Considering stoozing 13 June 2016 at 3:37PM in Stoozing: free cash from credit cards 5 replies 3.4K views

lincoln-potter

When I first joined MSE some years back I considered stoozing but at the time decided I wasn't quite ready or sharp enough to keep on top of it, plus I had several other avenues to explore first.

Now I have come full circle and I am taking into consideration stoozing again and seeing if it would be worth it for me.

Currently we use the ASDA cashback CC for all purchases (without fees) which gives a paltry 0.5%.

I already have two santander 123 accounts with 20k in each to maximise their 3% interest. Given that bank interest rates are so poor at the moment and as far as I can tell the santander only allows two accounts and many other providers offer poorer returns, do you think its still worth?

YorkshireBoy

lincoln-potter wrote: »

Given that bank interest rates are so poor at the moment and as far as I can tell the santander only allows two accounts and many other providers offer poorer returns, do you think its still worth?

A singleton can get £50.5K in current accounts making 3-5% AER. A couple, using joint accounts, can get £130.5K making the same AER.

When you add in regular savers it's possible to average over 4% AER on a very large sum of cash.

Since there are, at the moment, some 7-8 cards (that's 14-16 per couple) offering fee-free 0% BTs for up to 2 years I'd say "it's still worth it" if you haven't got substantial savings of your own.

In my stoozing heyday 10 years ago, my £80K stooz pot was making 5% AER...so not a million miles away from today's profit levels.

lincoln-potter

Thanks for the reply yorkshireboy. It sounds more beneficial than we currently get from the cashback card so I'll investigate which accounts are open to me and give it a go.

lincoln-potter

So I've looked into it further and the OH seems to think it'll be more hassle that its worth however I am still not so sure.

Looking at available bank accounts, several have monthly pay ins I am assuming people simply setup standing orders to send the money in and then out a few days later in order to fulfill that requirement?

As far as I can see the main banks which Martin has listed have a maximum limit of about £30k anything above they don't give any interest on. Which based on the interest rates I make it as £1100 more in my pocket.

I've read about people with much larger pots so how do people generate extra interest above the threshold these accounts give?

mrs_T

Offset mortgage?

MallyGirl

mrs_T wrote: »

Offset mortgage?

That's what I do. Am just exploring the regular savers (got FD) and looking at other interest returning options for when we finish paying off the mortgage next year.