New to stoozing - can I make a 0% interest one- off payment to British Gas?

MeeMawTucker

Hi All. I’m a stoozing newbie, but read up on MSE advice and successfully applied for a Virgin Money card and a HSBC card (I didn’t mean to get both - long story but fine!)

We owe British Gas £2000 because of paying too little on DD for ages; they have just put the DD up a lot to claw it back. I’d rather pay a lump sum and then a lower DD - could I do this on one of the cards? I wasn’t sure if it would count as a “purchase “ for 0% purposes: I’ve paid BG by credit card before in a similar situation, but that was on one that I’ve paid off straight away

Hoping a stoozing expert can help - and I do have other questions but will check through the threads first! Thank you

eskbanker

MeeMawTucker said:

I’d rather pay a lump sum and then a lower DD

What you're describing there sounds more like the opposite of stoozing - effectively BG are offering you credit but you're trying to repay earlier than you need to, so you'd have the option of earning interest on that money but are choosing to turn that down!

In terms of your question, you'd need to check the terms of your agreement with BG to ascertain if they allow payment by credit card, but if they did then I can't see any reason why it wouldn't be regarded as a qualifying purchase on a 0% card.

MeeMawTucker

Thank you - yes I can see what you mean about the opposite of stoozing, but if I can pay off the o/s at 0% then it should free up some cash from a lower DD? I have more credit available on the two cards than I need for day-to-day spending over the 0% period, so was thinking this would be a way of using it up.

 It’s complicated but I’d love to get the hang of stoozing!

MorningcoffeeIV

MeeMawTucker said:

Thank you - yes I can see what you mean about the opposite of stoozing, but if I can pay off the o/s at 0% then it should free up some cash from a lower DD? I have more credit available on the two cards than I need for day-to-day spending over the 0% period, so was thinking this would be a way of using it up.

 It’s complicated but I’d love to get the hang of stoozing!

It will be offset to some extent by the payments on the card debt.

Your DD with BG may drop, but probably not as much as your expecting, as it needs to remain higher than before as you were falling behind.

If you wanted to stooze, there would be far more profitable ways of doing it.

MeeMawTucker

Thank you @MorningcoffeeIV I think you’re right and it would be a very slow stooze. It will be grating on me to have the free credit available and not be using it but I’ll have to think about what else I can use the cards for

daivid

MeeMawTucker said:

Thank you @MorningcoffeeIV I think you’re right and it would be a very slow stooze. It will be grating on me to have the free credit available and not be using it but I’ll have to think about what else I can use the cards for

Do nothing with it. Keeping utilisation low makes you more attractive to CC companies. If you are slow stoozing by putting regular spending on 0% and the cash in savings then when the 0% ends you may want to balance transfer to keep earning interest on the savings. If you have maxed out your credit you may struggle to get a good card. I aim to keep utilisation under 25% of my total credit limits but though this seems to work for me I have no evidence to support it being the optimal amount.

MeeMawTucker

Thank you @daivid that’s a good point. I wasn’t thinking so much beyond the end of the current interest-free period, but if I get the hang of all this, I will probably want to continue! 

I noticed when I checked my credit rating, I thought it would have dropped (from accidentally getting two cards at the same time) but it had gone up 10 points and the reason given was not using all my available credit. 

MasterplanC

Virgin Money might also end up offering you a money transfer for a low fee and 0% interest for a significant period of time. I opened my credit card with them like 3 months ago and just got an offer I took.

MeeMawTucker

Thank you @MasterplanC I hadn’t thought of a money transfer; I will keep a look out though. Slowly getting the hang of all this!