From: Jonathan Bryce 
Subject: Re: barclays or abbey
Newsgroups: uk.finance
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 22:16:16 +0100

Tim wrote:

> Although an effective tax-free return of (say) 4.5%pa for 6 months (around
> 2.25% overall) would cover most "1.5-2%" charges and still leave a little
> profit anyway....

Well, the best 6 month fix I can find is 4%, which I make as 1.98% over 6
months.

If you found a card that charges 1.5% on the cash advance, that would make
you £14.40 on the deal if you used your cash ISA allowance for the year. 
Subtract from that the cost of postage / telephone calls etc.  Look at how
long it takes you to organise it and consider whether or not you would be
better off spending the time working for the money.

Most of my card cos have written to tell me that they are increasing the
cash advance fee to 2%, not that I care because if I want cash, it comes
out the current account.