Help to Buy ISA along with Cash ISA

openclass

I currently have a cash ISA that I opened in February 2014. I have not paid anything into this ISA this current tax year.

I would like to open a Help to Buy ISA this month, however the rules state you cannot contribute to two ISAs in the same tax year.

Am I able to open a Help to Buy ISA in the current tax year, and then contribute to both as long as I do not exceed the maximum £15,XXX limit? Do I need to close my Cash ISA? Will I no longer be able to contribute to my Cash ISA if I open a Help to buy?

Many thanks

eskbanker

This is answered both in the main MSE HTB ISA article and (frequently) in the associated thread on the ISA forum....

Flobberchops

In the majority of cases, no. You can subscribe to one cash ISA per year (of which HtB is a variant), so you'd have to choose between a Help To Buy and a regular cash ISA.

A few providers such as Nationwide have their own rules in place that bend these rules slightly.

Although, to the best of my knowledge, there's nothing stopping you keeping existing cash in an old ISA while opening a new one - if for example you had a large sum put away that you wanted to continue earning interest on.

jimjames

openclass wrote: »

Will I no longer be able to contribute to my Cash ISA if I open a Help to buy?

Many thanks

Any reason you want to use a cash ISA for your savings when you can get 5% and 6% outside one? Or have you found a cash ISA that pays more than these rates?

colsten

Flobberchops wrote: »

A few providers such as Nationwide have their own rules in place that bend these rules slightly.

Slight correction: these providers do not have their own rules, and there's no rule bending going on - they have just chosen to implement the full range of ISA rules, whilst others have chosen to implement an easier and cheaper to manage sub-set of the ISA rules.

Flobberchops wrote: »

Although, to the best of my knowledge, there's nothing stopping you keeping existing cash in an old ISA while opening a new one - if for example you had a large sum put away that you wanted to continue earning interest on.

if by "old" you mean an ISA that you last paid into in a previous tax year, you can keep it without limitations. Although you would be very unlikely to get any even half-decent interest in such ISAs, as keeps being pointed out again and again on this forum.