cover the £12 fee plus residual interest.

madmum8335 wrote: »

Then when the Santander card arrives I could save myself one of the balance transfer fees cos both debts would be on the mbna card?

You won't be saving yourself on the balance transfer fees You'll have the same amount of debt to transfer whether it's on one card or two

Infact after the 4% money transfer, a further 3% fee works out at 7.12% so you'll be paying more on the Virgin part of the balance because it's effectively being moved "twice".

I would try and get the £12 refunded as a "one-time only" mistake, play nice and explain mix-up with fast payments that's now been resolved by putting a DD in place. If the payment arrived a day late then might not be reported to the CRA's.

I'd make the minimum payments on the lowest APR card and pay as much as you can off the other one, and hang fire until you see what you get with the Santander card - they're not known for their speed so all you can do is cross your fingers.

madmum8335

Realised after I had posted that I would pay twice but thanks for your reply.
I am going to pursue the £12, conflicting information from mbna & A&L (my bank) about who accepts the faster payments. 0% interest free ends in March so am hoping Santander card arrives in good time.
thanks again.

eddy556

Hi all,

I've been stoozing using a 0% overdraft with HSBC for quite a number of years now and there has been no problem.

Then suddenly out of the blue they have reported to Equifax that my account is in arrears! How can this happen? Theres no minimum monthly payments, and I've never gone over the limit.

I've formally complained to HSBC threatening to close my account, but I don't think anything will come of it. Do you guys have any advice?

CannyJock

eddy556 wrote: »

Hi all,

I've been stoozing using a 0% overdraft with HSBC for quite a number of years now and there has been no problem.

Then suddenly out of the blue they have reported to Equifax that my account is in arrears! How can this happen? Theres no minimum monthly payments, and I've never gone over the limit.

I've formally complained to HSBC threatening to close my account, but I don't think anything will come of it. Do you guys have any advice?

You mean they're showing missed payments on the payment history or that you've got an overdraft balance?

Has there been money into the account each month?

jfke

Didn't want to start a new thread but I have a couple of questions regarding the slow stooze;

1. I'm about to get the Tesco 0% 12mths clubcard creditcard as I thought that being a regularly tesco shopper I could double my points by using it for my monthly shopping purchases. Would this actually double my points or would they give me 1 per £1 as normal.

2. Is there a list of savings accounts people collate as it seems to me this is where the stoozing is falling down at the minute and I am trying hard to find one which is giving good interest.

3. How can this work if a minimum payment is of £5 or £10 a month and the money being slow stoozed each month is about £400 - £500? The repayments will increase with the balance too as it becomes a percentage minimum as opposed to flat minimum repayment.

Thanks for any help!

CannyJock

jfke wrote: »

Didn't want to start a new thread but I have a couple of questions regarding the slow stooze;

1. I'm about to get the Tesco 0% 12mths clubcard creditcard as I thought that being a regularly tesco shopper I could double my points by using it for my monthly shopping purchases. Would this actually double my points or would they give me 1 per £1 as normal.

2. Is there a list of savings accounts people collate as it seems to me this is where the stoozing is falling down at the minute and I am trying hard to find one which is giving good interest.

3. How can this work if a minimum payment is of £5 or £10 a month and the money being slow stoozed each month is about £400 - £500? The repayments will increase with the balance too as it becomes a percentage minimum as opposed to flat minimum repayment.

Thanks for any help!

1. You get normal clubcard points with the credit card. You can try giving them your old clubcard then paying with the card to see what happens
2. Santander/A&L @ 6% (x2), LTSB Classic Vantage @ 4% (x3)
3. Each month you pay back the minimum, you spend again. Whatever balance you have on the card is at 0% with no fees - you should have at least that amount in your savings earning interest, so you can't fail to generate a net gain.

London_saver_3

I have a Barclaycard cashback, it used to be Goldfish but this got taken over. At the moment the first £200 per month I spend gets 1% cashback which is credited to my account directly. The rest of the spend gets 0.5% cashback. I pay off my credit card bill each month in full. I know this isn't the top deal on the market, but it is convenient at present.

MATTHEW124

Hi,

HSBC Premier, HSBC Advance, HSBC Graduate (Advance) and HSBC Passport customers can receive a preferential rate of 8% AER/gross on a Regular Savings Account. The maximum balance starts at £250 in month one and then increases by £250 each month thereafter.

If you were to get a Barclay Card Gold, There is an introductory balance transfer offer on this product until May 2011 for amounts up to £5,000 with 2.5% balance transfer fee.

You would need to balance transfer £250 per month each month up to £3,000 at £6.25 per time. using the calculator over 12months you would earn around £280. Not bad return for £3,000 of credit!

Cheers

Matt

JimmyTheWig

MATTHEW124 wrote: »

You would need to balance transfer £250 per month each month up to £3,000 at £6.25 per time. using the calculator over 12months you would earn around £280. Not bad return for £3,000 of credit!

No, the interest would be around half of this. Remember that not all the money will be in the savings account for the whole time. The last £250, for example, will hardly earn you any interest.

Once you then have to pay tax on this interest, I make it that a regular income tax payer will come out £21 up on this deal. Whether that's worth it is up to you to decide.

A better way to do it would be to transfer the full £3000 from the start and put most of it into an instant access savings account and drip-feed the regular saver from there.