Confused about LISA strategy - saving for first home

^(&*$%^&etwrdgfh · 10 August 2017 at 6:18PM

Hi everyone,

I've recently started researching into LISA's and Help to buy scheme and it seems that opening a LISA outweighs it through larger bonus potential and being able to use it toward the deposit.

My question is if I am to do the below, and achieve the 1,000 bonus in 1st year, what is optimal to do beyond that, do I just deposit £333.33 a month in or do I wait it out until nearing end of 2nd year and put another 4k in? That is where I am a bit confused, so any help would be much appreciated.

Also, Is skipton the most popular choice amongst those saving for the first time to buy a property:o?

Kind regards,

"The only cash LISA on the market pays just 0.5% in interest. So, put your £1 in the LISA to get the clock ticking, but do the bulk of your saving into a high-interest bank account. Then, in March 2018, withdraw your cash and pay it into the LISA – though don't bust the £4,000 limit – and you've the best of both worlds. You'll have got a higher interest rate for most of the year, but you've also started the clock ticking, and will benefit from the 25% state top-up worth up to £1,000"

^(&*$%^&etwrdgfh · 12 August 2017 at 8:08AM

can anyone offer any help on this please?

Jaglad111 · 12 August 2017 at 12:24PM

If you have 4k in your Lisa by financial year end, your 1000 bonus will be paid roughly the start of May 2018. When the new financial years starts in April 2018 then deposit another 4k and the full bonus of 1k will be added at the end of the month.

Depending on when you want to buy you probably want to get the clock ticking as the Lisa has to be 12 months old to qualify for penelty free withdrawal (loss of bonus and approx 6% of deposited funds).

You can open it today with £1 to get the clock ticking, then fill it at a later date. You can not use both a htb isa and a Lisa, but you can transfer any holdings from the isa into the Lisa.

This means you can keep your funds in high interest accounts and then transfer the bulk in march 2018. The Lisa can also be used on properties over 250k, unlike the htb isa (unless you are in London)

^(&*$%^&etwrdgfh · 13 August 2017 at 1:02PM

Jaglad111 wrote: »

If you have 4k in your Lisa by financial year end, your 1000 bonus will be paid roughly the start of May 2018. When the new financial years starts in April 2018 then deposit another 4k and the full bonus of 1k will be added at the end of the month.

Depending on when you want to buy you probably want to get the clock ticking as the Lisa has to be 12 months old to qualify for penelty free withdrawal (loss of bonus and approx 6% of deposited funds).

You can open it today with £1 to get the clock ticking, then fill it at a later date. You can not use both a htb isa and a Lisa, but you can transfer any holdings from the isa into the Lisa.

This means you can keep your funds in high interest accounts and then transfer the bulk in march 2018. The Lisa can also be used on properties over 250k, unlike the htb isa (unless you are in London)

Hi,

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply!

I have opened one with skipton and deposited £1.00

So I will put £3,999 in towards the end of March 2018.

For the next financial year beginning April 2018, you mentioned maxing it out in april and for the bonus to follow the next month, does thing need to be done or can you wait until march 2019 to do that? Or even stagger deposits in monthly say £333.33 per month prior to April 2019?

Kind regards,

^(&*$%^&etwrdgfh · 13 August 2017 at 1:03PM

Also Can my spouse do the same thing so we effective double our bonus when buying first property together?

Many thanks in advance.

Jaglad111 · 13 August 2017 at 1:11PM

Both you and your partner can use your Lisa's toward your first home. If you top up 4k in the new financial year the bonus will be paid at the end of that month (unlike 2017 which is paid 1 month after the close of the financial year). So if you both put 4k this year, and the same again in 2018 you will have 16k between you and 4k bonus which you will be able to use in May 2018.

!Shadow17 · 13 August 2017 at 8:47PM

If I buy a houseboat does anyone know if I would still be able to buy a future property with a LISA?

bowlhead99 · 13 August 2017 at 10:29PM

A boat is not an ownership interest in a piece of land with a dwelling on it, so it doesn't come into LISA or Help-to-buy ISA considerations. LISA rules are basically the same as the HTB ISA rules about what a first time buyer is.

https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/documents/2015/12/eligibility-of-ftbs.pdf

!Shadow17 · 14 August 2017 at 12:19PM

Thank you. This is what I thought might be the case.

^(&*$%^&etwrdgfh · 27 August 2017 at 2:30PM

Jaglad111 wrote: »

If you top up 4k in the new financial year the bonus will be paid at the end of that month (unlike 2017 which is paid 1 month after the close of the financial year)

Hi,

Regarding the above I just want to clarify if you still receive the bonus in the 2nd and subsequent years if I am to deposit £4,000 in March 2019 (last month of every financial year going forward).

Has anyone successfully obtained a mortgage and had skipton apply for the bonus with HMRC on your behalf?

Interested to know if it is a smooth service or if people have had any problems along the way.

Many thanks in advance.

black_wings · 27 August 2017 at 2:42PM

OP - as explained by a previous poster, the lifetims isa needs to be open for at least 12 months before you can apply for the bonus. Skipton only launched their isa in june this year so no one is going to give you first hand experience of redeeming the bonus because its not physically possible until next year.
Martin has already produced a really good guide on the lifetime isa which answers all of your questions. If you read that im sure it will help.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Confused about LISA strategy - saving for first home

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