Transfer into help to buy ISA

Sptlad

I think I know the answer to this but I thought I’d check what people thought. 

I have saved £12k in a cash ISA hoping I could transfer this into my help to buy ISA but it looks like I can’t do this. The govt. has put limits on how much you can pay in, and can only transfer up to £1,200k in the first month. Is this right? 

I don’t understand why we are not allowed to do isa to isa transfers of any amount given that we do not get the govt. bonus until we buy a house and apply for it, and interest rates are clearly better in a standard cash isa. So now I’ve got £12k but can’t get the government bonus; does anyone know about this? 

PRAISETHESUN

Sptlad said:

I think I know the answer to this but I thought I’d check what people thought. 

I have saved £12k in a cash ISA hoping I could transfer this into my help to buy ISA but it looks like I can’t do this. The govt. has put limits on how much you can pay in, and can only transfer up to £1,200k in the first month. Is this right? 

I don’t understand why we are not allowed to do isa to isa transfers of any amount given that we do not get the govt. bonus until we buy a house and apply for it, and interest rates are clearly better in a standard cash isa. So now I’ve got £12k but can’t get the government bonus; does anyone know about this? 

It's ultimately because of the way the H2B ISA scheme is set up. These are government rules, not bank rules. The limits on monthly deposits are likely there to restrict the balances that can be accrued, and how much money the government needs to set aside to fund the scheme. If you have a lump sum you want to take advantage of, then I'd potentially look at a LISA instead, but be aware of the significantly different conditions around accessing any money you put in.

eskbanker

Sptlad said:

I think I know the answer to this but I thought I’d check what people thought. 

I have saved £12k in a cash ISA hoping I could transfer this into my help to buy ISA but it looks like I can’t do this. The govt. has put limits on how much you can pay in, and can only transfer up to £1,200k in the first month. Is this right? 

I don’t understand why we are not allowed to do isa to isa transfers of any amount given that we do not get the govt. bonus until we buy a house and apply for it, and interest rates are clearly better in a standard cash isa. So now I’ve got £12k but can’t get the government bonus; does anyone know about this? 

Yes, you appear to have fundamentally misunderstood the way the Help to Buy ISA works - it's always been a product with a strict cap on deposits of £200 per month (plus an initial one-off £1K) so is intended to be used as a regular saver into which you pay monthly, rather than saving elsewhere and then transferring a lump sum.

As above, a Lifetime ISA may be appropriate, if you won't be buying for over a year, but move quickly - if you open one by the end of next week then you can get £4K into it within 2024/25, another £4K in 2025/26 and the remaining £4K in April 2026, so all of your £12K could be accommodated in just over a year if you time it right....