What to do with a Help to Buy ISA?

[trrk]

I have a Help to Buy ISA and I am buying a house soon (next few months). However due to the local property market it’s impossible to find anything even close to the allowed limit so I can’t get the government bonus. I’ve kept the money in the account as it was still earning more interest than my other savings. I want to close the account now and consolidate a few different savings accounts. What should I do with the money? Try to transfer it to another type of ISA until it’s needed or just withdraw it and deposit it into my open access savings?

I’d throw £4K in a LISA now and £4K in April to get an extra £2K straight away.

The rest I’d find the largest interest cash savings you can find to stash it in. Or premium bonds.

Thanks! Sadly we don't qualify for a LISA as we are over 40. It's taken us a long time to be in the position to buy a house. Is cash savings better than a cash ISA?

Ah a shame about the age cut off!

I think on the timescales you’re looking at there’s little difference/benefits between cash ISA vs cash savings; as you’re unlikely to accumulate enough interest that you have to worry about getting taxed. Just have a mooch around and look at which type gets you the best interest rates.

Why can't you get the govt bonus?

I thought the house has to be under £250k to claim the bonus? There is no house available for this in Cambridge and somewhere that meets our needs (basically a small 3 bed terrace) is almost twice that.

Sorry, I didn't realise that, I thought it was just for your first house. Seems a bit unfair.

I didn’t realise when signing up for the account either, I should have researched it more carefully. I haven’t lost much as the interest rate was competitive at the beginning at least but not anymore. There is a limit of £450k in London but I guess it is pretty tricky to find property in London for this, especially if it needs to be a family home rather than 1 bed flat. Looking back even at the time of opening the account it would have been hard to find somewhere in Cambridge for £250k.