Help to Buy Isa scandal: Breaking News

zzzt

I don't get it. I used it for the deposit. That's only what it can be used for.

Here's a rough timeline of my very recent purchase:

• Made offer.
• Vendor accepted my offer.
• Gave my solicitor's details to vendor's estate agent.
• Vendor's estate agent sent out memorandum.
• I paid my solicitor an initial £200 to conduct searches.
• Over the next month I received various results of searches from solicitor.
• Everything was OK so I indicated that I wanted to go ahead.
• Solicitor instructed me to transfer deposit to them and the remaining fees, giving me a final bill.
• I told solicitor I had a Help to Buy ISA.
• Solicitor told me to close it and gave me a form to fill in.
• I closed the ISA and sent the form to them.
• Solicitor reduced the amount I had to send them by 25% of the final amount in the ISA and gave me an amended bill.
• I sent solicitor deposit and fees minus Help to Buy bonus.
• Agreed completion date.
• Solicitor exchanged contracts.
• Received deed etc.
• Picked up keys from vendor's estate agent.

This is surely exactly how you would expect it to work. I paid less of a deposit, because some of it the solicitor claimed from the government on my behalf.

anotheruser

ani*fan wrote: »

I think it is a scam.

Interest rates have also dropped so they're not really a good place to keep your money, whatever you're saving for.

I'm raging about this. :mad:

Do you know what the word scam means?

I have used HTB ISA and found the extra £25 a month has helped us. Yes, you can't use it as a deposit but our solicitor will deduct the bonus money from their fee, which is due after completion anyway, so thats fine with us. It;s still helping us to buy in the end.

Plus, I don't really understand why people moan about low interest rates. Any interest is good surely?
I wonder if those who are moaning come from a time when interest rates were high and thus got used to getting money for nothing...

Marvel1

anotheruser wrote: »

Plus, I don't really understand why people moan about low interest rates. Any interest is good surely?
I wonder if those who are moaning come from a time when interest rates were high and thus got used to getting money for nothing...

Good news for me, had a letter this morning my mortgage is dropping by £57 a month, bad for my cash ISA but my mortgage is less :j

ani*fan

anotheruser wrote: »

Do you know what the word scam means?

I have used HTB ISA and found the extra £25 a month has helped us. Yes, you can't use it as a deposit but our solicitor will deduct the bonus money from their fee, which is due after completion anyway, so thats fine with us. It;s still helping us to buy in the end.

Plus, I don't really understand why people moan about low interest rates. Any interest is good surely?
I wonder if those who are moaning come from a time when interest rates were high and thus got used to getting money for nothing...

Yes I do know what the word scam means, anotheruser. It means a dishonest scheme, a fraud.

This is exactly what the concerns are about the HTB ISA. It has been sold as a boost to the deposit of house buyers and current concerns are that it can't be used for that. It wouldn't be at all possible that this government was ever dishonest, would it?

As for interest rates, it makes good financial sense to get the best rate for your savings, especially if you're saving over a long period of time.

Do you know what the word naive means?

As it looks now, these concerns about the HTB ISA are in England only. As zzzt has very kindly explained, our system up here in Scotland is working well with the bonus being transferred with ease to boost the deposit. Thanks for that info, zzzt.

And for your information another user, I come from the generation who cannot afford to get on the housing ladder due to the housing crisis, that much debated situation which in my opinion is due to the cheap selling off of council properties in the 80s, the resulting lack of good quality, affordable housing for young professionals now, having to pay extortionate rent, being saddled with student loan repayments and other education related debt, property prices sky rocketing and mortgage deposits needing to be larger.

And also for your information another user, I work my butt off for every penny I make.

Most of my peers have given up the dream of property ownership. Me and my OH fully intend to use this HTB isa for exactly the purpose intended. We are trying very hard. I just hope the help is enough and we can make use of it before the government realises how expensive it is and scraps it.

jimbog

ani*fan wrote: »

Do you know what the word naive means?

As an aside, did you know that 'naive' is only one of 12 words that google haven't added to their online dictionaries?

Rosemary7391

ani*fan wrote: »

Yes I do know what the word scam means, anotheruser. It means a dishonest scheme, a fraud.

