Save as houses With ISA deadlines looming, here’s my guide for first-time buyers

Who can open one? Anyone aged between 18 to 39 £4,000 per tax year Anyone aged 16+

£200 per month (£1,200 in first month) HURRY! You can transfer the money from your Help to Buy ISA into a LISA, but a big change is imminent. ■■Transfers this tax year (before April 5, 2018): All contributions made to your Help to Buy ISA this tax year, will eat up this tax year’s £4,000 LISA allowance. However a special rule, soon to end, says any money you put in it before this tax year doesn’t do that.

So if you had £5,000 in your Help to Buy ISA, £3,000 from the last tax year, £2,000 from this - only £2,000 counts towards this year’s LISA allowance, leaving you a further £2,000 left to contribute this year.

While the deadline is April 5, the only cash LISA provider skipton.co.uk says you must start a transfer by March 1 for it to process in time. If you leave it until after April 6, the next tax year, all money moved eats up your £4,000 annual LISA allowance, reducing what you can put in. And for those with over £4,000 in Help to Buy ISAs, you can’t transfer it all so you will miss out on some bonus. To make a transfer, just open up the new LISA and ask to transfer your H2B across.

There’s only one cash LISA deal. The Skipton Building society pays 0.75% interest – lower interest than Help to Buy ISAs. Yet if a LISA is right for you, the rate’s dwarfed by being able to contribute so much more.

For a full list of best-buy LISAs including shares LISAs as well as answer to common questions like “can I get one if my partner isn’t a first time buyer” go to mse.me/LISAs. If you’re looking for a top Help to Buy ISA, then full help for that is at mse. me/H2BISA.