A little help for a newbie stoozer please

Hi all,

Love reading the forums!

I’d like some advice/guidance (from anyone willing to share any knowledge!) about the basics of stoozing. I have read martins step by step guide, however I’m left questioning the final step.

What would you suggest would be the best step to take- repay? Or BT? And why?

As I understand it you are prolonging the interest earned on saved cash if you BT, but then you are also maxed out in credit and having to use your own cash again anyway?!

I have enough to repay.. should that be the best option! But I was wondering what the benefits of a BT are, and how it works. :D

Comments

  • Ben8282
    Ben8282 Posts: 4,821
    Combo Breaker First Post Newshound!
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    If you are in a situation where your cards are maxed out by stoozing to the extent that you have no available credit whatsoever to cover normal day to day spending, then I would say that you are being greedy. Also this is counterproductive as not only are you having to pay cash for everything on a day to day basis, but your credit files will be showing almost 100% utilisation which, coupled with nothing but minimum payments, will seriously affect your chances of obtaining a new card to balance transfer too.
    You have started stoozing but don't know what the benefits of a balance transfer are or how balance transfers work? Are you sure you should be stoozing?
    How exactly did you build up this stoozing pot in the first place?
    IF you are able to obtain new card(s) with a sufficiently high credit limit to balance transfer some or all of the existing stoozing pot with a fee low enough and a 0% period long enough to actually make a profit, then by all means transfer the balance. The balance of the original card(s) will then be repaid from the new card(s).
    I would then suggest that you do not cancel the original card(s) but use it/them for day to day spending, repaying in full each month. This will assist with your cash flow, allow you to earn an extra month or more interest on this money and also the extra available credit will be there both for emergencies and to keep your utilisation % down to something more reasonable.
    If you are unable to obtain new card(s) then you will have to repay and start over.
  • bigsaver28
    bigsaver28 Posts: 26 Forumite
    thank you so much for your reply, much appreciated. that makes total sense! I am not greedy haha and I don't intend to use ALL of my available credit. in fact one of the reasons I have chosen to use credit is to limit my spending, it helps me to be more aware of impulse buys and unnecessary spending. I have enough savings to cover the credit so I'm sure I wont end up in trouble.. as I said in my op I was just wondering how the balance transfer worked.. ive never borrowed in my life (hence the savings) but I figured if I research and be disciplined I could give it a go. I'm a long way off the final step so wanted to get to grips with the options well in advance :)
  • Just a note that if you haven't started yet, and haven't previously had credit/got an outstanding balance at the moment - then you need to build up your "pot" with a PURCHASES card.

    Try the eligibility checkers (I'd try a few just to be sure, as some offer pre-approval for different things against different Credit Reports) - but essentially you want a long 0% purchases to start with. Setup minimum payment direct debit on that. Don't max it out. As you get closer to your limit, maybe apply for a 2nd one. Then a 3rd etc. A lot depends on your income, employment status etc. How much you spend each month.

    For example if you spent £2k a month, then a card with a £3k limit isn't going to last long, you'd be better off getting 2 or 3 new cards now (before it goes your credit report that you've just got a new card and £xxxx new potential debt).

    If you only spend £300 a month (shared living costs, say) then if you get approved initially with a limit of say £5,000 (as my friend did, and I nearly fell off my chair) then getting loads of extra cards now is just eating into the 0% period, when you won't be spending on then.

    HOWEVER if you believe (as we did with her) that you won't get any more credit once the first has been reported (due to combination of low income, lack of credit history etc) then you may want to "max it out" now and apply for say 5 or 6. If you earn 50k and get £3k now, spending £300 a month, then clearly you don't need to rush to get anymore - indeed, waiting could help (as you'd be building up a (small) history of using the 3k card responsibly)

    We got her £17k in one go (over 150% of income) as there was no way in hell she'd have got any more once Creation had reported back to the CRAs (~3 weeks later) that they'd given her 5k.

    Sounds like you have a very thin file so you might so you may not have many choices - I'd do a few eligibility checks for 0% purchase cards to start with, maybe post up what your results are (e.g. X preapproved, X @ 95%, X @ 90%) - the knowledgeable stoozers on here can then maybe give you more of a direction in addition to Ben's helpful advise above.

    If you share your income that might help too. E.g. £15k income you're not going to be offered a great deal initially, so IMO get as many as you can as quick as you can (even if some will go unused). £30k income, you shouldn't have that much of an issue
  • bigsaver28
    bigsaver28 Posts: 26 Forumite
    Thanks.. to save some time I can tell you my situation and people can advise from that if they like!..I do currently use spending cards. i have an old card that has about 12months 0% left ( used half my limit and paying minimum repayments) I have another more recent card with (21months left at 0% which I plan to use next, currently I!!!8217;ve used none) only 2k on that tho so I plan to use about half.. I have been accepted for a 3rd card (27months at 0%) so I plan to split my spending between the two.. my aim is to not use all of my available balance (as mentioned by Ben above) as I want to keep a good utilisation % and have the chance (hopefully) of continuing once these ones expire, BT or repay and get others.. I have 10.5k available credit, and don!!!8217;t plan to use all that!.. really appreciate the input and advice so far !!!55357;!!!56842;
  • Ben8282
    Ben8282 Posts: 4,821
    Combo Breaker First Post Newshound!
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    Tooshka wrote: »
    my aim is to not use all of my available balance (as mentioned by Ben above) as I want to keep a good utilisation %
    Just to clarify that I did not suggest that you should use or are using all your available balance. That is the situation you described in your OP. It would now appear that your actual situation is very different from that described in post 1 of this thread. If you expect good advice than may I suggest that you describe your situation correctly in the first place.
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