Help to Buy ISA and/or Lifetime ISA - Help!

Dahlias_decisions

I'll start and be honest that I have no idea what I'm doing 

I opened a Help to Buy ISA just before the cut off a few years ago and have a minimal amount saved. Life has unfortuantly got in the way and only in the past year have I been able to start regularly saving again, which I'm very grateful for. I've kept this in a separate, standard, savings account as I wasn't sure if I'd need access but I don't at the moment.

I now have a bulk sum and I want to know if I can make a bulk payment to my help to buy ISA? When I first took it out I think I remember it being only £200 a month to be deposited, is this still correct please? If so, do I have any other options?

I've now roughly 8k to be put away for a house deposit. I'm not sure when I'll be able to buy for the foreseeable as I live in the South and think it's going to be highly unlikely I'll be able to unless I move away from my home town, which I'm considering in the next year or so but feels a big move. Any advice for someone who wishes they knew more about finance/savings etc? Thank you.

Angelica123

Yep for help to buy ISA, you can only put in £200/month. The other issue is the house price limit ( can only be used for house up to 450k in London, £250k elsewhere). 

The LISA may perhaps suit you better - you can put in up to 4k a year and can be used for houses up to 450k anywhere. Just be aware that there is some talk of the government trying to reform the LISA product (although so far no one knows how). The downside of the LISA is that if not used to buy a property, then you face a withdrawal penalty. 

If nothing else I would open a LISA with £1 to at least have it as an option and see if any updates on LISA. And then you will have to make a call whether you put in 4k before the tax year ends (adding the other 4k in new tax year). 

masonic

* £3,999 in addition to the original £1 before the end of the tax year

(agree with this suggestion)

There is potentially a new product being launched. It is likely (though not guaranteed) that there will be a process to transfer into it from a LISA. We will probably not be any the wiser by the end of this tax year.

Dahlias_decisions

Thank you. So just so I understand correctly, if I drip feed into my H2B ISA but open a LISA too, can I put a lump sum of 4k in it by April if needed or is that also £200 a month? 

In the meantime, is there a better account to hold the H2B/LISA amount? 

Angelica123

Dahlias_decisions said:

Thank you. So just so I understand correctly, if I drip feed into my H2B ISA but open a LISA too, can I put a lump sum of 4k in it by April if needed or is that also £200 a month? 

In the meantime, is there a better account to hold the H2B/LISA amount? 

I

You can only get a bonus on either the H2B or the LISA for your house purchase so it's worth deciding which one. No point transferring money to both, may as well keep the rest of money in accounts earning higher interest. Research both products and decide which one better meets your needs.

If you opened a LISA, you can put in 4K before end of tax year, and then another 4k once new tax year starts 6th April. That means you can potentially have your full 8k in there by end of April. Bear in mind that both LISA and H2B ISAs will count towards your 20k ISA limit. 

The best account to keep the non LISA/H2B money is an account which will pay the highest interest.