Right now, on 23 December, most of the financial world is winding down for Christmas. But there's a small window before the year ends when you can still make moves that'll pay off in 2025. More importantly, it's the perfect time to actually work out what you've earned.
I don't mean vaguely remember. I mean sit down with actual numbers.
If you've been doing bank switching, stoozing on 0% credit cards, or putting money into regular savers, you've probably made more money this year than you realise. But you also need to understand the tax side—because sometimes the tax tail wags the strategy dog.
Let's walk through how to audit your actual earnings, what you owe (probably nothing, but let's check), and what you should do in these final days of 2024.
What You've Earned: The Three Pots
When you're using the StoozeMax stack, your earnings come from three different sources. They all look different to the taxman.
Bank switching bonuses are the simplest: a few hundred pounds from moving your current account. Santander's offering £500 right now via the Bank Current Account Switching Service. That's a clean payment. Others are in the £100–£200 range: Nationwide at £200, First Direct and HSBC at £175, NatWest and RBS also at £175. These are taxable, but only if you've had a lot of them. More on that in a moment.
Stoozing interest is where it gets interesting. You've put money on a 0% credit card, shifted it to a savings account earning 4.5–5%, and you're pocketing the difference. Say you had £5,000 on a 0% card for six months at 5%: that's £125 in interest. That's taxable income if you're not careful.
Regular saver account interest is the most straightforward. If you've been putting £250–£500 a month into a regular saver earning 7%+ (some accounts still offer this in 2024), you've earned guaranteed interest. Again: taxable.
So how much did you actually earn?
Pull together:
- Bank switching bonus amounts (date received matters)
- Total interest on savings accounts (your bank statements show this)
- Any interest from current accounts offering cashback rates
- Credit card rewards if you were stoozing with cards that offer 1% cashback
Add these up. Seriously, actually add them.
The Tax Question: Do You Actually Owe Anything?
Most of you don't. But you need to know why.
HM Revenue & Customs has what's called a Personal Savings Allowance. This is the amount of interest you can earn before you owe tax on it.
If you're a basic-rate taxpayer (earning under about £50,000), you can earn up to £1,000 in interest completely tax-free. That's per tax year (April to April).
If you're a higher-rate taxpayer, you get £500.
If you're additional-rate, you get nothing.
So if your total interest across all savings accounts in 2024–2025 was under £1,000 (and you're basic-rate), you don't owe a penny of tax on the interest, no matter how many different accounts you have.
Bank switching bonuses are a bit different. They count as miscellaneous income. In theory, you should declare them. In practice, the volume you'd need for it to matter is huge—most people with a few thousand in bonuses a year won't be at risk. But if you've been switching accounts six times a year and pocketing £1,000+, you should declare it.
The realistic position: if you've earned less than £3,000–£4,000 total from all banking activities this year, you almost certainly don't owe any tax. But if you've made more, or if this is becoming a pattern (lots of switches, lots of bonuses), it's worth doing a proper check.
Your move: Check your Personal Savings Allowance. If you earned more than £1,000 in interest, work out your actual tax bill—or get an accountant to. It's usually not much, but ignoring it can flag your account.
The Year-End Moves You Can Still Make
You've got about a week left in 2024. There are moves available right now:
If you haven't switched this year, Santander's £500 bonus is the biggest on the market at the moment. Nationwide is at £200. These bonuses usually come through within 10–30 days, so you might actually see the money in January but the offer is valid now. Check the live offers page for what's active.
If you're about to cross the tax year (we're only three months from April), think about what you want your £1,000 Personal Savings Allowance to cover. If you've already hit it for this tax year and you have cash sitting idle, moving it to an ISA in the new tax year means all future interest is tax-free. That's a permanent structure change.
If you've got a 0% balance transfer card coming to an end, don't close the account immediately. You need to look at what's available now for stoozing in 2025 (some 0% cards are getting rarer, so check what's still there). More importantly: don't put the money back on a credit card that'll charge interest. That wipes out your earnings.
