Lifetime ISAs guide

masonic

If you can exchange without your wife's funds, and do not complete until after her LISA is 12 months old, then it would be possible to add those funds to your mortgage deposit penalty free. This would increase your overall deposit by £5k though.

Olliehiggins

OK thanks.

Separate Q: if i can get the developer to wait to end of April to access my wife's LISA without incurring the penalty, is there any point in me topping the LISA up in April, as we won't be paid the govt bonus until end May? If I top up say 4k on 6th April, then empty the LISA at the end of April after topping it up, will the £1k bonus be paid into the now empty account?

If so, could i then withdraw the £1k, incurring the penalty, so taking £750?

eskbanker

Olliehiggins said:

Separate Q: if i can get the developer to wait to end of April to access my wife's LISA without incurring the penalty, is there any point in me topping the LISA up in April, as we won't be paid the govt bonus until end May? If I top up say 4k on 6th April, then empty the LISA at the end of April after topping it up, will the £1k bonus be paid into the now empty account?

If so, could i then withdraw the £1k, incurring the penalty, so taking £750?

Yes to each question - it may also be worth discussing with your solicitor, who might be in a position to assist with payment scheduling or at least advising what scope there could be for negotiation.  Even if the money isn't available without penalty in time for exchange, it might be in time for completion, and multiple withdrawals can be made from LISAs towards a property purchase, i.e. it's not just a one-off....

rhodesmjr

Has anyone here transferred their Cash LISA to BeeHive Money and have a positive experience to share?

The reviews of the BeeHive app on the Google Store make it sound awful. I know reviews can be unbalanced but there are many very recent negative reviews pointing out very significant issues/lack of functionality. I'm not feeling inspired by them.

BeeHive is the best rate and bonus for anyone looking to improve on Moneybox's rate once that bonus rate has ended.

Blackbriar_040

rhodesmjr said:

Has anyone here transferred their Cash LISA to BeeHive Money and have a positive experience to share?

The reviews of the BeeHive app on the Google Store make it sound awful. I know reviews can be unbalanced but there are many very recent negative reviews pointing out very significant issues/lack of functionality. I'm not feeling inspired by them.

BeeHive is the best rate and bonus for anyone looking to improve on Moneybox's rate once that bonus rate has ended.

I was considering transferring my current Moneybox LISA to Beehive, until, like youself, I starting reading some of the reviews!  The posts on Trustpilot are equally bad, didn't fill me with confidence, lots of issues with the app/logging in!  Only real positives seems to be their customer service!  Not sure its worth the hassle!

dcs34

How often are people fiddling with their LISAs? Doesn't matter if the app is bad if you're only using it once a year to check on the annual £4k contribution.

Blackbriar_040

dcs34 said:

How often are people fiddling with their LISAs? Doesn't matter if the app is bad if you're only using it once a year to check on the annual £4k contribution.

Don't know about fiddling, but I like to check the balance now and again!
It may not matter if your just checking the contributions, but for me, I want the to know I can access the account anytime!
Like rhodesmrj mentioned, if your Moneybox bonus has ended, Beehive is your next best rate, so the risk comes from transferring to them and then encountering problems when you do decide to use the LISA.
 
 

anaprag

I am thinking of starting a LISA to save for retirement to access from the age of 60. I do not want to use it to buy a house. Am I still eligible to open a LISA and receive the 25% bonus, even though I am part owner of our family home? I would be grateful if someone could please clarify. Thanks in advance!

masonic

anaprag said:

I am thinking of starting a LISA to save for retirement to access from the age of 60. I do not want to use it to buy a house. Am I still eligible to open a LISA and receive the 25% bonus, even though I am part owner of our family home? I would be grateful if someone could please clarify. Thanks in advance!

Yes, homeowners are allowed to open a LISA to use for retirement. Obviously the benefit of using a LISA vs a pension is less clear cut, and you'll need to be under the age of 40 when you open the LISA.

SharonSmith92

Hello. Looking for some advice on my LISA please.

I have a house deposit in my LISA (plus a bit extra which would have gone towards surveyor fees, mortgage fees etc), however my LISA provider is saying that they have to transfer all funds to my conveyancer - the conveyancer has then advised that all funds have to go towards the deposit for the house. 

LISA provided advised that i can part transfer funds to conveyancer and then withdraw the rest to my account but i will get a 25% charge. 

Please can you advise if this is correct? So no savings in the LISA can be used for fees etc that come as part and parcel of purchasing a house?