First time buyer - how to make most of £10,000 savings?

chlochlo2

Hi!
Over my 20s I've squirrelled away £10,000 with not much idea of what I was going to do with it as I was travelling around a lot. Now I've settled down in one spot it makes sense to buy a little flat for myself with it. I wanted to place it in a bank account where they top it up a certain amount when you take the money out for a mortgage but I can't find one that will accept £10,000- most of them are aimed at people starting with nothing to add a little each month over a few years. Is there a way to make my £10,000 go further? Is there an ISA or scheme anyone knows of where I can get a little extra help with that amount. I am to start applying for mortgages in about 6 months. Thanks so much in advance  

Antics

chlochlo2 said:

Hi!
Over my 20s I've squirrelled away £10,000 with not much idea of what I was going to do with it as I was travelling around a lot. Now I've settled down in one spot it makes sense to buy a little flat for myself with it. I wanted to place it in a bank account where they top it up a certain amount when you take the money out for a mortgage but I can't find one that will accept £10,000- most of them are aimed at people starting with nothing to add a little each month over a few years. Is there a way to make my £10,000 go further? Is there an ISA or scheme anyone knows of where I can get a little extra help with that amount. I am to start applying for mortgages in about 6 months. Thanks so much in advance

The Help To Buy ISA has now ended for new applicants, and the Lifetime ISA will penalise you if you withdraw funds within 1 year of opening. 

As you need access to the funds soon, you may be better off putting the cash into a Chase easy access saver account at 1.5%. 

jay1804

Depending on where you are in the country it may be worth opening a LISA and delaying your purchase for a year, so that you can save more money as £10,000 won't get you much and there will be other costs (Legal, fees, stamp duty, moving cost, ect) to think about.

If you opened a LISA today you can put £4000 + Gov 25% uplift = £5000

Next tax year (April 6th 2023) you can put another £4000 plus + Gov 25% uplift = £5000

In a years time £10,000 in a LISA, £2,000+ from what you save alongside the LISA, plus any interest you earn. 

That's just something to think about.