Help to Buy ISA to Normal ISA

SomeGuy2000

I have a Help to Buy ISA with Barclays which still at 1.26/25%.  and I've pretty much come to the conclusion that there's little incentive for any banks to be competitive with the rates on these accounts that you can no longer open and only transfer.  Sadly I don't live in the North East so I can't get to a branch of Newcastle BS for there 2% rate.

It's been such a long time since I looked at the rules of the HtoB ISA that I might have forgotten something. Is it possible  to open a normal CASH ISA and transfer part of the HtoB in or can you only transfer the whole lot (which I might just do anyway as I just can't see me ever being able to use the bonus by 2029 anyway)?

masonic

Yes if you are giving up any hope of using it towards a first property purchase you can treat it like a normal cash ISA. You might be better off withdrawing and saving in a traditional savings account unless you believe you'd have a tax liability on the amount of interest you'd earn. There is always the Lifetime ISA should you change your mind (and are under 40).

SomeGuy2000

masonic said:

Yes if you are giving up any hope of using it towards a first property purchase you can treat it like a normal cash ISA. You might be better off withdrawing and saving in a traditional savings account unless you believe you'd have a tax liability on the amount of interest you'd earn. There is always the Lifetime ISA should you change your mind (and are under 40).

Thanks. I'll probably leave it another month or so to see whats happening interest rate rise/etc.

I do already have a LISA and even that I feel, I probably should stop putting money into that (I used to wait until April so I could get the most interest on the money I put in) and just accept the poor return. As I would have to wait another 23 years to get the money out and I feel like I'm more likely to inherit half my parents house before I'd be able to get my own and then I wouldn't be entitle to the house-buying part of the LISA anyway.

grumiofoundation

SomeGuy2000 said:

masonic said:

Yes if you are giving up any hope of using it towards a first property purchase you can treat it like a normal cash ISA. You might be better off withdrawing and saving in a traditional savings account unless you believe you'd have a tax liability on the amount of interest you'd earn. There is always the Lifetime ISA should you change your mind (and are under 40).

Thanks. I'll probably leave it another month or so to see whats happening interest rate rise/etc.

I do already have a LISA and even that I feel, I probably should stop putting money into that (I used to wait until April so I could get the most interest on the money I put in) and just accept the poor return. As I would have to wait another 23 years to get the money out and I feel like I'm more likely to inherit half my parents house before I'd be able to get my own and then I wouldn't be entitle to the house-buying part of the LISA anyway.

If you are actually not going to use the LISA for a house purchase would make sense to transfer it to a stocks and shares LISA for retirement.