We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
We're aware that dates on the Forum are not currently showing correctly. Please bear with us while we get this fixed, and see Site feedback for updates.

Redundant Help to Buy ISA and maintaining the ISA wrapper status of it's funds

Nardge
Nardge Posts: 265 Forumite
Sixth Anniversary 100 Posts
edited 6 June 2024 pm30 5:20PM in ISAs & tax-free savings

Dear Forumites,

I have a maxed out Help-To-Buy ISA which I'll never use for the intended purpose. I thus want to close it, albeit whilst maintaining the ISA wrapper status of the funds within through transferring them elsewhere, ideally into a normal Cash ISA.

When I contacted Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) today, they advised me that this isn’t possible, that the only recourse of action would be to extract the funds as standard cash.

To me this seems not right, ultimately it's still my ISA money, so surely it should be possible to transfer the funds to a non - Help-To-Buy ISA, as is my right? 

I don't recall them ever saying that once money is deposited, you can’t have it back as ISA money in the event that a house is not bought.

Worst case scenario, if it's a YBS quirk, does anyone know a Help-To-Buy ISA provider who’ll permit me to transfer funds through as per my above wish?


Thanking you in advance for your responses,

With Kind Regards. 

Comments

  • gravel_2
    gravel_2 Posts: 594 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I thought H2B was just subject to normal transfer rules.

    Ultimately the transfer is triggered by you advising your new ISA provider of the details of your old ISA. You don't need to ask YBS for permission.
  • Nardge
    Nardge Posts: 265 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 100 Posts
    edited 6 June 2024 pm30 5:21PM
    YBS have essentially said they won't permit the transfer out of ISA funds to non Help-To-Buy ISAs.

    Thus if a 'normal' (non Help-Too-Buy) Cash ISA provider requested transfer of funds, YBS would refuse... 
  • Alexland
    Alexland Posts: 10,183 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 6 June 2024 pm30 12:18PM
    It might just be a training issue or a limitation in the products they offer not to allow a HTB ISA to be transferred into their own Cash ISA. If you open a normal Cash ISA elsewhere and request the new provider transfer in the HTB ISA then I don't see what grounds they would have to stop the transfer-out.
  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 25,566 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Will Halifax let you convert it into an easy access cash ISA?
  • hgt
    hgt Posts: 336 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts
    I did manage to transfer my old HTB ISA into a standard cash ISA, but I found that only a few providers allow the inbound transfers of HTB ISAs. I transferred mine to Moneybox without any problem at all - HTB ISA transfer is even a specific option in their app based transfer process.
  • Nardge
    Nardge Posts: 265 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 100 Posts
    Thank you to all. I've managed to get it transferred out!  :)
  • Barkin
    Barkin Posts: 647 Forumite
    500 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper
    For the benefit of anybody else reading this, who might be in the same situation, could you tell how you did it? 
  • Nardge
    Nardge Posts: 265 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 100 Posts
    edited 11 June 2024 pm30 6:11PM
    I managed to transfer out my Help-To-Buy Cash ISA with Yorkshire Building Society and convert it into a 'normal' Cash ISA with my Skipton Building Society account. Halifax and Moneybox have both been suggested as alternatives.  
  • Rich2808
    Rich2808 Posts: 1,353 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I did a Help to buy isa transfer from Nationwide to Lloyds a few months ago - with no issues at all. Just did a normal transfer request - and it was actioned within days.

    So no idea why YBS would claim it is not possible?
  • Nardge
    Nardge Posts: 265 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 100 Posts
    edited 11 June 2024 pm30 6:14PM
    They may have assumed I was wanting to transfer my Help-To-Buy ISA into another of their YBS ISAs (which isn't permitted apparently), there may have been a staff training issue, or both. Alexland (above) was right.  
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 348.3K Banking & Borrowing
  • 252.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 452.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 240.9K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 617.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 175.7K Life & Family
  • 254.1K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.