When Sophie Barber opened a Help to Buy ISA in 2016, she hoped it would help her save towards a deposit for her first home. Introduced in 2015, the savings account allows holders to pay in £200 a month and receive a 25 per cent "top-up" from the Government. Savers can stash up to £12,000, receiving a £3,000 bonus.
But 27-year-old Barber, who lives in London, quickly realised that house prices were rising faster than a maximum saving of £15,000 could help with. There was also the property price cap (£250,000, rising to £450,000 in London) to contend with.
"[The] limit would make it almost impossible to use the ISA in the area I wanted to buy," she says. "I decided to open a LISA as a replacement in 2021 but I'm angry that I have wasted my time completely with the Help to Buy ISA."
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