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Help 2 Buy deposit issue
mb_y2k
Posts: 6 Forumite
Hello everyone,
Big fan of the forum, helped me out a lot over the years - hopefully this problem can be rectified!
I bank with Lloyds and opened a Help 2 Buy ISA in late November online.
I then went to transfer £1,200 around a week later into the ISA when I'd been paid.
In late December I then logged on again to pay in the £200 and realised I'd made a massive error - somehow transferred the £1,200 into my online saver, not my ISA.
At this point, my ISA had a balance of Nil and would only allow me to transfer in £200, as the ISA had been open more than a month.
Went into branch in early January to try and rectify this. I was told that because I opened the account my only option was to pay in £200 a month moving forward.
I asked about closing and reopening the ISA, but they said I couldn't do this. The annoying thing is the bank manager said "I can only pay into one ISA per year", but as my balance is Nil, surely I can still open a new ISA and therefore deposit the £1,200? Lloyds didn't seem interested in this option.
Therefore I have two questions:
1) Is is possible for me to open another Help to Buy ISA with another bank as I haven't paid into the one I opened with Lloyds?
2) Are Lloyds wrong (it was a small branch). If so, how best to approach this.
For some additional information, this is a bit of a last minute decision. I'm buying in June, so was just after a £400/£500 bonus. Therefore that rules out the Lifetime ISA.
Big fan of the forum, helped me out a lot over the years - hopefully this problem can be rectified!
I bank with Lloyds and opened a Help 2 Buy ISA in late November online.
I then went to transfer £1,200 around a week later into the ISA when I'd been paid.
In late December I then logged on again to pay in the £200 and realised I'd made a massive error - somehow transferred the £1,200 into my online saver, not my ISA.
At this point, my ISA had a balance of Nil and would only allow me to transfer in £200, as the ISA had been open more than a month.
Went into branch in early January to try and rectify this. I was told that because I opened the account my only option was to pay in £200 a month moving forward.
I asked about closing and reopening the ISA, but they said I couldn't do this. The annoying thing is the bank manager said "I can only pay into one ISA per year", but as my balance is Nil, surely I can still open a new ISA and therefore deposit the £1,200? Lloyds didn't seem interested in this option.
Therefore I have two questions:
1) Is is possible for me to open another Help to Buy ISA with another bank as I haven't paid into the one I opened with Lloyds?
2) Are Lloyds wrong (it was a small branch). If so, how best to approach this.
For some additional information, this is a bit of a last minute decision. I'm buying in June, so was just after a £400/£500 bonus. Therefore that rules out the Lifetime ISA.
0
Comments
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Yes absolutely.Therefore I have two questions:
1) Is is possible for me to open another Help to Buy ISA with another bank as I haven't paid into the one I opened with Lloyds?
Probably the best way to approach it is to politely request the account is closed and leave it at that. It's not your responsibility to train them2) Are Lloyds wrong (it was a small branch). If so, how best to approach this.
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If you open a second HTB ISA in a different tax year, and do not deposit into the first one, I'm not sure if you can still deposit the additional 1k in the first month? Seems like a bit of a loophole if you can, but you wouldn't really gain anything from it. You can only use the bonus from one anyway, and the interest won't compound.0
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I think that is the question answered then. I've also checked the gov's official document on help to buy scheme and it suggests you cannot have two open at the same time, but having two (i.e. closing the first and opening a new one) is fine.
Thanks for your help0
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