Starting to Stooze

fun4everyone

After years of using cashback credit and debit cards, finally decided to take it up a notch and move onto stoozing.  Current interest rates on offer definitely helped with this decision.

Successfully applied for the Barclaycard 21 month 0% card, which has now arrived.  Activated and set up the app, also called them and got hold of the exact date the account was opened (which is the date the t&c state the 21 months start from).

Set up a direct debit to pay the minimum every month and will pay off the balance as the 21 month anniversary approaches.  Have the requisite savings accounts already open.  Is there anything else to do?  

Sadly they opened me with a relatively small credit limit, hopefully they will increase this as I near it.  Is it best to just leave it and hope they offer it automatically or should I just request it when I am approaching the limit? 

born_again

fun4everyone said:

After years of using cashback credit and debit cards, finally decided to take it up a notch and move onto stoozing.  Current interest rates on offer definitely helped with this decision.

Successfully applied for the Barclaycard 21 month 0% card, which has now arrived.  Activated and set up the app, also called them and got hold of the exact date the account was opened (which is the date the t&c state the 21 months start from).

Set up a direct debit to pay the minimum every month and will pay off the balance as the 21 month anniversary approaches.  Have the requisite savings accounts already open.  Is there anything else to do?  

Sadly they opened me with a relatively small credit limit, hopefully they will increase this as I near it.  Is it best to just leave it and hope they offer it automatically or should I just request it when I am approaching the limit? 

What sort of card?
Spending, balance transfer or Money Transfer card?

fun4everyone

born_again said:

What sort of card?
Spending, balance transfer or Money Transfer card?

Spending, 0% on purchases for 21 months.

born_again

So all you can do is spend on card. Transfer the full amount spent each month to a savings acc. Which in reality is not going to make much interest, especially with a relatively small credit limit.

Brie

fun4everyone said:

Sadly they opened me with a relatively small credit limit, hopefully they will increase this as I near it.  Is it best to just leave it and hope they offer it automatically or should I just request it when I am approaching the limit? 

Barclaycard has a pretty strict way of determining how much credit they will allow.  So if you have credit you are not using elsewhere and either closed that/those card(s) or reduced the credit available you are more likely to get B's to up your limit although there is no guarantee.  I doubt they will do it automatically (lots of cards have been slapped for this in the past) so you might be best asking for an increase going in with a plausible excuse.  "I'm looking to buy <big value item> and would like to do so with your card so I can have time to pay it off".  Years back (before they got so strict) they upped mine several thousand so I could buy a car.  My limit was up to 5 digits when they did a major review of their cards and they dropped my credit to less than 10% making it nearly useless for me now.  

fun4everyone

Brie said:

Barclaycard has a pretty strict way of determining how much credit they will allow.  So if you have credit you are not using elsewhere and either closed that/those card(s) or reduced the credit available you are more likely to get B's to up your limit although there is no guarantee.  I doubt they will do it automatically (lots of cards have been slapped for this in the past) so you might be best asking for an increase going in with a plausible excuse.  "I'm looking to buy <big value item> and would like to do so with your card so I can have time to pay it off".  Years back (before they got so strict) they upped mine several thousand so I could buy a car.  My limit was up to 5 digits when they did a major review of their cards and they dropped my credit to less than 10% making it nearly useless for me now.  

Thank you Brie for a very useful reply, this was exactly the sort of tip I was looking for. I do actually have quite large limits of credit elsewhere which doesn't get used very often. Nice idea to try reducing that perhaps. I've never had any previous dealings with Barclays/Barclaycard so all they know about me is what they saw when they searched me. Fingers crossed I can get the limit raised when a couple of months of usage and payments have passed, we will see. If not c'est la vie and try and apply for other 0% spending cards.

Wyndham

born_again said:

So all you can do is spend on card. Transfer the full amount spent each month to a savings acc. Which in reality is not going to make much interest, especially with a relatively small credit limit.

But any money made through stoozing (fast or slow) is money you wouldn't otherwise have. And for a beginner, it's a good way to get the hang of it.

retro1981

I began stoozing 8 months ago, one with Barclaycard who offered a credit limit increase last month which I accepted via SMS & it was applied within days. Nothing from M&S so far but have only recently began to hit the limit.

RetSol

Wyndham said:

born_again said:

So all you can do is spend on card. Transfer the full amount spent each month to a savings acc. Which in reality is not going to make much interest, especially with a relatively small credit limit.

But any money made through stoozing (fast or slow) is money you wouldn't otherwise have. And for a beginner, it's a good way to get the hang of it.

Exactly.

I started small about 18 months ago with a 0% purchase card and a low credit limit and now have a very useful stooze pot. 

fun4everyone

Wyndham said:

But any money made through stoozing (fast or slow) is money you wouldn't otherwise have. And for a beginner, it's a good way to get the hang of it.

Exactly, thank you.

retro1981 said:

I began stoozing 8 months ago, one with Barclaycard who offered a credit limit increase last month which I accepted via SMS & it was applied within days. Nothing from M&S so far but have only recently began to hit the limit.

Interesting, I hope that happens to me. Of course my account is set up to pay the min payments by direct debit every month so we will just see as I approach the limit.

RetSol said:

I started small about 18 months ago with a 0% purchase card and a low credit limit and now have a very useful stooze pot. 

This is good to hear and is exactly what I hope to achieve for myself.