Help to save

Dippygoose

Hi is anyone familiar with the government help to save scheme?

In a months time I would’ve been in the scheme for two years I will have saved the maximum amount of £1200, giving the £600 bonus.

I am confused about how it pays out. I understand the bonus goes straight into my bank account and not the help to save account but what happens to the £1200 does it stay in the help to save or do I get it back and I start again from zero for years 3 &4 .

Can’t find a definite answer anywhere, and I would appreciate if anyone could clear it up for me.

strawb_shortcake

The £1200 stays in your account, unless you withdraw it but I believe any withdrawals affect your final bonus

Dippygoose

annabanana82 said:

The £1200 stays in your account, unless you withdraw it but I believe any withdrawals affect your final bonus

I understand what happens after four years, but I’m confused about what happens after two years.

After two years, I’ve saved £1200 and I get a £600 bonus. What happens then?

Can I be paid all the money and start a fresh for years 3&4 Save another £1200 and get another £600 bonus.

Or do I have to leave all the money in the account for four years?

marcia_

Dippygoose said:

annabanana82 said:

The £1200 stays in your account, unless you withdraw it but I believe any withdrawals affect your final bonus

I understand what happens after four years, but I’m confused about what happens after two years.

After two years, I’ve saved £1200 and I get a £600 bonus. What happens then?

Can I be paid all the money and start a fresh for years 3&4 Save another £1200 and get another £600 bonus.

Or do I have to leave all the money in the account for four years?

 You can only have 1 help in save account ever. 

 You can leave the money where it is and get another bonus after yr 4 when bonus and savings are transferred in to your bank account. 

 If you choose to remove your current savings it will reduce your 4th year bonus 

Ed-1

Dippygoose said:

Hi is anyone familiar with the government help to save scheme?

In a months time I would’ve been in the scheme for two years I will have saved the maximum amount of £1200, giving the £600 bonus.

I am confused about how it pays out. I understand the bonus goes straight into my bank account and not the help to save account but what happens to the £1200 does it stay in the help to save or do I get it back and I start again from zero for years 3 &4 .

Can’t find a definite answer anywhere, and I would appreciate if anyone could clear it up for me.

Your 4th year bonus is calculated based on the highest balance reached above £1,200. So if you withdraw £1,200 after 2 years the maximum bonus you can get after 4 years is £0.

Dippygoose

marcia_ said:

Dippygoose said:

annabanana82 said:

The £1200 stays in your account, unless you withdraw it but I believe any withdrawals affect your final bonus

I understand what happens after four years, but I’m confused about what happens after two years.

After two years, I’ve saved £1200 and I get a £600 bonus. What happens then?

Can I be paid all the money and start a fresh for years 3&4 Save another £1200 and get another £600 bonus.

Or do I have to leave all the money in the account for four years?

 You can only have 1 help in save account ever. 

 You can leave the money where it is and get another bonus after yr 4 when bonus and savings are transferred in to your bank account. 

 If you choose to remove your current savings it will reduce your 4th year bonus 

so you’re saying if I want to get the maximum bonus, I have to leave all of the money and bonuses in the account for 4 years?

Because the site makes it look like The end of year two is a stopping off period and you start again for 3&4.

The scheme doesn’t work in 2 half’s ?

Altior

The explanation is on this site:

After two years, you'll get the first 50% bonus paid into your bank account (not into the Help to Save account). Once that's been paid, you can either decide to stop saving, or you can keep saving into it for another two years. Again, you can save between £1 and £50 a month, but you don't have to save every month. If you keep saving, you could get another bonus paid at the end of the four years.

Two important things to note:

• The bonus for the first two years is paid on the highest amount you've had in the account during the two years, not the amount that's there at the end – though these could be the same.
  
  For example, if you'd managed to save £1,000, but needed to withdraw £200 before the end of the two years, despite having a balance of £800 at the end, you'd still get a £500 bonus, as that's 50% of your highest balance, which was £1,000.
    
  
• The bonus in the second two years is paid on the amount that your highest balance in years three and four (let's call this balance A) exceeds your highest balance in years one and two (balance B ). The bonus is 50% of the difference between balance A and balance B at their highest. This is how it could work in practice...
  
  Let's assume you managed to save £500 in years one and two – you'd get a £250 bonus paid out at the end of the second year. But you needed to use the £500 for car repairs, so withdrew it all.
  
  Then, in years three and four, you found you could start saving again and managed to save £750. In this case, you'd get a £125 bonus (this is worked out as £750 - £500 = £250, the bonus being 50% of the difference between your two highest balances).

Dippygoose

Ed-1 said:

Dippygoose said:

Hi is anyone familiar with the government help to save scheme?

In a months time I would’ve been in the scheme for two years I will have saved the maximum amount of £1200, giving the £600 bonus.

I am confused about how it pays out. I understand the bonus goes straight into my bank account and not the help to save account but what happens to the £1200 does it stay in the help to save or do I get it back and I start again from zero for years 3 &4 .

Can’t find a definite answer anywhere, and I would appreciate if anyone could clear it up for me.

Your 4th year bonus is calculated based on the highest balance reached above £1,200. So if you withdraw £1,200 after 2 years the maximum bonus you can get after 4 years is £0.

I see so the scheme doesn’t work in 2 half’s to get the maximum bonus. I have to leave all the money and the bonuses in the scheme for four years.

So it’s not save for two years it matures and pays out year 2 with a choice to do it again for another two years and then you have to stop.

it’s leave all the money in the account for 4 years to get full bonus?

Altior

Yes, to maximise your bonuses you can't withdraw any of it (until end of year 4).

Dippygoose

Altior said:

The explanation is on this site:

After two years, you'll get the first 50% bonus paid into your bank account (not into the Help to Save account). Once that's been paid, you can either decide to stop saving, or you can keep saving into it for another two years. Again, you can save between £1 and £50 a month, but you don't have to save every month. If you keep saving, you could get another bonus paid at the end of the four years.

Two important things to note:

• The bonus for the first two years is paid on the highest amount you've had in the account during the two years, not the amount that's there at the end – though these could be the same.
  
  For example, if you'd managed to save £1,000, but needed to withdraw £200 before the end of the two years, despite having a balance of £800 at the end, you'd still get a £500 bonus, as that's 50% of your highest balance, which was £1,000.
    
  
• The bonus in the second two years is paid on the amount that your highest balance in years three and four (let's call this balance A) exceeds your highest balance in years one and two (balance B ). The bonus is 50% of the difference between balance A and balance B at their highest. This is how it could work in practice...
  
  Let's assume you managed to save £500 in years one and two – you'd get a £250 bonus paid out at the end of the second year. But you needed to use the £500 for car repairs, so withdrew it all.
  
  Then, in years three and four, you found you could start saving again and managed to save £750. In this case, you'd get a £125 bonus (this is worked out as £750 - £500 = £250, the bonus being 50% of the difference between your two highest balances).

I think that makes it clearer, so the scheme basic works in 2 half’s separate from each other so savings from years 1&2 does not affect savings in years 3&4 ?

so in theory, after saving the maximum amount in the first 2 years, I can remove it at the end of the first 2 years without it penalising my saving bonus in years 3&4 ?

Altior

No because the 2nd bonus is based on the difference between the maximum balance in the 2nd tranche less the 1st tranche. Therefore you can only get to £2400 by not withdrawing anything.