Help to Buy ISA guide

ivrimon

masonic said:

ivrimon said:

I assume I could always transfer to another provider in a couple of years anyway?

You could if there were any providers remaining that allowed you to open a new account for the transfer. That is in no way guaranteed.

True, I guess it is a gamble as to whether the rates are still competitive in a few years (excluding the bonus) compared to cash ISAs for anything over £12,000. Though, looking at the HSBC form it might just be easier to call Halifax.

masonic

ivrimon said:

masonic said:

ivrimon said:

I assume I could always transfer to another provider in a couple of years anyway?

You could if there were any providers remaining that allowed you to open a new account for the transfer. That is in no way guaranteed.

True, I guess it is a gamble as to whether the rates are still competitive in a few years (excluding the bonus) compared to cash ISAs for anything over £12,000. Though, looking at the HSBC form it might just be easier to call Halifax.

If I were to take a gamble on which will have favourable terms for longer, I'd put my money on Halifax over HSBC.

margaretx9

masonic said:

ivrimon said:

masonic said:

ivrimon said:

I assume I could always transfer to another provider in a couple of years anyway?

You could if there were any providers remaining that allowed you to open a new account for the transfer. That is in no way guaranteed.

True, I guess it is a gamble as to whether the rates are still competitive in a few years (excluding the bonus) compared to cash ISAs for anything over £12,000. Though, looking at the HSBC form it might just be easier to call Halifax.

If I were to take a gamble on which will have favourable terms for longer, I'd put my money on Halifax over HSBC.

Bear in mind the interest differential will only be £6 a year on £12,000 - assuming HSBC maintain their 1.75% rate and Halifax 1.7%.
On £2,000 it will be £1 - barely the price of a first class stamp.
If you reach £15,000 Halifax will pay nearly £45 more interest a year.
For those levels service and perceptions about who will pay better rates may matter too. Halifax is more focused on the lower value FTB market - so it may want to protect its rate longer term to get their mortgage business!

craigcmc

I am in the same situation as other posters where my Nationwide HTB rate is being reduced on 15th May. Just a note that I tried to call Halifax today to transfer to them and there isn't enough staff to take calls regarding transfers apparently. Branches are not offering appointments so this cannot be done in branch either at this time (they are understandably only offering critical cash services etc. for customers as opposed to allowing 'non-essential' appointments for new products etc.). The transfer will take 15 working days to complete so I hope that they will have some facility to answer these calls soon (otherwise will have to stick to reduced rate on my existing account  until I can move it). Not sure if anybody else has experienced this issue given the current high call volume and reduction in services for new customers? Has anyone been successful in transferring during this time?

d01234

craigcmc said:

I am in the same situation as other posters where my Nationwide HTB rate is being reduced on 15th May. Just a note that I tried to call Halifax today to transfer to them and there isn't enough staff to take calls regarding transfers apparently. Branches are not offering appointments so this cannot be done in branch either at this time (they are understandably only offering critical cash services etc. for customers as opposed to allowing 'non-essential' appointments for new products etc.). The transfer will take 15 working days to complete so I hope that they will have some facility to answer these calls soon (otherwise will have to stick to reduced rate on my existing account  until I can move it). Not sure if anybody else has experienced this issue given the current high call volume and reduction in services for new customers? Has anyone been successful in transferring during this time?

I called on Friday and the person I got through to was unaware of Halifax offering Help To Buy transfers in. He transferred me to another department, but call cut out after 2 hours before I got through. Didn't get through to a person at all on Saturday or Sunday when I tried. Also sent a secure message on the Halifax mobile app and I did get a reply after a few hours but just got given a link to a generic ISAs page on the website. So I've pretty much given up on it and will probably transfer in a few days to a normal cash ISA with a better rate than the 1% from Nationwide (I already have a LISA so was only using the HTB for the better interest rate).

mojohito

Hi,
I’m nearly at the £12k max savings for H2B ISA. Once I reach it, in the next tax year, can I stop making payments and open a cash ISA? Or do I have to close my H2B ISA before I can open a cash ISA?
I also have a LISA, don’t know if that affects my plans?
Thanks in advance.

eskbanker

mojohito said:

I’m nearly at the £12k max savings for H2B ISA.

There is no £12K maximum as such, it's just that savings above that don't increase the government bonus.

mojohito said:

Once I reach it, in the next tax year, can I stop making payments....

You can stop whenever you like, there's no monthly minimum.

mojohito said:

....and open a cash ISA?

You can open a cash ISA whenever you want but as HTB ISA is a cash ISA, you can only pay new money into one or the other in any given tax year, unless both are with one of the few providers supporting the 'split ISA' concept: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-cash-isa/#accordion-content-0334234523-3

mojohito said:

I also have a LISA, don’t know if that affects my plans?

Not in terms of which ISAs you can pay into, but worth deciding which product you wish to use to support your first property purchase, given that you can't benefit from the government bonus from both HTB and LISA when buying.

ivrimon

margaretx9 said:

On £2,000 it will be £1 - barely the price of a first class stamp.

It's why I'm not on any rush to switch, except of course that it might not be possible in the future. I'll definitely wait until the lockdown etc. is over as it looks like Halifax are having enough trouble on the phone lines.

margaretx9

ivrimon said:

margaretx9 said:

On £2,000 it will be £1 - barely the price of a first class stamp.

It's why I'm not on any rush to switch, except of course that it might not be possible in the future. I'll definitely wait until the lockdown etc. is over as it looks like Halifax are having enough trouble on the phone lines.

Sensible to wait as you say until you can be guarantee it will be sorted properly - last thing you want is them to mess things up when it comes to a help to buy isa given its a closed product!
At least with Nationwide its a split isa provider so you can invest in other cash isas with them - although most of their isa rates are now appalling! 

mojohito

eskbanker said:

mojohito said:

I’m nearly at the £12k max savings for H2B ISA.

There is no £12K maximum as such, it's just that savings above that don't increase the government bonus.

mojohito said:

Once I reach it, in the next tax year, can I stop making payments....

You can stop whenever you like, there's no monthly minimum.

mojohito said:

....and open a cash ISA?

You can open a cash ISA whenever you want but as HTB ISA is a cash ISA, you can only pay new money into one or the other in any given tax year, unless both are with one of the few providers supporting the 'split ISA' concept

mojohito said:

I also have a LISA, don’t know if that affects my plans?

Not in terms of which ISAs you can pay into, but worth deciding which product you wish to use to support your first property purchase, given that you can't benefit from the government bonus from both HTB and LISA when buying.

So surely it makes more sense to change to a cash ISA once you reach the £12k government bonus cap?
Seeing as you can't pay more than £200/month into a H2B ISA? And then just keep the £12k in the H2B ISA until I purchase my first property?