Stoozing and Remortgaging

schmooser

OK, so I'm one of the slow to catch on to the stoozing lark (well not so much slow to catch on- just hadn't realised the technique before, and caught on within a matter of minutes!!!)

Anyway, in the hope of a fairly simple answer! The plan at the moment is to get hold of 3 stoozing cards (already applying for them, accepted 2 waiting for paperwork on 1) and, assuming they are all around 7000 limit, will stick the 20000(ish) into ING. More than happy to then play the savings account / regular savings game and transfer balances onto other 0% balance transfer cards etc. at the end of promotional periods. My total CC holding will be 4 cards, 3 that I will never use but for stoozing, and my fourth for standard purchases, pay off in full etc.

The exam question then is: I will be looking to remortgage (tart around) when my current deal ends next August. How may the approach above affect my ability to obtain good rates on the mortgage. As (ignoring any payments for simplicity) my credit rating / finances will show around 20K debt with 4 credit cards (albeit the 20K is in a savings account, so as we all know is no risk debt). Will this have any affect or should I reduce the amount of stoozing until after the mortgage has gone through? e.g. only SBT from one or two cards and reduce the stooze to 7 or 14K and cancel the unused cards now?

Clear as mud?!?

Reaper

Yes it will be affected. The lender will look at your existing debts compared to your income before deciding whether to lend to you, so you shouldn't get carried away stoozing just before applying for a mortgage.

However if you are remortgaging then you are not asking for any additional debt which should make it easier.

If it causes a problem you can always offer to pay your cards off. One person here said such a condition was inserted into their mortgage offer.

schmooser

Yeah, Figured I'd probably have to get into a dialogue with prospective mortgage providers!

Anyone got any thoughts about getting into the discussion with them about it (i.e. explain, using appropriate wording of course!, that it is stoozing)? Or would it be better to just offer to pay off without explaining to them how I managed to (apparently) get myself £20,000 in debt?

smartsaver

We just proved to them we had the debts covered in savings and all was well. This was with Brittania and we were re-mortgaging with them - other lenders may not be sooo kind :-/

booogle

C&G weren't kind with me - too many credit cards/available credit so they wouldn't give me a BTL mortgage. No means to appeal the decision.

Galstonian

I remortgaged and continued stoozing. The underwriters were vaguely curious but as soon as they could see that the "debt" would be sitting with them they were fine.

I wouldn't suggest offsetting and stoozing a BTL, it could be complicated and interest is usually tax deductible so you lose some of the advatages of an offset straight away.

MarkyMarkD

I have just applied for a further advance from Yorkshire BS and they didn't ask anything about £17k of credit card debts offset by £17k of cash balances.

CopperPlate_2

Well, the above answers my question.

CP
;D

Pricy147

I have been stoozing since 2000, and recently applied for a C & G mortgage. At the time, I had approx 35k on credit cards.

Whilst applying, I explained this to the Financial Advisor and said if he wanted to see my statements, I could prove I coul cover this if need be. He said it was ok, and would put a note on the system. I was also goind 4 times my salary so - was stretching myself a little.

I expected problems from the underwriters - either a flat no, or queries and me having to pay off the cards first.

To my surprise, they accepted the mortgage no problems or queries. What wa taken into account was a 20% deposit (so if I couldnt pay the debt, they could resposses and get their money back anyway), and I have been banking with LTSB for over 10 yrs, so have a lot of history they could look at. My salary is also paid into the account. So it can work with large CC balances - just need to work with the financial advisor and be honest - you wont hide it!