Stoozing Snapshot 2005 Vs 2006
| Author: Clariman | Created: 04/01/2007 |
Without a doubt, stoozing is getting harder as more lenders introduce Balance Transfer fees and as many of them are going on to remove the caps on those fees. Nevertheless, the stoozing community is a resourceful bunch and stoozers are still making a significant amount of money from their activities. This is borne out by comparing our 2005 and 2006 stoozing polls.
Stooz Pot Size
In December 2005, we reported that the average stoozer had a stooz pot of approximately £29,000. When we reran the survey at the end of 2006, the stoozing team expected to see a sizeable decline in the average stooz pot, but this has not been the case. Our latest survey shows that the average stooz pot is approximately £27,500, representing a decline in a little over 5%.
Thinking about this
further, perhaps it is not so surprising. Part of the reason will be
that many stoozers will have cards that they applied for 6 months
ago - before many fees went uncapped and many others have had
success in getting older 0% deals extended for additional periods of
5 or 6 months. It could be that the reduced number of deals is not
yet hitting home.
Furthermore, although there are only a few
fee-free deals available, there are still many deals available where
a fee is charged, so perhaps stoozers are just taking the fee-hit
while still making profits.
Stoozing Income
In addition to re-running our Stooz-pot Size poll, we also re-ran our Total Stoozing earnings poll. Once again we were rather surprised by the results. We had expected that the total earnings would have increased as new stoozers were recording their profits and more experienced stoozers were adding on another year of earnings. Our earlier poll showed that the average stoozer had earned £2024 from stoozing and our more recent one shown £2110: an increase of only 4.24%. This may not be a truly representative poll, because the original poll was only closed late in 2006.
Stoozing earnings in any one year are a factor of 3
things: the size of one's stooz pot, the stooz pot interest rate and
the cost of Balance Transfer fees. Setting aside BT fees for one
moment, what kind of return are stoozers getting on their stooz
pots? It is heartening to see that the slight reduction in stooz pot
size is more than compensated for by the increase in savings account
interest rates.
In December 2005, a typical stooz pot
interest rate was 4.75% and that meant that stoozers were earning
£1,377 per annum (before tax) on an average stooz pot of £29,000. At
the end of 2006, a typical interest rate is 5.25% which would return
£1,444 on an average stooz pot of £27,500. Of course, that neglects
the impact of Balance Transfer fees. It is difficult to be precise
on the costs for an average stoozer, but once could imagine that to
maintain a stooz pot of £29,000 for a year the stoozer would need to
do at least 4 balance transfers. If they each had a capped fee of
£50, then that would reduce the earnings by £200.
Summary
Stoozing is undoubtedly becoming tougher, but the higher interest rates, repeat deals and the handful of good cards, still make it a worthwhile exercise.
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