Help to Buy ISA and LISA Query

wishinghome

Hello

My husband and I are saving to buy our first house. We both have help to buy ISAs however since opening these we have had children and would be unable to buy a family home in our area (South East but not London) for under £250,000. Therefore we would not be able to benefit from the government bonus with the help to buy ISA. We are thinking of opening a LISA (only I qualify for this as my husband is over 40). Can I continue to pay into the help to buy ISA (the max £200 per month) plus save the max £4,000 per year in the LISA? I was looking at the moneybox LISA but I'm confused because I've read that you cannot pay into more than one cash ISA so I'm not sure if I would be able to continue paying into the help to buy ISA if I opened this. We are just recently in a position to start saving between £1,000 and £1,500 per month depending on overtime following a change in our circumstances and are not sure on the best way to proceed to maximise our chances of finally getting on the property ladder after 12 years of renting!
 
Any help or advice appreciated. Thank you for reading. 

masonic

Yes you can continue to pay into your HTB ISA and fund a LISA (Lifetime ISAs are not cash ISAs even if they are labelled cash LISA). It's probably worth keeping the HTB ISAs going if the rate is competitive.

wishinghome

That's brilliant thank you! That's exactly what threw me when I read that it was a cash LISA so thank you very much. 🙂