Is it worth the hassle?

caveman38

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

The answer is absolutely any MBNA card. The +ve balance refund possibility is not dependent on a particular card...based on the numerous MBNA cards mentioned in all the threads you've asked this question on.

One poster (again on a thread you've asked this question on) has said Barclaycard and Halifax also do it.

I appreciate that I have asked this question elsewhere. I apologise for duplicating my posts but I tried the Stoozing forum without any joy and since realised that they had transferred to Lemon Fool where I posted again on 9 jan where again I had no answer till I reposted on 24th. I got the answer as you state that I can use any MBNA card but I also as you say got a suggestion to use Barclaycard or Halifax.
I read T&C for the Halifax Clarity card where I read
Credit cards are not designed to be used this way. Using the card in this way breaches the product's Terms & Conditions, which state:
B7.3 Payment amount
You must make at least the minimum payment by the payment due date if there is a balance payable to us on your statement. You can always pay more than the minimum payment at any time, including repaying everything you owe.
You must not pay us more than you owe when you make payments to your account, or transfer funds from another credit or store card if this creates a credit balance on your account. If there is a credit balance on your account at any time, we may apply it to any recent transactions not yet shown on your account, or to transactions made after the date your account goes into credit. We may also return any credit balance to the account from which the money has been sent or pay the funds into a deposit account you hold with us. We do not pay interest on any credit balances or take them into account for the purpose of any reward schemes.

which I assumed meant you couldn't put it into positive balance.
That was the reason I sought reassurance by asking the question again

ehn101

fireblade28 wrote: »

Is it worth the hassle? I might be wrong but say you borrow 10k from cards, as the interest rates are so low you might make 2% or so. So for all the work you may only make £200 which is just over a days work?

I don't get it.

You're assuming several things here 1. that the 0% offer only lasts 1 year, 2. the person stoozing just sticks the money in a bank account offering low interest rates.

Here is an example based on current offers available to those that stooze.

£10k on 41 month 0% money transfer credit card
Fees: 3.79% money transfer fee
Interest rate: 7.1% can be achieved on P2P lending platforms like Funding circle. This of course is not without risks.
Fee cost: £379
Stooze money earned - fees = £2046

Does it seem worth it now?

Of course one can go further instead of paying it all back at the end of the 41 month 0% period. They could balance transfer the remaining amount to a 0% balance transfer credit card and continue the minimum 1% payments. Assuming they manage to continue doing this on 0% balance transfer cards just paying the minimum 1% payments for the remaining 4.9 years until the whole amount is paid off. We assume here that they would do 2 balance transfers during this time and pay a 0.5% balance transfer fee.

Additional balance transfer fees incurred: £100 (this amount would actually be less as the debt reduces over time due to minimum payments)
Interest earned during 8.3 years after fees: £5414
There is of course tax too 20% (£1k allowance) for basic rate tax payers, 40% (£500 allowance) for higher rate tax payers. As this person managed to get a 10k+ credit limit lets assume they are higher rate tax payers.
Interest earned after 40% tax: £3448

Probably seems worth it now right and I haven't even factored in compound interest which should increase the stooze earning considerably more.

One could also work around the low tax allowance limit and perhaps go for something like corporate bonds instead which offer a similar interest rate and have a high tax allowance (£11k) as it falls under capital gains tax so the full amount earned could indeed be the full £5414.

The catch I guess here is that it took 8.3 years to finish this but not much work is needed at all you just need to be aware of when the 0% rates finish on the credit cards.

seatbeltnoob

ehn101 wrote: »

£10k on 41 month 0% money transfer credit card
Fees: 3.79% money transfer fee
Interest rate: 7.1% can be achieved on P2P lending platforms like Funding circle. This of course is not without risks.
Fee cost: £379
Stooze money earned - fees = £2046

£2046 earnt over 3.5 years is not my idea of good return. importing goods from alibaba and selling on ebay VERY VERY easily. I would do that rather than take out a 10 grand loan.

At least you learn business, expose yourself to the world of business and find opportunities along the way.

ehn101

seatbeltnoob wrote: »

£2046 earnt over 3.5 years is not my idea of good return. importing goods from alibaba and selling on ebay VERY VERY easily. I would do that rather than take out a 10 grand loan.

At least you learn business, expose yourself to the world of business and find opportunities along the way.

