Help to Buy ISA guide

colsten

jules201 wrote: »

Hi All,

I opened a HTB ISA with Santander on Wednesday so that I could transfer my Natwest (split) HTB ISA over to a better interest rate.

It's all set up and ready to go (I have a 123 account so I can already see it online), and this morning I've posted off a transfer form.

I'm wondering whether while it's processing, I should put this month's £200 contribution into my Natwest HTB ISA, or wait until the transfer is complete and add this month's contribution to Santander.

I suppose adding it to Natwest now would give me a few extra days of interest, and there's less likely to be any confusion/accusation about me contributing more than I'm allowed.

Is there anything I'm missing or could I do either without a problem?

If your deposit into the Natwest HTB ISA is an instant internal transfer, you could put this month's £200 in there now. That would probably be safer than waiting for the transfer to complete, as they can take up to 16 working days over a cash ISA transfer, and you could miss an entire month's deposit if there's a hold-up.

jules201

colsten wrote: »

If your deposit into the Natwest HTB ISA is an instant internal transfer, you could put this month's £200 in there now. That would probably be safer than waiting for the transfer to complete, as they can take up to 16 working days over a cash ISA transfer, and you could miss an entire month's deposit if there's a hold-up.

Thanks colsten. Good point about the timing. And yes - I have other Natwest accounts that I can do an instant transfer from. Now that it's a new tax year I don't need to faff about with a transfer form from my cash ISA to my HTB ISA, as I have been for the past couple of months (I was at the limit for the year, if you remember).

Happily - I've convinced my boyfriend to open a HTB ISA too - so we're well on the way to grabbing a few free pennies

weeman37

Hello Colsten,
Thank you so much for coming back to me so quickly.
Yes you’re correct in that my wife does not have an ISA elsewhere and the HTB is her first ISA.
Ideally I will be wanting to just put money into the HTB issue up to the value of £200/month/HTB account.
However at the moment because the cash ISA I have with my bank already doesn’t pay great interest, and we can’t afford to save £400/month between us from our current accounts the plan is to drip feed out of my cash ISA £400 and put £200 in each.
My concerns with this that I mentioned in my first post came from something I read on the MoneySavingExpert site
.com/savings/ISA-guide-savings-without-tax
(I can't paste the full URL as I'm a new user and it won't let me) where it states
“Never, ever, ever, ever withdraw the money yourself! You'll immediately lose all the tax benefits.”
Last month (FY) I withdrew a total of £2400 and this month I’ll be looking to withdraw £400. So I can pay in the maximum into each account.
Do you know if I have shot myself in the foot somewhere or have I misunderstood the above link and quote (anything is possible with me).
Thanks again for your detailed response 

Rich2808

jules201 wrote: »

Hi All,

I opened a HTB ISA with Santander on Wednesday so that I could transfer my Natwest (split) HTB ISA over to a better interest rate.

It's all set up and ready to go (I have a 123 account so I can already see it online), and this morning I've posted off a transfer form.

I'm wondering whether while it's processing, I should put this month's £200 contribution into my Natwest HTB ISA, or wait until the transfer is complete and add this month's contribution to Santander.

I suppose adding it to Natwest now would give me a few extra days of interest, and there's less likely to be any confusion/accusation about me contributing more than I'm allowed.

Is there anything I'm missing or could I do either without a problem?

Your Natwest Isa is still open so I would pay into that today by faster payment. If you have only posted the transfer form today then your transfer is unlikely to happen for a week. And in that time your £200 will be earning interest.

Surprised the big banks like Santander and HSBC still require you to post off isa transfer forms. With Nationwide it can all be done entirely online via internet banking - no envelopes or stamps required.

badger09

weeman37 wrote: »

Hello Colsten,
Thank you so much for coming back to me so quickly.
Yes you’re correct in that my wife does not have an ISA elsewhere and the HTB is her first ISA.
Ideally I will be wanting to just put money into the HTB issue up to the value of £200/month/HTB account.
However at the moment because the cash ISA I have with my bank already doesn’t pay great interest, and we can’t afford to save £400/month between us from our current accounts the plan is to drip feed out of my cash ISA £400 and put £200 in each.
My concerns with this that I mentioned in my first post came from something I read on the MoneySavingExpert site
.com/savings/ISA-guide-savings-without-tax
(I can't paste the full URL as I'm a new user and it won't let me) where it states
“Never, ever, ever, ever withdraw the money yourself! You'll immediately lose all the tax benefits.”
Last month (FY) I withdrew a total of £2400 and this month I’ll be looking to withdraw £400. So I can pay in the maximum into each account.
Do you know if I have shot myself in the foot somewhere or have I misunderstood the above link and quote (anything is possible with me).
Thanks again for your detailed response 

The quote about never withdrawing from a cash ISA is now out of date.

In your circumstances, there is absolutely no problem withdrawing from your cash ISA and feeding £200 per month into your & your wife's HTB ISAs.

Where are your HTB ISAs held? Are you getting 4% on them?

Where is your current account?

badger09

Rich2808 wrote: »

Surprised the big banks like Santander and HSBC still require you to post off isa transfer forms. With Nationwide it can all be done entirely online via internet banking - no envelopes or stamps required.

Really?

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/isas/transfer-your-isa

Have you actually transferred an ISA from another into Nationwide online?

MARTYM8`

badger09 wrote: »

Really?

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/isas/transfer-your-isa

Have you actually transferred an ISA from another into Nationwide online?

Yes - did a transfer entirely on line from my HSBC cash isa (now my £10 monthly bonus has ended) to my isa with NW just last week.

Funds appeared in my Nationwide ISA yesterday.

I signed nothing and posted nothing - all done electronically via an online application using the above link.

This doesn't seem possible yet for help to buy isas - but I am sure that will follow.

colsten

badger09 wrote: »

Really?

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/isas/transfer-your-isa

Have you actually transferred an ISA from another into Nationwide online?

Yep, they allow you to do it entirely online, and it works a dream.

Not easy to spot the "Transfer online" button though.

weeman37

badger09 wrote: »

The quote about never withdrawing from a cash ISA is now out of date.

In your circumstances, there is absolutely no problem withdrawing from your cash ISA and feeding £200 per month into your & your wife's HTB ISAs.

Where are your HTB ISAs held? Are you getting 4% on them?

Where is your current account?

Hi Badger,
Thanks for your comments, the advice that the withdrawn issues are now out of date has certainly put my mind at rest.
My cash ISA that I am taking out of is with HSBC who I have my current account with.
The HTB ISA's we took out last month are both with Virgin, if you opted to have interest paid annually it gave 3% as opposed to 2.8% if they paid it monthly.
To be honest I though that was the best one as I came on to MSE and ran the HTB ISA comparison link and that came top.
I didn't realise there was a 4%ISA out there.

badger09

MARTYM8` wrote: »

Yes - did a transfer entirely on line from my HSBC cash isa (now my £10 monthly bonus has ended) to my isa with NW just last week.

Funds appeared in my Nationwide ISA yesterday.

I signed nothing and posted nothing - all done electronically via an online application using the above link.

This doesn't seem possible yet for help to buy isas - but I am sure that will follow.

colsten wrote: »

Yep, they allow you to do it entirely online, and it works a dream.

Not easy to spot the "Transfer online" button though.

Well, that's news to me, but like I said elsewhere - every day's a schoolday here. Thank you both, and apologies to Rich2808:o.

MARTYM8 that's exactly what I want to do, and also to consolidate when Santander 123 2 year FRISA matures in a few weeks. I want to have all together for ease of xfer into S&S ISA.

I'll have a look this afternoon and save the cost of a stamp:)

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