Has anyone used a help to buy ISA to purchase their first home?

[IceRebel]

I'm looking into doing this, I already have a healthy amount of savings but they are languishing in a normal ISA account.

There's a lot of information online about how much you can save each month, and the government bonus. But can anyone help fill me in on the process of using the HTB ISA to buy your first home. Was it easy, hard, any hidden caveats etc?

If you've got the savings Life time ISA might be better, as you can put money in quicker, and still get the 25% bonus. For the life time ISA you can save £4000 per tax year, whereas with help to buy it's £1200 first month then £200 per month after (so £3400 first year, then £2400).

Also remember that if your saving as a couple you can each have an account, so double the annual allowance. But be very careful putting your personal savings into a partners account unless your 100% sure of there commitment or you could lose it if you split.

Saving on my own, but I hadn't thought about a lifetime ISA, so I will check it out.

Me and my DH used a H2B for our home and worked well

We made our solicitor aware very early on and made sure that all parties were aware - some solicitors were a little unaware but we were early adopters to using it

Made sure to close our accounts in plenty of time

I recommend them to any first time buyer :)

Daft question about a lifetime ISA, does it need to be a stocks and shares one or is it possible to just put the 4k in each year and get a bonus.

I really appreciate the advice as it wasn't an option I had considered, and it seems to have a much bigger bonus potential than a HTB ISA.

You can get cash lifetime ISA, but I don't think many places do them, so choice is limited. We have them with Skipton.

Doesn't have to be a stocks and shares one

Ours was with Halifax because that happened to have the best % at the time

They were helpful when we went into the bank to set it up

Ah yes LISAs don't seem to be very popular with banks and building societies. Luckily there seems to be 2 options for cash LISAs, so it's definitely something i'll be looking at.

Thank you so much for all the help, I now have an appointment to set up a LISA next week. I'm glad I posted, as it wasn't even on my radar.