Lifetime ISA questions. Deposit money either side of tax year? Bonus paid out straight away?

1867_owl

Hi all,

Myself and my girlfriend have been saving for our first house for several years now. We are both almost maxed out on our Help to Buy isa's but each have some extra money in normal savings / current accounts.

I'll get to the point. we just noticed that the house price limit on a Help to Buy isa is £250,000 which we now expect to exceed. We would like to make the most of the higher savings limit and maximum house price limit with a Lifetime isa. Two questions I have been unable to find answers to within the Money Saving Expert hive brain:

1. The deposit limit is £4,000 within each tax year. Does this mean it would be possible to deposit £4,000 either side of April 5th? This would mean savings of £8,000 and a bonus of £2,000 almost overnight which is not far behind what I would be eligible for with my Help to Buy isa.

2. Secondly, how/when is the bonus 'paid out'. Say I have had by Lisa open for a year already, could I deposit £4,000 on April 4th, £4,000 on April 6th and buy a house on April 8th and realise the full £2,000 bonus? Or does the money have to be in the account for a set amount of time before the bonus can be paid out?

Thanks in advance folks.

eskbanker

1867_owl said:

1. The deposit limit is £4,000 within each tax year. Does this mean it would be possible to deposit £4,000 either side of April 5th?

Yes.

1867_owl said:

2. Secondly, how/when is the bonus 'paid out'. Say I have had by Lisa open for a year already, could I deposit £4,000 on April 4th, £4,000 on April 6th and buy a house on April 8th and realise the full £2,000 bonus? Or does the money have to be in the account for a set amount of time before the bonus can be paid out?

Bonus claim periods run from the 6th of one month to the 5th of the next, and the bonuses are paid about 28 days after the end of each such period, so the bonus for the April 4th contribution would be paid late April or early May, and the bonus for the April 6th one would be paid late May or early June.  You could withdraw funds for a first-time property purchase on April 8th but would still have to wait another seven weeks or so before the final bonus arrived.