Help to Buy: ISA FAQs

We do not accept transfers in of Help to Buy: ISAs.

Within the first calendar month you were allowed to make an initial deposit of £1,200 in your Help to Buy: ISA.

If you have a Help to Buy: ISA, you can continue to deposit a maximum of £200 per month.

Please note that the 25% Government bonus is only paid up to £12,000 of savings.

The Government will pay up to a maximum of £3,000, subject to terms and conditions, on a balance of £12,000.

Yes – our Help to Buy: ISA is an instant access account, meaning you can withdraw money as and when needed.

While there are no limits on withdrawals, it’s important to remember that you can only deposit a maximum of £200 per month.

So, while you can withdraw £1,000 in just minutes, bear in mind that it will take you at least 5 months to replace it.

The deadline to claim your Help to Buy: ISA bonus is December 1^st 2030.

To get the bonus, please contact us and request the closure of your ISA when you are ready to buy your first home.

To be eligible for the 25% Government bonus, you must have saved at least £1,600 by this time,

The bonus will be calculated on the closing balance of the account.

We will give you a closing letter, which your solicitor will use to claim the bonus on your behalf. This claim is made between the exchange of contracts stage and the completion stage.

The bonus is paid upon completion, which is when you get the keys to your new home and it is officially yours.

We understand there’s been some confusion around this, so we’ll do our best to clear things up.

Many people don’t realise that there are actually TWO deposits to be made when buying a house – the home exchange deposit and the mortgage deposit.

Because of when it’s paid, the Help to Buy bonus CANNOT be used for your home exchange deposit, but it CAN be used for your mortgage deposit.

The Home Exchange Deposit

The first deposit you need to pay is the home exchange deposit.

This is paid at the exchange of contracts stage in order to secure the property.

The home exchange deposit is usually around 5-10% of the property value, though this can vary - for example, you can try to negotiate a lower home exchange deposit if you only have a 5% deposit.

You can use the savings in your Help to Buy: ISA towards this deposit, but you cannot use the bonus - because you won’t have received it yet.

The Help to Buy: ISA bonus is paid later in the house buying process, at the completion stage.

The Mortgage Deposit

The mortgage deposit is all the money and savings that you are contributing upfront towards buying a house (including the home exchange deposit) that isn’t part of the mortgage loan from a mortgage provider.

The mortgage deposit is paid on completion. This is also when you receive your Help to Buy: ISA bonus, so you will be able to use the bonus to increase your savings and put towards this deposit.

Example

Let’s say you are buying a house that costs £100,000.

You have £10,000 of savings in your Help to Buy: ISA, which will give you a £2,500 bonus.

At the exchange of contracts stage, you will use your £10,000 savings for a 10% home exchange deposit.

Later, at the completion stage, you will receive your £2,500 Help to Buy bonus, which can also be put towards purchasing the property. 

This means that, in total, you have put £12,500 towards buying the property - this is your mortgage deposit.

The remaining £87,500 needed to purchase the property will be borrowed from a mortgage lender.

You can combine your Help to Buy: ISA savings (and bonus) with other funds to make up your house deposit, so if you want to save more than £200 a month you can invest the extra savings into another type of account.