Help to Buy ISA guide

Aidanmc

kierandaly_6 said:

Hi,
I'm a Uni undergrad with a HTB ISA. The rate has just been cut from 2.5% to 1% due to coronavirus. I just wanted to know what the best option for me to do at this point is, as I'm not sure if it's worth keeping it at the lower rate? 
Thank you!

Its possible to switch your H2B Isa to Halifax or HSBC. Halifax offers 1.7% and HSBC 1.75%(up to 12k)

I initally tried to switch to Halifax but it involved a really long phone call, i was on the call 1 hour and then i was told the call would be transferred to another department and was informed this could involve a further 1 hour wait!!! I wasn't able to continue the call so my ISA transfer was not completed.

Then i printed of the HSBC H2B application  transfer form, posted it and my ISA transfer was completed in around 1 week.

Hope this helps

aled247

Quick question please everyone as I am a little unsure despite reading around. I have a Halifax HTB ISA with £12000 in it opened many years ago for the government bonus. I wish to withdraw quite a large amount from it to reach my maximum of £20,000 in a stocks and shares ISA I opened this month with wealthify (Yes I am aware of the risks in this)

If I withdraw this money and pay it into the stocks and Shares ISA. Can I continue to top up my HTB ISA again with the maximum £200 per month to ensure it reaches back to its £12,000 maximum government bonus before I decide to buy a house in approximately 5-6 years or am I not able to pay into both ISA's this year despite one being opened years ago. I hope this makes sense.

kuratowski

That is ok because a HTB ISA is a type of Cash ISA, and you can pay money into both a Cash ISA and a Stocks & Shares ISA in the same tax year, under the rules.  However you cannot exceed £20K total contributions per tax year across all types of ISAs.  The year of opening isn't actually a factor, it's when you pay money in that matters.

If you have 5-6 years to go and are under age 40 have you considered instead a Lifetime ISA?  You could then get the government bonus on a higher amount than the HTB maximum of £12,000.

aled247

aled247 said:

Quick question please everyone as I am a little unsure despite reading around. I have a Halifax HTB ISA with £12000 in it opened many years ago for the government bonus. I wish to withdraw quite a large amount from it to reach my maximum of £20,000 in a stocks and shares ISA I opened this month with wealthify (Yes I am aware of the risks in this)

If I withdraw this money and pay it into the stocks and Shares ISA. Can I continue to top up my HTB ISA again with the maximum £200 per month to ensure it reaches back to its £12,000 maximum government bonus before I decide to buy a house in approximately 5-6 years or am I not able to pay into both ISA's this year despite one being opened years ago. I hope this makes sense.

Reading for a while I think I have answered my own question now and the answer is no I couldn't do that this financial year as it doesn't carry over. BUT can anyone see anywhere in the Halifax HTB ISA T&C's (because I can't) or here https://www.halifax.co.uk/isas/isas-explained/common-enquiries/ that says I cannot withdraw the money now and pay it into a Stocks & Shares ISA and then begin to start topping up HTB ISA again next financial year (April 2021) with my £200 a month limit until I wish to purchase a property?

masonic

aled247 said:

aled247 said:

Quick question please everyone as I am a little unsure despite reading around. I have a Halifax HTB ISA with £12000 in it opened many years ago for the government bonus. I wish to withdraw quite a large amount from it to reach my maximum of £20,000 in a stocks and shares ISA I opened this month with wealthify (Yes I am aware of the risks in this)

If I withdraw this money and pay it into the stocks and Shares ISA. Can I continue to top up my HTB ISA again with the maximum £200 per month to ensure it reaches back to its £12,000 maximum government bonus before I decide to buy a house in approximately 5-6 years or am I not able to pay into both ISA's this year despite one being opened years ago. I hope this makes sense.

Reading for a while I think I have answered my own question now and the answer is no I couldn't do that this financial year as it doesn't carry over. BUT can anyone see anywhere in the Halifax HTB ISA T&C's (because I can't) or here https://www.halifax.co.uk/isas/isas-explained/common-enquiries/ that says I cannot withdraw the money now and pay it into a Stocks & Shares ISA and then begin to start topping up HTB ISA again next financial year (April 2021) with my £200 a month limit until I wish to purchase a property?

kuratowski has given a thorough explanation in the post above yours which you might have missed when you posted your update. In short, you can pay into both ISAs up to the £20k limit. Any money you withdraw from your HTB ISA and pay into your S&S ISA will count towards that £20k limit. Any money you transfer (using Wealthify's ISA transfer procedure) will not count towards the £20k limit. Providing you do not transfer the whole HTB ISA and close the account, you can continue to use it.

If the money in the S&S ISA will be used towards the house purchase in 5-6 years, then make sure the investments are suitable for that holding period.

I also echo the comment about considering a Lifetime ISA.

aled247

Thank you to both kuratowksi and masonic you have both answered my question thank you.

Fin_H

Hi there, I'm an 18 year old student who's going to university next year. Before everything happened, I was thinking of opening a saving account but now the rates have been slashed (I know that NS&I are still okay). Since I'm going to be on a tight budget I was wanting an easy access amount so that I can withdraw if I need to. So I'm wondering if its worth using my H2B ISA as a savings account (the interest rate is 1.5% still).
And I know that I should switch to the 1.75% HSBC but I'll do that later.
Thanks in advance. 

eskbanker

Fin_H said:

Hi there, I'm an 18 year old student who's going to university next year. Before everything happened, I was thinking of opening a saving account but now the rates have been slashed (I know that NS&I are still okay). Since I'm going to be on a tight budget I was wanting an easy access amount so that I can withdraw if I need to. So I'm wondering if its worth using my H2B ISA as a savings account (the interest rate is 1.5% still).
And I know that I should switch to the 1.75% HSBC but I'll do that later.
Thanks in advance. 

If you're not anticipating being able to save more than £200 in any given month then HTB ISA can be used as a 'normal' savings account - given the 25% bonus associated with this product it seems a shame to be withdrawing from it though, unless unavoidable, so it might be more appropriate to make use of any interest-free overdraft facilities you get with a student account.  If push came to shove and you needed to pay off the overdraft when graduating and didn't have access to any funds other than the HTB then you'd still have the option of using it to repay at that stage but who knows what your finances will look like in 4-5 years time?

mcg_2

HI all,

Apologies if this is in the wrong thread.

My daughter has a Help To Buy ISA and she is buying a property with her boyfriend. The property has already been bought via an auction as her boyfriends father gave him the funds to buy outright (there as a time limit to buy the house) until they arranged a joint mortgage. They have been advised by mortgage advisors that as the house is in my daughters boyfriends name that she wouldn't be able to use her Help to Buy and bonus as it would be classed as a remortgage?

Is this correct and is there a way for her to be able to get to use her Help to Buy bonus from her ISA?

masonic

mcg_2 said:

Is this correct and is there a way for her to be able to get to use her Help to Buy bonus from her ISA?

Yes, if the house has already been bought and your daughter did not instruct the solicitor to claim her HTB ISA and use it towards the purchase, then it cannot now be used towards the purchase. If she has become a joint owner of the property, then she is ineligible to hold a HTB ISA. However, if it has been bought outright by the boyfriend in his name only, then if he could take out a mortgage in his name only, she could remain a first time buyer and use her HTB ISA when they next move home.