This is exactly what the concerns are about the HTB ISA. It has been sold as a boost to the deposit of house buyers and current concerns are that it can't be used for that. It wouldn't be at all possible that this government was ever dishonest, would it?

As for interest rates, it makes good financial sense to get the best rate for your savings, especially if you're saving over a long period of time.

Do you know what the word naive means?

As it looks now, these concerns about the HTB ISA are in England only. As zzzt has very kindly explained, our system up here in Scotland is working well with the bonus being transferred with ease to boost the deposit. Thanks for that info, zzzt.

And for your information another user, I come from the generation who cannot afford to get on the housing ladder due to the housing crisis, that much debated situation which in my opinion is due to the cheap selling off of council properties in the 80s, the resulting lack of good quality, affordable housing for young professionals now, having to pay extortionate rent, being saddled with student loan repayments and other education related debt, property prices sky rocketing and mortgage deposits needing to be larger.

And also for your information another user, I work my butt off for every penny I make.

Most of my peers have given up the dream of property ownership. Me and my OH fully intend to use this HTB isa for exactly the purpose intended. We are trying very hard. I just hope the help is enough and we can make use of it before the government realises how expensive it is and scraps it.

But you can use it as part of your mortgage deposit... You just can't use the bonus as part of the money you give the vendor's solicitor on exchange to make sure you complete. That makes perfect sense. The government wants to help people buy houses, not defray expenses caused by folks messing around.

LKRDN_Morgan

only skimmed the responses but my understanding was you inform your solicitor you have a HTB ISA. They reduce the deposit by however much you're claiming from the ISA so you're not going to be any worse off. You don't have to pay out the 25% and then claim it back.

Doesn't sound like a scam to me? Maybe I've misunderstood?

marksoton

ani*fan wrote: »

Yes I do know what the word scam means, anotheruser. It means a dishonest scheme, a fraud.

This is exactly what the concerns are about the HTB ISA. It has been sold as a boost to the deposit of house buyers and current concerns are that it can't be used for that. It wouldn't be at all possible that this government was ever dishonest, would it?

But it is a boost. The money you would have needed for legal fees etc can be freed up to go towards the deposit. Thereby benefiting you and giving you a better chance of purchasing.

anotheruser

ani*fan wrote: »

Yes I do know what the word scam means, anotheruser. It means a dishonest scheme, a fraud.

It actually means "a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit; swindle"
I wouldn't say the government is making any profit from this.

ani*fan wrote: »

This is exactly what the concerns are about the HTB ISA. It has been sold as a boost to the deposit of house buyers and current concerns are that it can't be used for that.

Mine through Halifax didn't specifically state it can be used to "boost the deposit"...

ani*fan wrote: »

It wouldn't be at all possible that this government was ever dishonest, would it?

Of course they're dishonest... until there's a complete revolution in this country, they will always be dishonest.

ani*fan wrote: »

And for your information another user, I come from the generation who cannot afford to get on the housing ladder due to the housing crisis, that much debated situation which in my opinion is due to the cheap selling off of council properties in the 80s, the resulting lack of good quality, affordable housing for young professionals now, having to pay extortionate rent, being saddled with student loan repayments and other education related debt, property prices sky rocketing and mortgage deposits needing to be larger.

And also for your information another user, I work my butt off for every penny I make.

Most of my peers have given up the dream of property ownership. Me and my OH fully intend to use this HTB isa for exactly the purpose intended. We are trying very hard. I just hope the help is enough and we can make use of it before the government realises how expensive it is and scraps it.

I appreciate your situation but you're not alone.

I have been hit, the problem isn't a housing shortage, it's the amount of houses that are now owned by landlords. I live near a University town that one person owns whole streets and rents them out to students. While this works well, I wonder how many properties he owns.
Personally, I would introduce a limit on the amount of houses/property a person can own, whether single or part of a group.
There's simply too many landlords out there with too many houses.

But keep trying.
We're completing in a couple of weeks and it's been a long time saving, with a house sale that hasn't been easy (seller didn't neogitate on anything, then demanded we complete within a week!), but it will be worth it.
I'm not buying as an investment, I'm buying because I want a little patch of the world I can call home.