Sure do that too if it works for you. Stoozing as suggested in my post requires nowhere near as much work as the alternative you're suggesting though and not everyone is looking to effectively setup a business like that as time is involved. Most of it can be done in a couple of minutes aside from waiting for the credit agreement to come in the post. Also, it totally depends on the available credit you have, for those that have done stoozing for a long time many have accumulated a stooze pot that is a lot larger. Some have completely offset their mortgage.

seatbeltnoob

ehn101 wrote: »

Sure do that too if it works for you. Stoozing as suggested in my post requires nowhere near as much work as the alternative you're suggesting though and not everyone is looking to effectively setup a business like that as time is involved. Most of it can be done in a couple of minutes aside from waiting for the credit agreement to come in the post. Also, it totally depends on the available credit you have, for those that have done stoozing for a long time many have accumulated a stooze pot that is a lot larger. Some have completely offset their mortgage.

with moneymaking time is everything. Beleive it or not someone who earns £30K consistently all his life actually has a total pre tax income of £1M in 33 years.

You wouldn't have thought that. But its the case.

So 2 grand over 3.5 years is chump change.

Arleen

seatbeltnoob wrote: »

with moneymaking time is everything. Beleive it or not someone who earns £30K consistently all his life actually has a total pre tax income of £1M in 33 years.

You wouldn't have thought that. But its the case.

So 2 grand over 3.5 years is chump change.

It's 2 grand more than not having it. And the "big reveling number" is not represetnative of, well, anything. Including whether 2k grand is chump change or a lot of money.

I of course wish you best in your alibaba importing business, and that it still boasts such great returns across many years, after paying both import and income taxes on the money. It doesn't work for many people as they have jobs already.

seatbeltnoob

Arleen wrote: »

It's 2 grand more than not having it. And the "big reveling number" is not represetnative of, well, anything. Including whether 2k grand is chump change or a lot of money.

I of course wish you best in your alibaba importing business, and that it still boasts such great returns across many years, after paying both import and income taxes on the money. It doesn't work for many people as they have jobs already.

OK if you have a tradable skill, web design, accountancty/bookkeeping, business experience to provide consultancy. A couple weekends worth of projects would get you £2k in no time on sites like people per hour.

You'[re forgetting that you're using up £10K of credit. If you never need a loan then that fine. But you're going to take out 10K of cc debt and put it into a peer to peer lending service. That ties that up to the lending service for the medium term. If you need a loan it may affect you.

Also those who have no business sense get caught out. They dont work out their selling price taking into consideration admin, cost of sales, taxes etc.

nicholbb

Interviewer once told Bill Gates that if he saw $5,000 on the floor it wasn't worth his time picking it up, he'd earn that in the time it took to pick it up. Bill answered, Yes but I'd still pick it up and now I'd have earned $10,000.

If £200 is too little, what about switching energy supplier, negotiating down a mobile contract, paying advanced line rental, setup direct debits, looking at new insurance quotes, etc. All were complex the first time AND !!!!!! you doing posting on a forum for free?

The post were mighty analytic, but should you like it, candid critic?

seatbeltnoob

nicholbb wrote: »

Interviewer once told Bill Gates that if he saw $5,000 on the floor it wasn't worth his time picking it up, he'd earn that in the time it took to pick it up. Bill answered, Yes but I'd still pick it up and now I'd have earned $10,000.

If £200 is too little, what about switching energy supplier, negotiating down a mobile contract, paying advanced line rental, setup direct debits, looking at new insurance quotes, etc. All were complex the first time AND !!!!!! you doing posting on a forum for free?

The post were mighty analytic, but should you like it, candid critic?

do you have sources for this or did this conversation take place in your imagination?

I dont think bill gates would entertain a discussion like this. A smart interviewer would not ask such crass questions - I imagine getting an interview with bill gates would be really difficult to get.

Your comparison is completely off point. We're not talking about £2000 in a second. We're talking about £2000 over some 2.5 years!!

Senseicads

seatbeltnoob wrote: »

do you have sources for this or did this conversation take place in your imagination?

I dont think bill gates would entertain a discussion like this. A smart interviewer would not ask such crass questions - I imagine getting an interview with bill gates would be really difficult to get.

Your comparison is completely off point. We're not talking about £2000 in a second. We're talking about £2000 over some 2.5 years!!

It might not be verbatim, but it is a well known quote.