Stoozing Calculator

TREVORCOLMAN

Under the mattress!

:T

Clariman

I've made some enhancements to the stoozing calculators on the Official Stoozing Website. They now enable you to copy and paste you anticipated profit results into a post on MSE so that you can share them with others. (Also supports copy and pasting into the Stoozing website's forum and The Motley Fool discussion forums).

Clariman

_dave__4

Here's another stoozing calculator:-
http://calc-calc-calc.net/get/calc/Stoozing/

This one tells you how much you need to put in the savings a/c at the start just to cover all future repayments on the card, giving the "upfront" stoozing profit (it also gives the amount that would be left in the savings a/c at the end if the entire balance transfer is put in at the start).
It seems to be able to allow for different interest rates on the balance transfer and the fee (I understand some 0% transfer cards charge purchase interest rate on the fee?).

BTW, it looks to me like the calculator at 'whats-the-cost' uses a twelfth of the interest rate entered each month, so the true effective annual rate is higher than that entered (due to compounding). Oh, and the calculator at 'stoozing.com' seems to work out basic rate tax incorrectly?!

Clariman

Hi Dave

It isn't working for me. Using Firefox the layout doesn't work - it has overlapping boxes. Under IE, either there are some errors in the calculation or I am not using it correctly because it is predicting that I would make over £1500 on a 6 months Stooz on £10,000. It should be nearer £25.

Oh, and the calculator at 'stoozing.com' seems to work out basic rate tax incorrectly?!

Could you give some examples or clarification of this please? The calculator does make some assumptions on when the interest is credited to the account (and, therefore, when the interest gets taxed), but it should be right.

Clariman

_dave__4

Clariman wrote: »

... either there are some errors in the calculation or I am not using it correctly because it is predicting that I would make over £1500 on a 6 months Stooz on £10,000...

Wow! That'd be great!!

But are you sure that you weren't doing a 6 years stooz? ... That seems to give about £1,546 :-
http://calc-calc-calc.net/get/calc/Stoozing/v1/?b=10000&bi=0&t=6&t_U=yr&f=2&si=6&tx=20

Clariman wrote: »

... It should be nearer £25.

Hmmm. That's almost exactly what it gives me : £24 (if 2% fee on 0% BT, 6% gross savings) ...
http://calc-calc-calc.net/get/calc/Stoozing/v1/?b=10000&bi=0&t=6&f=2&si=6&tx=20

Clariman wrote: »

Could you give some examples or clarification of this please? The calculator does make some assumptions on when the interest is credited to the account (and, therefore, when the interest gets taxed), but it should be right.

It's only a minor issue, but the two other calculators both seem to get it right:-
It looks like the 'stoozing.com' calculator doesn't actually take off the tax at the time that the interest is paid; doesn't it actually roll-up the gross interest over the term, then only take the tax off at the end?

That introduces some extra compounding that wouldn't happen in practice, which seems to be why it shows a couple-of-quid extra profit more than the other two calculators... (so the other two appear to be more accurate).

.

YorkshireBoy

_dave_ wrote: »

...it shows a couple-of-quid extra profit more than the other two calculators... (so the other two appear to be more accurate).

Could you run this example stooz through the other calculators so we can compare results...

Stoozing Profit Prediction

Data entered by the user
Balance to be transferred (pounds)...... 10000
BT card interest rate (%) .............. 0
Introductory period (months) ........... 16
Balance Transfer Fee (%) ............... 2.98
Maximum BT Fee (pounds)................. No Maximum
Min Monthly Payment Type ............... Fixed
Min Monthly Payment Amount (% or pds) .. 25
savings interest rate (AER %) .......... 6.5
Tax rate ............................... Basic Rate

Your Results
Stooz pot balance at end of intro ...... 10459.74
Credit card balance at end of intro .... 9600
Tax on interest to be paid ............. 171.95
Balance Transfer Fee paid (pounds)...... 298
Your Profit ............................ 389.8

Created using the Stoozing Calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

...because when I use the calculator you linked to I get £300.31 profit; a whole £89, or 23%, less than the stoozing.com calculator. Such a large error can't just be down to interest/tax compounding can it?

_dave__4

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Could you run this example stooz through the other calculators so we can compare results......because when I use the calculator you linked to I get £300.31 profit; a whole £89, or 23%, less than the stoozing.com calculator. Such a large error can't just be down to interest/tax compounding can it?

How did you get that? When I tried, it gives £384.30, just £5.50 less...
http://calc-calc-calc.net/get/calc/Stoozing/v1/?b=10000&bi=0&t=16&f=2.98&p=0&a=25&si=6.5&tx=20

.

YorkshireBoy

_dave_ wrote: »

How did you get that? When I tried, it gives £384.30, just £5.50 less...
http://calc-calc-calc.net/get/calc/Stoozing/v1/?b=10000&bi=0&t=16&f=2.98&p=0&a=25&si=6.5&tx=20

.

You entered '0' in the Minimum payment Percentage field, and I didn't. Then again, why would I?...it's not 0%.

It's not very intuitive (to me), because you shouldn't have to enter anything in there if you're using a fixed payment such as Virgin's £25.

Just realised that the 'calc-calc' calculator doesn't cater for capped fee deals, such as the Virgin Altantic card and other 'negotiated' special offer follow-on deals.

Clariman

Hi dave

Thanks for your reply. My understanding of the way most savings accounts operate is as follows (and this assumption is built into the stoozing.com calculator)

• Assumption - interest is paid annually
• Although interest is accrued monthly (and the calculator caters for that), the annually paid interest gets credited once per year and the tax is calculated on that amount, so tax isn't taken off the monthly accrued interest.
• Therefore, I take off the tax from the interest at the end of the intro period

An account that pays interest monthly would have the tax taken off monthly.

Clariman

_dave__4

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

You entered '0' in the Minimum payment Percentage field, and I didn't. Then again, why would I?...it's not 0%.

It's not very intuitive (to me), because you shouldn't have to enter anything in there if you're using a fixed payment such as Virgin's £25.

Most credit cards seem to have a minimum payment of the form "greater of 2% balance or £5". Virgin's looks like "greater of (interest+£5) or £25", which for the purposes of a 0% transfer is "greater of (0%+£5) or £25". I approximated "0%+£5" with 0% in the calculator ;-), which I guess will always be quite close, but is irrelevant in this case because the £25 applies!