Help to Buy ISA guide

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  • Hi all

    Just wondering if anyone else is having a nightmare processing their help2buy ISA.

    My boyfriend and I both joined in December as had made an offer on a house, we contributed in Jan and Feb to hit the minimum £1600 required to claim a bonus. We then closed the ISAs first week of Feb but are still trying to claim the bonus now (23rd Feb).

    I opened mine with Natwest (who have been helpful) and my boyfriend with Halifax (limited help) and both claim to have given us the correct information.

    We have then forwarded our 'closing statements' to the solicitor as per the instructions on the government website but they can't log in to the claim site and despite contacting lender exchange are still awaiting a response.

    We have now been ready to move for a couple of weeks but are still stuck as neither solicitors or banks can help us. We are incurring rent, conscious we are probably at risk of a bigger bill from the solicitor (although it looks like its restricted to £50 a person for the application - so hoping this extends to the emails) and the seller is getting increasingly frustrated.

    Has anyone else tried to claim yet? If so any tips?

    Thanks
  • ec87 wrote: »
    We have then forwarded our 'closing statements' to the solicitor as per the instructions on the government website but they can't log in to the claim site and despite contacting lender exchange are still awaiting a response.

    We have now been ready to move for a couple of weeks but are still stuck as neither solicitors or banks can help us. We are incurring rent, conscious we are probably at risk of a bigger bill from the solicitor (although it looks like its restricted to £50 a person for the application - so hoping this extends to the emails) and the seller is getting increasingly frustrated.

    Has anyone else tried to claim yet? If so any tips?

    No tips I'm afraid, but if this is what's delaying your purchase you certainly should do everything from now on with a view to complaining. So it seems your solicitor can't log on to the govt website to claim the bonus? Either your solicitor is incompetent or the government is, and both solicitors and governments have long track records of uselessness.

    Keep all correspondence, get everything in writing and complain to your solicitor. If they pass the buck to the govt, complain to them. If nobody has a clue, complain to the ombudsman - I think their rulings tend to be pretty fair. If you had to pay additional rent, the guilty party might be told to refund that to you, plus interest, plus additional compensation for inconvenience.
  • Hi, I'm new to this forum and forums in general.
    I have a £15061.82 in a cash ISA with Coventry Building Society. They have closed this product, so I can't deposit more money in to it.
    Can I transfer the entire balance into the Halifax Help to Buy ISA? And if so, can I do that this tax year, or would I have to wait until the next tax year?
    Thank you.
    Rich
  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 30,394
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    Hi, I'm new to this forum and forums in general.
    I have a £15061.82 in a cash ISA with Coventry Building Society. They have closed this product, so I can't deposit more money in to it.
    Can I transfer the entire balance into the Halifax Help to Buy ISA? And if so, can I do that this tax year, or would I have to wait until the next tax year?
    Thank you.
    Rich
    No, all HTB ISAs only allow a maximum subscription of £200 per month plus an extra one-off £1000 in the first month after opening. Nothing to stop you going ahead and opening a Halifax HTB ISA now, although if you've paid into your other one since 6 April 2015 then you'd need to close it, and if it's a fixed term product this may involve penalties, so you'd need to weigh up whether it's worth doing or waiting until 6 April.

    Either way, chances are there will be better homes for your money than another non-HTB cash ISA, see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/which-saving-account for details.
  • Hi, if I set up my help to buy ISA yesterday (23rd Feb) do I still need to make my first monthly payment by the 25th Feb or have I got until the 25th March?
  • rmc86uk
    rmc86uk Posts: 19
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    edited 25 February 2016 at 7:43AM
    Hi everyone

    I am a first time buyer and currently have £7000 deposit in a Halifax ISA. I want to take advantage of the the first time buyer ISA scheme but the mortgage advisor at Halifax told me it would be a waste of time as there wouldn't be enough time to build up the reward. I am planning to buy by the end of this year. I've read the story on here regarding the first couple to get their reward after only a few weeks. This has frustrated me as I was told by the advisor it would have to be in the ISA for years to get the money from the goverment towards my deposit. Does anyone have any advice if I can open one with my savings already?

    Thanks in advance
  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 30,394
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    Vanessyj wrote: »
    Hi, if I set up my help to buy ISA yesterday (23rd Feb) do I still need to make my first monthly payment by the 25th Feb or have I got until the 25th March?
    You can make your first monthly payment whenever you like!
  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 30,394
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    rmc86uk wrote: »
    I want to take advantage of the the first time buyer ISA scheme but the mortgage advisor at Halifax told me it would be a waste of time as there wouldn't be enough time to build up the reward. I am planning to buy by the end of this year. I've read the story on here regarding the first couple to get their reward after only a few weeks. This has frustrated me as I was told by the advisor it would have to be in the ISA for years to get the money from the goverment towards my deposit.
    The advisor was talking rubbish! You can get the minimum bonus of £400 after three separate calendar months (so can be just over one elapsed month if you time it right), although to get the maximum of £3K it takes 4.5 years.
  • rmc86uk
    rmc86uk Posts: 19
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    Thanks for your reply. One question is what do the government get out of helping out? My friends convinved that the government will take a percentage of the house when you buy it!
  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 30,394
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    rmc86uk wrote: »
    Thanks for your reply. One question is what do the government get out of helping out? My friends convinved that the government will take a percentage of the house when you buy it!
    There could be any of a variety of things that the government gets out of it, including stimulating growth, encouraging saving, boosting house building, naked political expediency, etc (delete as applicable according to what newspaper you read), but one thing is for sure, this scheme certainly doesn't entail the government taking a percentage of the house when you buy it! Does your friend wear a hat fashioned from tin foil by any chance?
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