Together with the ISA Virgin has unveiled a Saving to Buy account with 1.30% interest with a balance up to £30,000. This will allow customers to save more than £200 per month and set up a regular transfer to the Help to Buy ISA.
Alongside the launch Virgin has launched a ‘three minute money’ video which explains how the ISA works.
The government’s Help to Buy ISA scheme kicked off this morning.
Zack Hocking, head of savings at Virgin Money, said: "The launch of the Help to Buy ISA scheme is fantastic news for first-time buyers, and with a competitive interest rate of 3.00% we are getting right behind the next generation of homeowners.”
The following banks and building societies have committed to offering Help to Buy ISA: Aldermore, Barclays, Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, NatWest, Newcastle building society, Santander, Ulster North and Yorkshire Bank.
Mark Hayward, managing director National Association of Estate Agents, said: “The Help to Buy ISA – announced during the Chancellor’s March Budget is a great initiative and will provide a boost to first-time buyers hoping to make the climb onto the property ladder.
“It seems as though FTBs are at the top of the government’s agenda following the further helpful initiatives announced during last week’s Autumn Statement – which means that we might finally begin to see FTBs cutting through the market.
“Although the Help to Buy ISA is a starting point for FTBs and it will help them on the way to raising a deposit – there’s another major reason why FTBs are feeling pushed out of the market. This is the lack of housing, specifically ‘affordable housing’ available to all house buyers - whether that be first time buyers, all the way to last time buyers."
"In order to help FTBs find their feet in the market in the long-term, the issue of supply needs to be addressed. Osborne’s announcement that he’ll be building 200,000 new-starter-homes is a good place to start, but until the wheels are put into motion, we just won’t see a substantial change for FTBs.”
