Stoozing: Make Free Cash from Credit Cards article discussion

MushyPeas

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

You've forgotten several things...

1. Your minimum payments (2.25%?) will reduce the stooz pot capital.

2. Your interest may be taxed at 20%.

3. You won't get 14 months; a more realistic figure would be 13 months.

According to this calculator your profit, incorporating the above 'adjustments', would be £75.19

Oh

I guess I'll just pay off my slow stoozing credit card then. Thanks for your help and that link YorkshireBoy - goes into better detail than the one on here!

Oh...I just read back again my profit will be £75....I thought it was in total! So that's still £75 profit so I will go for it then. Thanks again

koalatea_2

I have an MBNA Platinum Visa with, bizarrely given the most I've ever spent on it being about £1,500, a £15,000 credit limit on it. At present I have an interest-free balance on it of approximately £1,000, leaving £14,000 spare. I'm keen to take advantage of this loophole so was wondering what the best approach is.

Should I transfer up to the limit into my current account, pay off the outstanding balance from there and transfer the rest into a high-saving account until repayment time comes around.

Or should I transfer the remaining amount into the current account and on into a high interest savings account and leave the £1,000 on the card until it needs paying off?

I'm also leaving the country soon so will I be able to manage this easily from the other side of the world?

Thanks

dee100

Re my earlier post(scroll up, "Halifax card"), I took yorkshire's boys advice to apply for my 1st stoozing card 3 months after getting a nationwide card. I was declined. Experian say my credit report/score are "good", with no outstanding payments.That I was probably refused as I did not wait 6months. Experian suggested I go to halifax branch with a copy of my report aand make an appeal. This I did, telling them that the nationwide card was a mistake, not collected it from the branch. that I may cancel it or keep it for the free travel insurance. They forwarded my credit report/ appeal to head office.
1. what shall I tell halifax if they call?
2.should I keep the nationwide card? I don't need credit, but online purchase protection would be handy for holiday purchases.

YorkshireBoy

dee100 wrote: »

I took yorkshire's boys advice to apply for my 1st stoozing card 3 months after getting a nationwide card. I was declined.

<defensive mode on>

As I recall, you asked if it was too soon and I said "I wouldn't have thought so".

<defensive mode off>

That I was probably refused as I did not wait 6months.

They're generalising/guessing. I've applied for 3 cards in a month before now, and even applied for 4 one lunchtime, with a 100% success rate. There must be something else, or maybe it's a combination of things that have gone against you.

This I did, telling them that the nationwide card was a mistake, not collected it from the branch.

Is that true? If you've used the card there may be a balance showing on your credit file, which the underwriter will see when they carry out another search.

1. what shall I tell halifax if they call?

Talk up your financial circumstances. How 'in control' you are.

2.should I keep the nationwide card? I don't need credit, but online purchase protection would be handy for holiday purchases.

You get section 75 protection with all credit cards under the CCA. Where the Nationwide card comes into it's own is it doesn't charge the normal currency conversion fee of 2.75% that most other cards charge. This makes it ideal for foreign purchases, both when abroad and when buying from foreign-based websites (or even UK based ones who have outsourced their payment handling facilities overseas).

danthemoneysavingman

I've built a spreadsheet which is highly parameterised for calculating stoozing returns per card - if someone tells me how, and anyone fancies picking it apart, I could post it on this board...

forgetso

I just got refused a card by egg. Any recommendations for other card providers?ta

Armengar

long time lurker first time poster

just applied for an egg money card online now, no problems and a 3.3k limit :beer: .

Now I wait till I get this card before applying for a barclaycard (my wife will be applying for a virgin card as she will get a lower limit)

then it will be time to fill up our ISA's for the year. :T The rest can go into savings.

One question though. Can you do the 0% balance transfer AFTER opening the card? Or do you have to specify the amout to transfer when applying for the stoozing card? I wont know the credit limit beforehand presumably.

lizzyshep

I've never done anything like this before so would really appreciate some advice, I want to make sure I get it right!

I have an MBNA Platinum Plus credit card with a zero balance and a credit limit of £6400, and I've just opened up a ICICI Bank HiSaver account with an interest reate of 6.41%. On the MBNA website it says I can have a 0% balance transfer until October 2008, and there will be a 3% transfer fee. I think this is the card Martin mentioned in the weekly e-mail, and I can transfer the money to my current account.

Is anyone familiar with this? I just don't want to get caught out with any hidden fees! And it is likely to be worth it?

YorkshireBoy

Armengar wrote: »

just applied for an egg money card online now, no problems and a 3.3k limit :beer: .

If it's only going to be used for muling, then maybe the £3.3K limit will affect future applications/limits offered? If you're going to be using it as a cashback card as well, then may I suggest a limit of 2 x normal monthly spend + a small safety margin would be a more appropriate limit?...unless of course you plan on spending £1,650 a month?

Can you do the 0% balance transfer AFTER opening the card? Or do you have to specify the amout to transfer when applying for the stoozing card?

It's down to personal choice. If you're BT'ing from Egg Money there's no harm in putting the BT on the application form. However, if the BT is to repay another card then it's best to leave it off and stay in control. BTW, since Virgin will pay the cash into your current account directly you won't need to specify a BT from Egg Money on this card.

YorkshireBoy

lizzyshep wrote: »

And it is likely to be worth it?

This calculator says you'll make £48 at 6.41% APR. However, expect the ICICI rate to fall by 0.25% soon...this will reduce your profit to £39 (both figures assume you pay tax at basic rate, and that rates will not fall further between now and October :eek:).

Personally, I wouldn't take it. I'd wait for them to announce another fee-free day (they've had 2 or 3 lately) and snap it up then. That's if you don't fancy negotiating to get them to waive the fee now.