Adulting and saving money is horrific, we’re constantly bombarded with news pieces stating how much living costs are increasing and how our wages aren’t. Year on year we see rental prices steadily climbing and we’re just sat in our parents house wondering if we’ll still be here aged 40.
Recently you might have noticed the term ‘Help to Buy ISA’ banded around and thought that sounds good, but dafuq is it? In simple terms if you want to save up and buy your first home, the government will boost your savings by 25%. Yep, FREE MONEY.
For every £200 you save, the good old UK government will give you £50. The maximum government bonus you can get your hands on is £3,000, that’s just under 417 hours work at the UK national minimum wage.
Interested in opening one? Cool, they’re available at most banks and building societies if you’re 16 and over. The accounts are available for each first time buyer, not each household. Meaning that if you’re saving to move into a place with your boy/gal you can get up to 6K towards it.
To kickstart your account you can deposit a lump sum of £1,200, after that you can save up to £200 a month, no worries if that’s too much, that’s just the maximum. The minimum bonus you can get from the government is £400, meaning you will have had to save at least £1,600 in your Help to Buy ISA.
Sounds good right? The bonus is available on homes worth up to £250,000 or £450,000 in London, cause you know… London prices. We’ve done some Internet searching so you don’t have to and as of today (May 21st) the best Help to Buy ISA is from Santander, which gives you a 4% interest rate compared to some UK banks offering only 2%.
Click here to find out more about the Help to Buy scheme and see if you’re eligible. If you DO start saving and find the perfect home, let us know because we’ve spent all our money making this website. Thanks