credit and debt
additional income: stoozing, or credit card arbitrage
WSA adsense code -->what exactly is stoozing?
Its the practice of borrowing money for free from credit card companies, and then putting it into savings accounts in order to collect the interest. Its also known as credit card arbitrage, and there have been aficionados for some time. According to some the word ’stoozing’ is derived from an early exponent of the technique whose username on the UK Motley Fool boards was Stooz.
aren’t credit cards evil?
No. Credit card companies are evil in the sense that all corporations are evil and want nothing but your money, but credit cards are a tool that it is possible to use to either lose a considerable amount of money, or through the technique of stoozing, gain you a considerable amount of money.
why will credit card companies lend me money for free?
Because they hope that you will get it wrong and end up paying them, rather than making money for yourself.
what is the best way of stoozing?
This depends entirely on how disciplined you can be.
the less risky and easier way
If you have saved up some money for say, a holiday or a new car, then you can use that to start your stoozing fun relatively risk free. Firstly, make sure that the savings are in a high interest account (tax-free if possible). Pay for the holiday / car / whatever on your existing credit card. You then apply for a 0% balance transfer card, transfer the entire balance of your existing credit card onto your 0% card, and then pay the minimum on this. Once the 0% balance transfer rate is about to end, apply for a new balance transfer card, rinse and repeat. The amount you make from this method depends on the size of your original savings.
the more convoluted way
This is outlined on money saving expert. It basically involves using a 0% balance transfer even though you don’t have a balance to transfer and putting the balance transfer amount directly into savings. Once you have the seed money, you can then keep transferring it between 0% cards, and you can (often) start the cycle again with a new balance transfer.
the 0% balance transfer offer has a fee
It can still be worthwhile using a 0% balance transfer offer with a fee. It depends on whether the fee is capped, and the underlying interest rate on the card. The fee will attract interest, and without paying off the whole balance (defeating the object) you cannot stop accumulating interest on the fee.
Suppose you have a �1000 balance transfer for a year with a 3% fee on a card with a 9.9% underlying interest rate payment, and you put the �1000 in a savings account that pays 6% tax-free. Ignoring the effect of the minimum payment, one year later you will have:
Savings account: �1000 + �60 interest = �1060
Credit card �1000 balance transfer + �30 fee + �2.97 interest = �1032.97
So you come out ahead.
If you include a 5% minimum payment at the end of the year you will end up with
Savings account: �444.90
Credit card: �432.97
So you still come out ahead. What you are looking for is the lowest possible fee (capped is better if you have a large amount to balance transfer), a low interest rate on the fee, and a low minimum payment.
isn’t it a lot of effort for little reward?
Yes and no. If you can get large balance transfers of around �10K, then you should make between �100 and �600 per year depending on the offers available. That’s up to �600 a year for free.
the key thing to remember
The easiest way to avoid messing this up is to never under any circumstances spend the original balance transfer amount plus fees and associated interest. If you want to spend in the interest, then fine, but at any point the balance transfer game could come to an end and you will need to pay back the money that you borrowed to the credit card company.
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Discussion
15 comments for “additional income: stoozing, or credit card arbitrage”
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Interesting. I have never heard it called stoozing before. Shouldn’t that have gone in your slang terms for British money post?
It looks like you’ve got this topic well covered - don’t do it unless you know what you’re doing.
why will credit card companies lend me money for free?
“Because they hope that you will get it wrong and end up paying them, rather than making money for yourself.”
Good one, and they win at this game 70% of americans already lost the game and are a slave the debt.
I wouldn’t say the money is free…it appears like a lot of work and timing…
It doesn’t require much work at all if your current credit cards start offering 0% for transfers. It took me 5 minutes to get a transfer of ~$30K to my checking account and 5 more minutes to set up the transfer to my HSBC Direct high yield savings. I figure it will take me 10 minutes (those two five minute steps reversed) to pay off the credit card when the 0% offer is set to expire.
All told, this should make me approximately $1,100 for the 9 months of interest. 20 minutes for $1,100 works for me!
I hate posts that lead off like this but: “Stoozing!” such a cool term. I will use that in several situations tomorrow when it’s completely inappropriate and just tell my fellow NYers that it’s a hip new Brit phrase (since NYers are suckers for hip Brit stuff).
I think it’s a terrible idea. It’s going to burn someone someday, and probably that someone will be … you. Is it really worth it for a few hundred dollars? It’s not a long-term sustainable way to make money, so I would steer clear of it.
Before I wrote this post, I hadn’t actually planned on doing it myself. Now however, I’ve decided to invest a little time in getting the ’system’ (mule card, savings account and balance transfer card) set up to see whether I can manage it. I haven’t completely decided to go ahead, but it actually looks like fun to try out.
Doesn’t your credit rating get damaged?
Yep, the credit rating will be damaged temporarily because of the high utlilization of your credit card. I would recommend to pay back any outstanding balances about 6 months before you will be seeking credit. I did this and when I went to buy a house, my credit rating was still well into the 700s.
Stoozing. I love that word. I just finished some stoozing last month. It did drop my credit score about 30 points at first but it is already back to normal. There doesn’t seem to be as many good 0% offers right now so I’ve given up on stoozing for now.
I think its better clear all your outstanding payments in your previous credit cards before you go for stoozing in to other bank standards.