Help to Buy ISA guide

jimjames

sgmiles3 wrote: »

Hi
I have been saving in a Nationwide 5% deposit mortgage ISA for the past year or so and am now wondering whether it is best to setup a new help to buy ISA as well or move my current funds into the new Help to Buy ISA scheme?? Can i have soem advice please

Can't you do both?

eskbanker

Toridnl wrote: »

Can anyone clarify ...
there is a part of the rules to this HTB Isa that says you can only get the bonus on a property up to the value of £250k or £450k in 'London'
I cant find anywhere that's specifies if your in London or not ??
Is it just Inner London or Inner & outer London ?
Im on the outskirts, so this info would be very helpful to me
TIA

The information you need is in the form of a list of qualifying boroughs published in the last two pages of the official scheme rules.

kemp596

I am wanting to open the halifax help to buy isa as I am looking at buying a house in around 6 months, the 4% interest is paid on the year anniversary of first opening, if I buy a house within 6 months would I not get any interest from the account or would I still get 6 months worth on interest ? thank you

colsten

You will get the interest you have earned when you close your ISA, and you can close it any time you like.

AcidHouse

Hi all,

Some help for any of you who already paid into a cash ISA in the current tax year, who now want to open a HTB ISA with Halifax:

My cash ISA that I've been paying into is with Virgin. After a call to Halifax and to Virgin, both providers agreed that:

1) Halifax can accept a maximum of £1,000 from my current ISA as a transfer into the HTB ISA

2) I've paid £2,800 into the ISA in the current tax year already, so to comply with the transfer rule, I need to withdraw £1,800 back into my current bank account.

3) Once I've made the transfer request I need to wait until the transaction shows in my ISA account as being withdrawn.

4) I can then open the Halifax HTB, with a transfer request for them to obtain the £1,000 from my Virgin ISA.

5) Because I now have a HTB ISA, I can't pay into the Virgin ISA anymore. However the Virgin ISA still contains my previous balance from the past few years. I can now close the ISA if I want to, or move it around for a better interest rate.

Basically you need to chat with your provider to make sure you can perform the deposit transfer to Halifax and double check the amount you'll need to withdraw out of the ISA before you set anything up with Halifax.

Hope this helps - it's about what you've paid in within the current tax year, rather than your overall ISA balance

MARTYM8`

Toridnl wrote: »

Can anyone clarify ...
there is a part of the rules to this HTB Isa that says you can only get the bonus on a property up to the value of £250k or £450k in 'London'
I cant find anywhere that's specifies if your in London or not ??
Is it just Inner London or Inner & outer London ?
Im on the outskirts, so this info would be very helpful to me
TIA

Who do you pay your council tax to?

If its a London borough the limit is £450k - that includes outer boroughs like Barking, Bexley or Havering which have cheaper prices than many areas outside London.

If its not a London borough the maximum property price for the HTB ISA is £250k.

If you aren't sure use this link and input your postcode.

http://local.direct.gov.uk/LDGRedirect/Start.do?mode=1

What matters is the location of the property you are buying of course - in parts of London you can quickly move from a London borough to a shire district in Essex/Kent/Surrey/Herts very quickly (only the welcome signs tell you you have left 'London'). So check this out when you put in an offer.

colsten

MARTYM8` wrote: »

If you aren't sure use this link and input your postcode.

http://local.direct.gov.uk/LDGRedirect/Start.do?mode=1

Or just stick to the rules as published by the Treasury.

eskbanker wrote: »

The information you need is in the form of a list of qualifying boroughs published in the last two pages of the official scheme rules.

MARTYM8`

colsten wrote: »

Or just stick to the rules as published by the Treasury.

Yes - but that link tells you which borough you are in by inputting your postcode so you can verify if it is one of the ones listed in the Treasury rules as London Boroughs.

The poster doesn't seem to know which authority they live in - so that Treasury list is useless to them unless they have another way of finding out. My link helps with that. Alternatively most people will work out the council area they live in because its who they pay their council tax to each month - another source.

It is confusing if you aren't clued up - millions of people who live in a London borough have an Essex, Kent, Surrey or Middlesex postal address. That includes the area I was born in.

PS Do you have to be so snappy?!

Gary1963

Opend one online with Halifax. Transferred in £1000 from my existing Halifax account then the £200 for December ( it would not let me fund it with £1200 ).
I asked the staff in the local branch if I could tranfer in the monthly £200 on line from my existing Halifax account but was told it had to be by SO.
My thinking is that it will probably let you fund by transfer monthly rather than have to set up a SO.
After all how will it know how it is funded as long as the money is in the account each month.

colsten

MARTYM8` wrote: »

Alternatively most people will work out the council area they live in because its who they pay their council tax to each month - another source.

It doesn't help to check the post code of the address you pay your council tax to when you try to establish the borough of the property you intend to buy.

It's very easy to find out that borough by asking the Estate Agent or your Solicitor, or indeed the website you linked to.

To determine whether your borough counts as London or not, you have to go to eskbanker's link.