The current state of stoozing | 2007
| Author: Clariman | Created: 18/08/2007 |
Stoozing - There's Life in the Old Dog Yet!
The end of stoozing is predicted with great regularity, particularly now that the majority of card issuers have introduced Balance Transfer fees. In this article, we review the state of stoozing and ask whether there is still money to be made from 'the game'. Stoozers are a resourceful bunch, eager to spot ways of legitimately exploiting terms and conditions to make a few pennies (preferably a few thousand pounds) and happy to share their ideas on websites like stoozing.com. Stoozers are not going to give up stoozing lightly and will continue to find creative ways of playing the game. So let's take a look at the ups and downs of stoozing in the first half of 2007.
The Fundamentals of Stoozing
Let's start by going back to basics and asking what things need to be in place in order to make stoozing profitable. There are 4 things that need to exist:
- Credit cards that offer 0% on Balance Transfers for at least 5 months: the longer the better.
- At least one credit card that allows us to route money into a bank account for little or no charge (SBT card)
- An easy access savings account with a good interest rate
- A profitable margin between the costs of undertaking a Balance Transfer and the interest earned in the savings account
We will review each of these in turn.
0% Balance Transfer offers
There are many 0% BT offers available in the market and fierce competition for new business among credit card companies is still evident. Our Credit Cards table lists over 50 interest free BT deals that are currently available. The difficulty for the stoozer is that most card issuers now charge a fee for a Balance Transfer, so we need to pick and choose our deals carefully. We will return to this below.
A card to route money to a bank account (SBT)
In the early years of stoozing, the number one challenge was finding a way of routing money from a credit card into a bank account. Since the introduction of the Egg Money card nearly 2 years ago, this is no longer an issue. This card provides an easy and free way of moving money into a savings account. If you are not aware of this stoozing essential then read our Egg Money Card Guide. Egg Money also had a very profitable cashback loophole that earned most stoozers £200 per annum. Sadly this loophole has now been closed.
Easy Access Savings Account with a Good Interest Rate
This has been the good news area for stoozers over the last 18 months. When we did our first stoozing survey in December 2005, the Bank of England base rate was 4.5% with a decent savings account paying out 4.75%. Since then, the Bank of England has raised the base rate by 0.25% no fewer than 5 times, taking it up to 5.75%. A decent savings account today will be paying in excess of 6%. For an up to date list of accounts, see our Savings Account Table.
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