personal loan transfer or stoozing?

GDJTAM

I'm unsure what to do if anything as I have googled far too much into the best ways to save on interest payments. Hopefully I can get clear simple advice to stop any worries.

I had a new kitchen a year ago and have personal finance with Hitachi Capital. I checked my online balance and if I pay off the loan now I will have £6k to pay. My interest rate is 3.3% and I have not had any issues with the finance company.

When looking at paying the balance the website asks for the card details I wish to settle with. This then got me thinking...

1) Can I get a credit card offering 0% on balance transfers or does this just apply to balances from another credit card?

2) Would I be better getting a credit card with 0% on new purchases then pay off the loan? Then transfer the balance onto a 0% balance transfer card?

3) I've read about money transfers into a bank account (stoozing), not sure how this works but would I get a credit card and make a money transfer of say £6k (my settlement figure) into my bank account, then pay the kitchen loan with my bank debit card?
Presumably, I would then have an interest free period from the money transfer card to pay the money transfer off and my bank account would be where it was pre money transfer in?


Any help gratefully appreciated

bigadaj

Firstly confirm they accept credit card payments then the easiest and cheapest method is to get a 0% purchases card, they typically don't charge a fee which would be the case for balance transfer or certainly money transfer cards.

This of course assumes you have a good credit record and qualify for a suitable card.

Assuming the rate you quite is an Apr, then that isn't too high a rate, so you need to ensure that if you do oay off the credit you will,be able to pay off in the 0% time, you may be able to balance transfer for longer but credit card rates are obviously a lot higher than your current loan rate.

Candyapple

GDJTAM wrote: »

1) Can I get a credit card offering 0% on balance transfers or does this just apply to balances from another credit card?

No, balance transfers only work from one credit card to another. You need a money transfer card.

GDJTAM wrote: »

2) Would I be better getting a credit card with 0% on new purchases then pay off the loan? Then transfer the balance onto a 0% balance transfer card?

You could do this, but why waste 2 credit searches and in the process you would also need 2 cards with fairly high credit limits.

If the loan company accepts payment by credit card, then by all means you would be better off getting a 0% purchases card:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-0-credit-cards

So if say you chose the Halifax 30 months at 0%, it means you would have 30 months to clear the £6k balance. Your minimum repayment is 1% of the balance (£60 per month) or if you wanted to clear the entire amount in the time frame, just pay an extra £140 per month and at the end of the 30 months your debt will be cleared. You absolutely must check that the loan company accepts credit card payments first, and not just debit cards.

GDJTAM wrote: »

3) I've read about money transfers into a bank account (stoozing), not sure how this works but would I get a credit card and make a money transfer of say £6k (my settlement figure) into my bank account, then pay the kitchen loan with my bank debit card?

Bingo. You get a money transfer card:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/cut-loan-overdraft-costs

So, assuming you went with MBNA 0% for 36 months with 2.99% fee. On £6k, the fee would be £179.40 and MBNA would deposit the £6k into your bank account. Assuming the loan company only accepts payment by debit cards, you then use your bank debit card to pay the loan off and now have 36 months to clear the £6k on the MBNA card.

Your minimum repayment is 1% of the balance (£60 per month) or if you wanted to clear the entire amount in the time frame, just pay an extra £106 per month and at the end of the 36 months your debt will be cleared.