Hit £12k in Help to Buy ISA, what next?

rachlondon

Good morning! I'm a first time poster here in the MSE Forum, so forgive me if i'm asking a common question.

I'm a month away from hitting £12k in my help to buy ISA, I know this is the maximum to get the Government Bonus, so i'm deciding what to do with my savings after this.

My current ISA interest rate is 2.25%, which beats most of the savings accounts I can see listed on MSE. But I feel like I've read somewhere that I only get this rate on the first £12k, is this true?

Basically my main question is should I keep feeding into my ISA, or open a new savings account for my additional savings?

If it's the latter, i've been looking at the notice accounts, 95 days seems a lot - but i've never bought a property before so don't know if this would be a normal ammount of time to await deposit funds once you start the process (I have a feeling that in the London market, you would probably need something you can draw on asap!).

Some context if helpful; My partner and I (who also has a help to buy ISA) are in a position to buy and have been looking, but haven't found anything suitable yet and we are quite happy in our current situation (though concious we're paying rent to someone else!), so there is little pressure on me to buy until the property is right. Therefore i'd be looking for a way to lock my savings away in an account that gives the best rate, but be accessible enough to draw upon if the right property comes up in the next year.

Thanks in advance!

Ed-1

rachlondon said:

I'm a month away from hitting £12k in my help to buy ISA, I know this is the maximum to get the Government Bonus, so i'm deciding what to do with my savings after this.

My current ISA interest rate is 2.25%, which beats most of the savings accounts I can see listed on MSE. But I feel like I've read somewhere that I only get this rate on the first £12k, is this true?

Basically my main question is should I keep feeding into my ISA, or open a new savings account for my additional savings?

You've said it yourself. £12k is the maximum amount on which you can earn a 25% bonus, but you can earn interest on any account balance so keep feeding it!