Stooze money still sitting on a 0% card? It's mid-stooze season. You're earning interest while paying nothing to borrow. Don't rush to move it. Just make sure your savings account is still beating inflation. If your savings rate has dropped below 4%, consider moving the cash to a new account offering better rates.
The 2025 Plan: Three Things to Do in January
January is when people make plans they forget by February. So make plans you'll actually keep.
First: Audit properly. Write down every account you own, how much interest each earned in 2024, and what your tax situation is. Do it once and refer back to it every quarter. You'll make better decisions if you know where you stand.
Second: Decide if bank switching is for you in 2025. If you earned £1,000+ from switches in 2024, you've probably done five or six. That's a decent income stream. If you earned £500 and it felt like a lot of hassle, maybe you do it once a year (at the Santander rate) and call it done. Not everyone needs to switch twice a year. But if you enjoy it and you have the cash flow, there's no reason to stop.
Third: Lock in interest rates while they're decent. Base rates are likely to come down in 2025. Right now, you can get 4.5–5% on easy-access savings and sometimes higher on notice accounts. Fixed rates are more attractive than they've been in years. If you've got cash you won't need for 12 months, a 1-year fixed rate beating 4.5% is worth considering. That's your 2025 interest locked in.
What Not to Do in January
Don't close old accounts immediately after switching. You might find out the new account has a problem (fraud flags, poor service) and you'll need to fall back. Give it 30 days.
Don't assume next year's bonuses will be the same size. Santander's £500 is unusually high because they're aggressively chasing customers. Expect that to come down. Plan for £200–£300 per switch instead.
Don't put money meant for stoozing into a fixed-rate savings account. You need liquidity for stoozing to work—you have to be able to move the cash when the 0% offer ends.
Common Questions
Can I really earn £1,000+ in 2024 without paying tax? Yes, if it's all interest income and you're under the basic-rate threshold. Your Personal Savings Allowance covers the first £1,000. Above that, you'll owe basic-rate tax (20%) on the excess. So £1,200 in interest = tax on £200 = £40 owed. Most people with a stack of regular savers and stoozing won't hit this.
Do bank switching bonuses count towards my Personal Savings Allowance? No. Bank bonuses are separate income. You don't get to use your £1,000 savings allowance on them. But you probably don't owe tax on bonuses unless you've earned over £1,000 from switching in a year (which is a lot—that's five or six switches). Check with your accountant if you're regularly doing more than five switches annually.
Should I put everything into an ISA? Not necessarily. ISAs are brilliant if you're earning a lot of interest (over £1,000 a year), but the interest rates on ISAs tend to be 0.1–0.2% lower than equivalent non-ISA accounts. If you're only earning £500 a year in interest, you're better off using your Personal Savings Allowance on a regular account and getting the higher rate. Once you're regularly earning over £1,000, switch to an ISA.
What happens if I don't declare my bank bonuses? Technically, you should declare them. The reality is that HMRC isn't actively chasing people with a few hundred quid in bonuses. That said, if you're doing this repeatedly and making thousands, it will flag your account. Better to declare it and sleep well at night. Use your switching guide to track when you've switched and what you've earned.
Can I still stooze if interest rates come down in 2025? Yes, but the maths gets tighter. Stoozing only works if you can find a 0% card and a savings account paying more than 3%. As rates come down, that gap shrinks. In 2024 you could earn 5% interest while paying 0%—that's a 5% spread. In 2025, you might only find 3% savings rates paired with 0% cards, so your spread is 3%. Still worth doing, but the returns are lower. Check what's actually available before committing your cash.
Right then. You've got about a week to actually work out what you've earned and decide what you're doing next. Start with that list: bonuses, interest, the lot. Then look at your tax position—honestly, most of you won't owe anything. Then make a decision about whether you're continuing the stack in 2025 or pulling back.
Whatever you choose, do it intentionally. That's how you actually keep making money from this instead of just accidentally falling into it.