Lifetime ISAs guide

1muffin

That's great, I'll be going ahead and opening the Skipton LISA. So I guess the next question is when is the deadline for transfer before the bonus is paid?

Forgot to add one thing - next year I'll have £5k (4 from me, 1 from govt). What if I put in another £4k, say in June 2018 - will I have to wait til April 2019 for the next £1k bonus or could I receive it any sooner?

greenglide

If the balance at April 5th 2018 is £4,000 then you get £1,000 bonus irrespective of how long it has been there.

From then on the bonus is paid every month on all of the new contributions made during the period month - very similar to the tax relief paid on pensions.

greenglide

Yes you'll have to wait - you can't think you'd receive 2 x £1000 within a few months of each other?

Err no.

From next year the bonus is paid monthly, only 2017-2018 has the transitional arrangement. So if you put £4,000 on 5th April 2018 and £4,000 on 6th April 2018 you would get the bonuses very close together.

The bonus isn't a reward for saving for a long time, it is a reward for putting at away in a wrapper which has severe penalties for accessing it other than for a qualifying house purchase of reaching the age of 60.

1muffin

OK so here's my plan to max the bonus while keeping interest rates high while I can (i.e. other accounts):

Today: Open LISA, deposit £1
March 2018: Deposit £3,999
5th April 2018: Receive £1,000 bonus (+ any interest)
6th April 2018: Deposit £4,000
~6th June 2019: Receive £83.33 bonus (£1,000/12 months)
~6th July 2019: Receive £83.33 bonus
~6th August 2019: Receive £83.33 bonus
...
And so on (until I decide to buy a house), right?

Edit: Oops, those should be June/July/August 2018!

veryintrigued

1muffin wrote: »

OK so here's my plan to max the bonus while keeping interest rates high while I can (i.e. other accounts):

Today: Open LISA, deposit £1
March 2018: Deposit £3,999
5th April 2018: Receive £1,000 bonus (+ any interest)
6th April 2018: Deposit £4,000
~6th June 2019: Receive £83.33 bonus (£1,000/12 months)
~6th July 2019: Receive £83.33 bonus
~6th August 2019: Receive £83.33 bonus
...
And so on (until I decide to buy a house), right?

GG has put us right which means am not sure why you have missed out the (monthly) bonus from April 18 onwards and gone straight to June 19? Typo?

You've also missed the 0.5p (variable) off payable April 18

There is a dedicated Skipton LISA thread in this section.

1muffin

Thanks - I've put an edit note for the typo!

Yes I will be going with Skipton, but wanted to leave this more generically for others wondering the same thing. Thought I'd get more help in this thread - so far so good!

Ed-1

1muffin wrote: »

OK so here's my plan to max the bonus while keeping interest rates high while I can (i.e. other accounts):

Today: Open LISA, deposit £1
March 2018: Deposit £3,999
5th April 2018: Receive £1,000 bonus (+ any interest)
6th April 2018: Deposit £4,000
~6th June 2018: Receive £83.33 bonus (£1,000/12 months)
~6th July 2018: Receive £83.33 bonus
~6th August 2018: Receive £83.33 bonus
...
And so on (until I decide to buy a house), right?

The bonus isn't paid in monthly installments unless you pay your deposits into the LISA in monthly installments. Rather it's paid monthly based on what you put in the month before. So instead of getting £83.33 bonus in June, you'll get £1,000.

veryintrigued

Ed-1 wrote: »

The bonus isn't paid in monthly installments unless you pay your deposits into the LISA in monthly installments. Rather it's paid monthly based on what you put in the month before. So instead of getting £83.33 bonus in June, you'll get £1,000.

That ties in with the link to the Skipton LISA product on the dedicated thread in this section which has just been posted.

Thanks from me too for the clarification.

1muffin

Ed-1 wrote: »

The bonus isn't paid in monthly installments unless you pay your deposits into the LISA in monthly installments. Rather it's paid monthly based on what you put in the month before. So instead of getting £83.33 bonus in June, you'll get £1,000.

Ahh OK, so the simplest approach would be to put £4k on 6th April 2018, receive the next £1k. I'm guessing that putting any more in (is that even allowed?) wouldn't gain you anything until the following year? So by say June 2018, am I correct in thinking that I would have £8k deposited plus £2k from govt all of which I could put towards a house?

Ed-1

1muffin wrote: »

Ahh OK, so the simplest approach would be to put £4k on 6th April 2018, receive the next £1k. I'm guessing that putting any more in (is that even allowed?) wouldn't gain you anything until the following year? So by say June 2018, am I correct in thinking that I would have £8k deposited plus £2k from govt all of which I could put towards a house?

Yes and you can only put £4k a year in regardless of when in the year you put it in.