u/Potatoupe wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
I didn't get an ISA. I'm surprised to hear they collect interest. I always thought you just pay back what their quoted price was.
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Yeah this was one of the big changes over the past few years.
THESE ARE ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES, READ THE FINE PRINT OF ANY SPECIFIC ISA YOU LOOK AT!
It used to be: Pay $20K OR pay $0 to $30K depending on your salary and fine print. It was like two completely different looking options.
Now it's Pay $20K, period. If you want you can get a loan for the $20K and pay back that loan with an ISA, X% a month for 5 years but capped at $30K -> and if you pay $30K, that would be like a $20K loan with 10% per year for 5 years. And if you don't pay the cap it would be less than that.
Fundamentally the same idea, but communicated in a way that makes it analogous to a loan.