Questions on Help to Buy and Cash ISA's

anistar77

Hello.

I've seen the news about the new Help to Buy ISA's but have a couple of questions I can't find the answers to. Any advice would be greatly appreciated:

I already have a cash ISA that has a fair chunk of money in it, but I haven't paid into it at all this year - just received interest on it. Does this mean I can't open a new Help to Buy ISA?

Would I have to take all of the money out of the cash ISA in order to have a Help to Buy ISA, as I understand you can't have both running at the same time?

And this is a really basic question, so excuse my ignorance, but do I have a to have a bank account at a particular bank to open an ISA there?

Many thanks for any help given.

MDMD

anistar77 wrote: »

Hello.

I already have a cash ISA that has a fair chunk of money in it, but I haven't paid into it at all this year - just received interest on it. Does this mean I can't open a new Help to Buy ISA?

Would I have to take all of the money out of the cash ISA in order to have a Help to Buy ISA, as I understand you can't have both running at the same time?

And this is a really basic question, so excuse my ignorance, but do I have a to have a bank account at a particular bank to open an ISA there?

As long as you have not paid in new money (the interest doesn't count) you are fine.

Generally most ISAs are open to all but check individual terms (eg Nationwide Flexclusive)

colsten

anistar77 wrote: »

Would I have to take all of the money out of the cash ISA in order to have a Help to Buy ISA, as I understand you can't have both running at the same time?

You can have many ISAs 'running at the same time'. You just must not pay new money into more than one cash ISA each year.

If you decide to put money into the HTB ISA, you must not put any into any other cash ISA. This should be good news anyway, as saving into a normal cash ISA is a really bad idea when you can get 2-4 times the interest in non-ISA products.

anistar77

Thanks for the feedback, really appreciate it.

PawelK

anistar77 wrote: »

Hello.

I've seen the news about the new Help to Buy ISA's but have a couple of questions I can't find the answers to. Any advice would be greatly appreciated:

I already have a cash ISA that has a fair chunk of money in it, but I haven't paid into it at all this year - just received interest on it. Does this mean I can't open a new Help to Buy ISA?

Would I have to take all of the money out of the cash ISA in order to have a Help to Buy ISA, as I understand you can't have both running at the same time?

And this is a really basic question, so excuse my ignorance, but do I have a to have a bank account at a particular bank to open an ISA there?

Many thanks for any help given.

Not sure I can agree with others completely. Yesterday somene on here provided me with some interesting info on gov.uk website about htb isa. Even if you had a cash isa this year and made some contributions to it, if you want to open htb before The next tax year you need to withdraw the money from cash isa and transfer max. Of £1200 into your htb. Other funds must be placed in isa stock and shares or in a non isa account (=you need to close down the cash isa).

MARTYM8`

colsten wrote: »

You can have many ISAs 'running at the same time'. You just must not pay new money into more than one cash ISA each year

If you decide to put money into the HTB ISA, you must not put any into any other cash ISA. This should be good news anyway, as saving into a normal cash ISA is a really bad idea when you can get 2-4 times the interest in non-ISA products.

Not of course quite correct - you can pay into a cash isa and a help to buy isa in the same tax year if the provider offers a split isa structure e.g. Nationwide, RBS/Natwest, Newcastle or Aldermore. Nationwide offers six or seven isa products - you can pay into as many as you like in year - and a help to buy isa as long as you stick to the tax free limits (£15,240 in total invested and no more than £200 a month after the £1k initial lump sum for the HTB ISA).

Whether it is best to invest in a cash isa is another matter given the generally poor rates. But its not true at all to say you cannot invest in both or invest in more than one cash isa. You can - with certain providers.

MARTYM8`

PawelK wrote: »

Not sure I can agree with others completely. Yesterday somene on here provided me with some interesting info on gov.uk website about htb isa. Even if you had a cash isa this year and made some contributions to it, if you want to open htb before The next tax year you need to withdraw the money from cash isa and transfer max. Of £1200 into your htb. Other funds must be placed in isa stock and shares or in a non isa account (=you need to close down the cash isa).

Yes - and you can also use a prior year transfer from a isa (e.g. previous years investments) to fund your initial lump sum with several providers.

colsten

MARTYM8` wrote: »

Not of course quite correct - you can pay into a cash isa and a help to buy isa in the same tax year if the provider offers a split isa structure e.g. Nationwide, RBS/Natwest, Newcastle or Aldermore.

The companies you mention all manage your subscription as one single ISA subscription, with various sub-products within that single ISA subscription.

Sorry if I have said "cash ISA" instead of "cash ISA subscription". I shouldn't have.

savings_my_hobby

MARTYM8` wrote: »

Whether it is best to invest in a cash isa is another matter given the generally poor rates. But its not true at all to say you cannot invest in both or invest in more than one cash isa. You can - with certain providers.

Come April next year when we can earn £1000 in interest tax free from current accounts and reg savers investing in a cash ISA should be one of the lower priorities.

colsten

savings_my_hobby wrote: »

Come April next year when we can earn £1000 in interest tax free from current accounts and reg savers investing in a cash ISA should be one of the lower priorities.

It should already be now for most people as most people have been able to make a lot more interest in non-ISA accounts for a few years now, even after tax. But you are right, from next April 6th, it will be even more true.