Halifax Help to Buy ISA Transfer to LISA

DrDavid · 6 February 2018 at 5:31PM

Hi!

First post on the forum so go easy on me!

I have recently transferred my savings from my Halifax Help to Buy ISA into my Skipton Lifetime ISA. everything went smoothly except last week I received a letter from Halifax stating account details and that in order to claim the bonus I would need to appoint a conveyancer and I would have 1 year in which to do this and still be eligible for the bonus. My question is is this correct with it being a transfer rather than a closure with a view to a purchase? It has got me worried!

I cant buy a house until my LISA has been open a year (June 18). the bonus is obviously worth a lot to me financially so if true I would be forced into a purchase between June 18 (when the LISA is 1 year old) and Jan 19!

Thanks
David

Ed-1 · 6 February 2018 at 5:42PM

DrDavid wrote: »

Hi!

First post on the forum so go easy on me!

I have recently transferred my savings from my Halifax Help to Buy ISA into my Skipton Lifetime ISA. everything went smoothly except last week I received a letter from Halifax stating account details and that in order to claim the bonus I would need to appoint a conveyancer and I would have 1 year in which to do this and still be eligible for the bonus. My question is is this correct with it being a transfer rather than a closure with a view to a purchase? It has got me worried!

I cant buy a house until my LISA has been open a year (June 18). the bonus is obviously worth a lot to me financially so if true I would be forced into a purchase between June 18 (when the LISA is 1 year old) and Jan 19!

Thanks
David

Ignore it. It's the standard H2B ISA closure letter if you wanted to get the H2B ISA bonus.

You're not getting a bonus from the H2B ISA. Instead you'll get one from the LISA.

Bexfudge1 · 6 February 2018 at 10:44PM

Hi

I have £6,000 currently in my help to buy ISA and I want to transfer it over to a LISA, will I still get the 25% bonus on the whole £6,000

eskbanker · 7 February 2018 at 1:14AM

Bexfudge1 wrote: »

I have £6,000 currently in my help to buy ISA and I want to transfer it over to a LISA, will I still get the 25% bonus on the whole £6,000

Yes (assuming the 2017/18 portion of that £6K doesn't take you over the £4K annual LISA allowance if you already have the LISA opened), but if you're planning on transferring into the only cash LISA on the market (Skipton) then you should get a move on as you need to have the account opened (if not already done) and the transfer initiated within the next three weeks if you want to get all £6K in there in this tax year....

30by30 · 7 February 2018 at 2:42PM

All the reading I have done around transferring from Help to Buy to LISA has just resulted in my ever growing confusion. So my apologies for asking what I know has been rehashed in various guises over these forums elsewhere, but I want to ensure that I do the right thing by the monies I have worked hard to save.

As it currently stands I have a little over £5800 in a Halifax Help to Buy (HTB) ISA earning 3.5% interest. I have (as of a few minutes ago) opened a Skipton LISA (LISA) aware that I can make a single transfer of my HTB balance of a Help to Buy ISA as at 5 April 2017 without it counting towards my £4,000 annual Lifetime ISA allowance in the 2017/18 tax year. The whole amount I pay in will benefit from the 25% government bonus.

My understanding of this is that I can transfer the amount that was in my HTB on April 1st 2017 into the LISA and gain 25% bonus on this amount, and then transfer the remaining amount earned/paid out since April 2017 to LISA and gain 25% on this, up to £4000 (which it isn't). Yes?

Because of the special rules pertaining to the 25% bonus this year I plan on transferring all monies over to the LISA but am wondering how best to act going forward. I plan on keeping open my HTB as the rate of interest is competitive and has no exit penalties, and have maxed out Tesco/Nationwide etc etc etc accounts with other savings. I'm currently putting monies into 5% RS accounts which I plan to drip feed into either my HTB or LISA once matured. I'm 29, live in London and have no plans to buy a house in the the next 12 months less I win the lottery or marry a millionaire. So was wondering what you would do in my situation to make the best of the money you have and future savings?

Apologies for the long post and know that any assistance/advice would be most gratefully received!

