Help to buy ISA - what happens if one moves out of UK?

am.jovial

We were saving to buy a house and were depositing in HelpToBuy ISA for 4-5 years. We have now moved out of the UK but are continuing to deposit. 
We may not return to the UK in the near future (may be for next 10 years). 

Can we continue to deposit into H2B ISA? If we do not buy a house, can we just withdraw the money any moment?

Thank you for the help. 
 

DCFC79

Yes you can withdraw what you have paid in.

eskbanker

am.jovial said:

We were saving to buy a house and were depositing in HelpToBuy ISA for 4-5 years. We have now moved out of the UK but are continuing to deposit. 
We may not return to the UK in the near future (may be for next 10 years). 

Can we continue to deposit into H2B ISA? 

No, you can't continue to deposit, once the tax year has rolled over after your move:

https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/if-you-move-abroad

You could keep the money in there but the scheme no longer provides any bonuses after 2030 so wouldn't be usable anyway if you weren't returning to the UK before then....

am.jovial

eskbanker said:

am.jovial said:

We were saving to buy a house and were depositing in HelpToBuy ISA for 4-5 years. We have now moved out of the UK but are continuing to deposit. 
We may not return to the UK in the near future (may be for next 10 years). 

Can we continue to deposit into H2B ISA? 

No, you can't continue to deposit, once the tax year has rolled over after your move:

https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/if-you-move-abroad

You could keep the money in there but the scheme no longer provides any bonuses after 2030 so wouldn't be usable anyway if you weren't returning to the UK before then....

Thank you for your valuable reply. I will stop paying in right away. I am planning to keep the money in H2B ISA still as it has the highest interest rate as of now for the money in UK (hope I am right). I can use this money to meet UK requirements like paying insurance premium, bills etc. 
Other option is to move the money to home country and invest in debt funds, equities (wait for the next big correction) and move the money back into UK accounts as and when needed. But, home country currency has always been depreciating against the GBP & USD etc so it offsets any gains !
Would be interesting to know others thoughts in this regard too. Thank you again.  

masonic

am.jovial said:

eskbanker said:

am.jovial said:

We were saving to buy a house and were depositing in HelpToBuy ISA for 4-5 years. We have now moved out of the UK but are continuing to deposit. 
We may not return to the UK in the near future (may be for next 10 years). 

Can we continue to deposit into H2B ISA? 

No, you can't continue to deposit, once the tax year has rolled over after your move:

https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/if-you-move-abroad

You could keep the money in there but the scheme no longer provides any bonuses after 2030 so wouldn't be usable anyway if you weren't returning to the UK before then....

Thank you for your valuable reply. I will stop paying in right away. I am planning to keep the money in H2B ISA still as it has the highest interest rate as of now for the money in UK (hope I am right). I can use this money to meet UK requirements like paying insurance premium, bills etc. 
Other option is to move the money to home country and invest in debt funds, equities (wait for the next big correction) and move the money back into UK accounts as and when needed. But, home country currency has always been depreciating against the GBP & USD etc so it offsets any gains !
Would be interesting to know others thoughts in this regard too. Thank you again.  

Most HTB ISA rates are still very competitive, although they have all dropped compared to when the accounts were launched.

In general, you should try to hold cash in the currency in which you intend to spend it, since exchange rates are unpredictable, and while interest rates are low, limit cash to what you need to spend in the short term plus some for emergencies. Waiting for the next big correction is also a gamble, as equities could go on rising for some time before that happens and the correction may not take prices below where they are now.