Help to Save scheme: Boost your savings by up to £1,200 – check eligibility | Personal Finance | Finance
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In times of uncertainty, getting extra cash will be much-desired. During an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, financial expert Heather Owen highlighted how the Help to Save scheme exists for some people on Universal Credit or those entitled to Working Tax Credit, as a way to boost their savings and get more money. Britons can get a total amount of £1,200 in bonus money if they put in the maximum contribution each month.
She explained: “The Government’s Help to Save scheme – which is actually quite a little-known scheme – is available to people who are working, but are in receipt of Universal Credit, and people in receipt of Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit. They are eligible to save into it.
“It’s a fantastic scheme where you save money either monthly or a one off each year, and you could potentially receive a bonus on that of up to 50 percent of what you’ve saved.”
Help to Save is a type of savings account.
It is done through National Savings & Insurance (NS&I) so the money in the account is secure as it is backed by the Government.
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It allows those who are eligible to get a bonus of fifty pence for every one pound they save over four years.
People can save between one pound and £50 each month and they can do this when they chose to.
Ms Owen pointed out the advantages of this scheme.
She said: “If you’re saving a bit of an emergency fund, that’s got to be somewhere right.
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“It will be in a bank or a cash savings account, whatever it might be.
“So, it’s absolutely worth thinking, ‘Can my emergency fund be sat in one of these Help to Save accounts?’
“By doing that, as well as building up each month for any emergencies that pop up, you actually have that potential bonus from the Government as well.
“Any option for free money from the Government is a welcome scheme to participate in if you’re entitled to.
After the first two years, a person will get a first bonus if they have been using the account to save.
The last bonus will come at the end of the fourth year.
This bonus will be 50 percent of the highest balance that has been saved.
Each month, one can save up to £50 so if one has saved £50 by January 8, they will not be able to pay in again until February, 1.
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