Heiko88 · 7 February 2018 at 10:04PM

Hi everyone,

Also first post but don't know how else to find out some information.
I'm in a very similar position to 30by30 , meaning that I have a HTB ISA with about £5400 in it and opened a lifetime ISA on the first day it came out with Nutmeg, as no cash LISA was available at that point. Now it transpires that Nutmeg don't accept any transfers in of HTB ISAs so I opened a Skipton cash ISA this evening. I am planning on transferring my Nutmeg over to Skipton and then transfer my HTB ISA into Skipton as well.
Now I have technically had a LISA for almost a year now, but will this be taken into account when I transfer my Nutmeg LISA into the Skipton LISA for the purpose of buying a house in mid-April?
Or should I just take the money out of my HTB ISA and put it into Nutmeg before April?

Any help much appreciated!
Thanks

Alexland · 7 February 2018 at 10:40PM

30by30 - Yes you can transfer the entire balance of your HTB ISA into a LISA and it will all gain a bonus that you can use for a qualifying property purchase once the LISA has been open 12 months from the initial LISA contribution.

In addition you can add a bit more this tax year to get to the total £4k contribution limit. Any money added to the transfering HTB ISA this tax year or interest earned in the HTB ISA since 6th April 2017 counts as a contribution to the LISA.

Alex

Alexland · 7 February 2018 at 10:43PM

Heiko88 wrote: »

Now I have technically had a LISA for almost a year now, but will this be taken into account when I transfer my Nutmeg LISA into the Skipton LISA for the purpose of buying a house in mid-April?

Yes if you initiate a LISA transfer from Nutmeg to Skipton the original date you contributed to the LISA is unchanged so you should be ok with regards the 12 month rule.

However the first LISA bonus might not be paid until late April or early May so that might not meet your timeline for buying a property in mid April? In addition you might want to make a further contribution on 6th April to increase your bonus?

Alex

Heiko88 · 7 February 2018 at 11:12PM

Thanks Alex.
I know it is very tight in terms of time line, Sod's law.
I will transfer over the HTB ISA funds as well as make additional contributions for sure.

Alexland · 7 February 2018 at 11:24PM

Suggest you talk through the cashflow timeline with your solicitors so they understand your position. This is the first time LISA bonuses have been paid so there might be an unexpected delay so I wouldn't suggest you exchange contracts until you are certain of the bonus.

Lupinoid · 18 February 2018 at 10:16PM

Hi everyone,

I was just wanting to clarify my position & find out a bit more to guide me with our Help to Buy ISA transfer to a LISA.

So my husband has a Halifax Help to Buy ISA which was opened in September 2016. It isn't anywhere near as full as some others asking on here which is why I'm confused as to what we should & could do.

It currently has about £455 in it. £200 of which was paid in last tax year (16/17)

I'm aware that all the info screams at me to transfer the Help to Buy ISA into a LISA before the end of this tax year (or have it initiated before 1/3/18 if Skipton) as I'm not going to be buying a house till much further in the future. However the Halifax Help to Buy ISA has a much better rate than the LISA's I'm looking to transfer to (2.25% Vs Skipton's 0.75% or other)

My thinking here is by transfering the Halifax Help to Buy into LISA before end of 17/18 tax year. Yes I will then get the 25% bonus on whatever is transferred over (pre or post April 2017 as it's nowhere near the £4k limit) but I then condemn it to a lower rate of interest from there onwards in 18/19 tax year and beyond.

This leaves me thinking that it would be better to keep the money in the Halifax Help to Buy (although it's rate has fallen from 2.5% to 2.25% since opening) and not bother with a LISA (or have it opened with £1 only) till the balance is at a level where my contributions or a combination of both them & the interest reaches a level where it would exceed the Help to Buy ISA's contribution limit of £2400 each tax year (obviously the extended max of £3400 in year one I haven't met.)

I can't find any guidelines (probably because engines focused on this initial year) on if I can keep my Help to Buy ISA, continue to contribute to it and transfer it anytime in the future into a LISA past the 17/18 tax year mark as long as the transfer amount & composition is such that it doesn't bump my LISA contribution for that year in the future beyond its £4k limit.

The answer may well be a simple 'of course you can' but being that it's Feb 18' all the info I can find is always geared to this first year of the LISAs' and the special rules for Help to Buy ISA transfers for before the end of this tax year.

Thanks in advance for any help

Halifax Help to Buy ISA Transfer to LISA

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