Project Help to Buy ISA pot + 25% bonus.
Total available on completion
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Your savings
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Government bonus (25%)
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Your breakdown
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A legacy account that still pays out until 2030
The Help to Buy ISA shut to new savers on 30 November 2019, but if you opened one before then it remains live and the government bonus is still on the table until 1 December 2030. That deadline matters, because the bonus is not paid as you go. It is claimed by your conveyancer at the point you complete on your first home, and if you let the account drift without buying, you eventually forfeit the top-up. This calculator projects where your pot lands by completion and how large the 25 percent bonus will be when your solicitor applies for it.
The contribution rules baked into the numbers
Two limits shape every Help to Buy ISA. You could pay in up to £1,200 in the first month and then £200 a month afterwards, and the government bonus is 25 percent of your savings, capped at £3,000. To collect the full £3,000 you need £12,000 of your own money in the account. There is also a minimum: the bonus only kicks in once you have saved at least £1,600, producing a £400 bonus floor. The tool enforces the £200 monthly ceiling so your projection stays realistic.
Two more years of saving on a £3,000 balance
Take the defaults. You already hold £3,000 and keep paying the maximum £200 a month for another 24 months, adding £4,800. Your own savings reach £7,800. The bonus is 25 percent of that, which is £1,950, comfortably under the £3,000 ceiling. Your conveyancer claims it at completion and you walk to the purchase with £9,750.
Where the Lifetime ISA pulls ahead
If you have any meaningful time left before you buy, the Lifetime ISA is usually the stronger account, and the difference is structural. The Help to Buy bonus is capped at £3,000 forever, and the property price ceiling is £250,000, or £450,000 inside London. The Lifetime ISA lets you pay in £4,000 a year, pays a 25 percent bonus of up to £1,000 every year with no lifetime cap, and works on homes up to £450,000 anywhere in the country. Over several years a Lifetime ISA can deliver far more than £3,000. You cannot pay into both for the same home purchase in the same tax year and claim both bonuses, so most savers with a longer runway transfer across. One sharp edge to know: the Help to Buy bonus cannot be used towards the exchange deposit, only the completion funds, which occasionally surprises first-time buyers who assumed it would cover their 10 percent on exchange day.
Who should keep their Help to Buy ISA open
This tool is for existing holders working out whether their pot will clear the £3,000 ceiling and when to stop paying in. If you are within a year of buying, the convenience and the locked-in bonus may outweigh switching. A practical tip: once you have hit £12,000 of savings, further contributions earn no extra bonus, so that money usually works harder in a Stocks and Shares ISA or a higher-rate savings account. Keep an eye on the December 2030 cut-off, because an unclaimed bonus on a stalled account is simply lost.
Can I hold a Help to Buy ISA and a Lifetime ISA at the same time?
You can hold both, but you may only put the government bonus from one of them towards the same first-home purchase. Many savers keep paying into the Lifetime ISA for its larger bonus and treat the old Help to Buy balance as a cash reserve, transferring it in where the rules allow.
What happens to the bonus if I decide not to buy?
You keep all your own savings and any interest, and you can withdraw them with no penalty at any time. You simply do not receive the 25 percent government bonus, because that is only ever paid when you complete on a qualifying first home.