Can you transfer your Help to Buy ISA to a LIifetime ISA?
The Help to Buy: ISA and LISA are similar because they help first-time buyers save for a new home with government bonuses and tax-free interest.
You can transfer your Help to Buy: ISA to a LISA, but not with us. Yet it’s easy enough to close your Help to Buy ISA and add the funds to your LISA instead. The savings limit with a LISA is £4,000 per tax year, so if you have more than that in your Help to Buy: ISA, it will take a bit longer to add.
Why is a LISA better than a Help to Buy: ISA?
You can’t open a Help to Buy: ISA anymore, but you can open a LISA. Here are a few of the benefits.
Pay your first house deposit
Saving for a deposit for your first home can take years. With a LISA, you can put the 25% bonus you earn towards your deposit. Any Help to Buy: ISA bonuses are only paid once the house sale has gone through. The money is handy for decorating and buying furniture. But it won’t be available when you need to pay the lump sum.
Save more
With a LISA, you can save up to £4,000 per tax year. But in a Help to Buy: ISA, the savings limit is £200 a month after the first month’s maximum £1,200 deposit.
Earn more
Your bonus in a Help to Buy: ISA is capped at £3,000. But if you save with a LISA, you could earn more. From age 18 to 50, you could make £32,000 in bonuses if you saved the maximum amount each year.
Choose the right home
You can use a LISA to purchase a home costing up to £450,000. The Help to Buy: ISA limits your options because the maximum property price is £250,000 – unless you’re buying in London, where it’s £450,000.
Work out how much you could save with a LISA using our LISA calculator.
Cashing out your Help to Buy: ISA
If you have a Help to Buy: ISA, you could do the following by contacting your provider:
- Buy your first home.
- Close your account.
- Transfer to a LISA.
- Take out the funds
Reviewing your savings
Our goal is to help you reach your financial goals. So, we offer a wide range of savings products and regularly launch new ones. You may have been with us for years or have accounts with other banks or building societies. It’s key to review your savings to make sure you’re getting the best rates.
Check out our full range of savings accounts, compare interest rates and find the right product for you.
FAQs
You can take out money from your Help to Buy: ISA without paying a fee, but with many providers, you can’t pay it again in the same month. For example, if you pay £200 and withdraw £100, you can’t repay £100 later in the same month.