Isa transfer and help to buy isa

mmo_2

Hi all,
I have some saving in natwest isa which is paying really little interest, compared to others. I planned to move this across to nationwide isa, paying 1.40% interest.

And I am looking to get a house at the end of next year and also would like to take advantage of help to buy isa which will be available this autumn.

The reason I choose nationwide over others is they have something called save to buy saving and isa which seem to come with some attractive benefits for house buyers.

If I transfer natwest isa to new nationwide isa, do you think I won't be able to open help to buy isa later on?

Thanks to all,

PeacefulWaters

If you haven't funded an ISA in this tax year (since 6th April) then transferring an old ISA will not prevent you having a Help To Buy ISA.

mmo_2

Hi peaceful waters, thanks for the reply. It is only small interest on the account is added back to the isa. I haven't topped up into it since April. Would that be fine?

colsten

Without knowing how much money is involved, I assume you are talking about more than £50,000 in your ISA(s) by end of the financial year: You should be looking into switching a current account to a Nationwide FlexDirect account, which will then entitle you to their 1.6% FlexClusive ISA. If you switch via Quidco or TCB, you should get a nice cashback bonus.

If you have less than £50,000, then various current accounts and regular savings accounts will pay you significantly more than the 1.6% you can make in an ISA. You should also be able to make a few hundred by making use of all the current account switching offers in the market.

If you do all this now, and keep your accounts in good order, it won't have any detrimental effect on your credit file come end of next year when you want to apply for a mortgage. And you would certainly be able to apply for the HTB ISA in autumn.

colsten

mmo wrote: »

Hi peaceful waters, thanks for the reply. It is only small interest on the account is added back to the isa. I haven't topped up into it since April. Would that be fine?

It would be fine - - - but if you only get small interest, you are most likely wasting your money in an ISA. Have you worked through this: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-loophole?

mmo_2

Hi colsten,
I only have 15k in cash (8k in isa and the rest is in lloyds accounts) and another 15k in s&s isa for now, but I will have some money coming in at the end of this month, so I m looking for a saving account to make good use of that money as well.

It is just that it been a while I am saving in that isa. And a bit hesitant to leave it. But I will think about using current accounts, so thanks for the tip.