Saving for a deposit - FTB

bigyellowsunflowers

I am saving for a deposit for my first home. I’ve actually reached my initial goals, but as I am looking to convert being in a contract role into a permanent position, I am continuing to save while searching for a new job, which will give me an even bigger deposit.

When I first decided to start saving a few years ago, I wasn’t thinking about a mortgage and was moving my money around in ISAs to get the best rate. After hitting £20,000 in my ISA last year I decided to give premium bonds a try as a higher rate tax payer. I’ve stuck to premium bonds as a method of saving through to this tax year, as my thinking is that if I keep this lot of savings in the same place it will be more traceable when showing how I’ve saved for my deposit. Unfortunately, I’ve never won (not even £25), and I think it’s time to use this year’s ISA allowance with some of the money I have in premium bonds.

My concern is the extra paper trail in moving money that’s traceable via my wages to NSandI into another account. I have another fixed ISA that matures in October so an option could be to move that along with using this year’s ISA allowance into a new ISA, which will put most of my deposit in one place.

Does anyone have any advice specifically about how clear the paper trail should be when getting your first mortage and if I should try to keep my money in the same place (even if it’s premium bonds where it isn’t growing) when proving how I have saved for my deposit?

Should I also stop buying lottery tickets online?

Thanks

Albermarle

You do not mention a LISA, a no brainer for FTBs.

Unfortunately, I’ve never won (not even £25)

Seems like you have been incredibly unlucky to have tens of thousands in PBs for about a year and not won anything at all.