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Starting up!!

johnbhoy10
johnbhoy10 Posts: 452 Forumite
Hey guys-i dabbled slightlywith stoozing in the past but missed the real good times and chucked it. However, with Amex churning now a lot harder i thought i'd stick a toe in again and try again.

I have an offset mortage so good for a slow stooze and applied for the Sainsburys Dual last night and got 5k with 28 months. Was quite pleased with that. So far so good. Thought i would try again and have a mini blitz of applications together to start me off.

So tried Virgin Money last night and their 'soft' (i hope it was) check said no thanks. Now this may have something to do with the fact i've just cleared a 30 month money transfer card with them a couple of weeks ago. Didn't pay any interest of course.

The MBNA looks good but i don't think i[ve got any big purchases in the next couple of months to maximise it.

I see on the list on here that Tesco, Yorkshire and Clydesdale are doing 26 months.

Any thoughts guys. I'm inclined to go for a couple more over the weekend or should i just sit tight??


ps- i had 6 amex before Xmas and a Creation but i've scaled it back to 3 Amex and the Creation and reduced their limits.
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Comments

  • jtgaoler
    jtgaoler Posts: 33 Forumite
    Credit Club will give you as a good an idea as anything else!
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
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    Never quite understood stoozing. Especially now.
    Basically, if you spend the energy you would stoozing on something else you can easily make more money expending your energy elsewhere. Hell, even cutting grass will return you more than faffing around stoozing.
    Also, A better return on your money would be to invest the money properly. Not just in some rinkydink interest account.
  • MallyGirl
    MallyGirl Posts: 6,563
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    pretty true today but when I first started doing it I could do a fee free money transfer from Egg straight into my flexible mortgage and save a fair bit on interest. The interest rates are too low these days to make much
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  • johnbhoy10
    johnbhoy10 Posts: 452 Forumite
    Thanks for replies folks. Got the Sainsburys and added the Clydesdale so got 13k and will just slow stooze against my offset mortgage. Not a lot but it's a start again and at least getting something back after my Flybe and Amex cards have ceased to become much use to me now!!!
  • johnbhoy10
    johnbhoy10 Posts: 452 Forumite
    beany_bot wrote: »
    Never quite understood stoozing. Especially now.
    Basically, if you spend the energy you would stoozing on something else you can easily make more money expending your energy elsewhere. Hell, even cutting grass will return you more than faffing around stoozing.
    Also, A better return on your money would be to invest the money properly. Not just in some rinkydink interest account.

    Apply, set up minimum d/debit, circle end date and clear. Slow stoozing doesn't take a lot of time. I do take your point about it been of negligible value though.

    ''invest money properly''- not that i've looked that much but wouldn't have thought that's risk free without committing middle to longer term. For my circs at the moment i like to have quick access.
  • Fingerbobs
    Fingerbobs Posts: 1,627
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    beany_bot wrote: »
    Also, A better return on your money would be to invest the money properly. Not just in some rinkydink interest account.

    This makes no sense. Stoozing does not involve any of your own money.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
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    Fingerbobs wrote: »
    This makes no sense. Stoozing does not involve any of your own money.
    So?? That totally misses the point.
  • PRAISETHESUN
    PRAISETHESUN Posts: 3,678
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    beany_bot wrote: »
    Never quite understood stoozing. Especially now.
    Basically, if you spend the energy you would stoozing on something else you can easily make more money expending your energy elsewhere. Hell, even cutting grass will return you more than faffing around stoozing.
    Also, A better return on your money would be to invest the money properly. Not just in some rinkydink interest account.

    I agree with your comment and those above that it's of negligible value (best returns are around 1-2% cash interest at the moment) but the whole point of stoozing is that you are being loaned free money to invest. Since it has to be repaid otherwise the value of the interest due will overwhelm any gains then you need a safe investment - short of any banking crisis then cash is basically 100% safe if done properly. At the end of the day it is essentially free money, and the amount of effort you want to put in to get it ultimately comes down to the individual.
  • hugheskevi
    hugheskevi Posts: 3,782
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    edited 3 May 2019 at 10:09PM
    I agree with your comment and those above that it's of negligible value (best returns are around 1-2% cash interest at the moment)
    Agreed, but if you an easy way to immediately extract the funds with 0% interest and no fees and can get good credit limits, then for the small amount of work involved it can still give a decent return. I've had about £70,000 of 0% interest, no fee outstanding balance on cards across myself and my wife for years using an old no fee money transfer card combined with regular balance transfer offers. With a mortgage rate of 1.69% that has been a bit over £1,000 saved in interest per year in recent years with trivial effort.
    but the whole point of stoozing is that you are being loaned free money to invest. Since it has to be repaid otherwise the value of the interest due will overwhelm any gains then you need a safe investment
    You have to be able to ensure you can repay the debt as it falls due, but that does not mean you have to be using 'safe' investments. Personally I ensure I can meet all future repayments from salary, and in the worst case I could just draw money from ISAs. Hence the extra money from 0%, no fee offers simply enables me to progress my latest financial priority more rapidly than if I just used future salary when I received it.

    In the past this has involved pension contributions and ISA contributions, and more recently the extra has gone a little toward mortgage overpayments. The returns on the pension investments in particular were many times the interest rates on 'safe' investments and also very tax efficient. It can be argued that involved an element of luck, but given an appropriate investment horizon and certainty about being able to repay credit debt from other means, it would be recklessly cautious to limit investments to 'safe' investments that are not even returning inflation. The situation will be different for every individual depending on their financial circumstances of course.
  • CRAIGSVILLE
    CRAIGSVILLE Posts: 72 Forumite
    Also, you have to get your timing right with re-mortgaging as well. You don't want say £50K tied up in c/c debt at least 3 months before applying. or you wont get the best deals, or even declined, which would probably negate the interest earned elsewhere.
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