Money in Lifetime isa with moneybox-a few urgent questions.

anotherquestion

Hi there,
I am asking on behalf of my daughter who  (last October 20) put  £4000 in a Lifetime help to buy ISA with Moneybox ( I have never heard of this company before and hope it is legit) she understands that she won't get the government bonus until at least the money is in for a year, I believe bonus is around a thousand pounds or so towards a first house buy.
She is currently searching for a house to buy so a few questions.
1 If she finds a house now and needs to withdraw the money, what penalty will she pay  as I have heard talk of between 20-25 %?, in other words is her initial investment ok?
2 If she does leave the money in but in the meantime buys a house what will happen to the money in October, will bonus still be added and she can withdraw? 
3 Is moneybox a legit company?
Thanks for any info.

eskbanker

anotherquestion said:

she understands that she won't get the government bonus until at least the money is in for a year

She understands wrongly - if she paid £4K in last October, the bonus would have been added to the account by the end of November.

anotherquestion said:

1 If she finds a house now and needs to withdraw the money, what penalty will she pay as I have heard talk of between 20-25 %?

The early withdrawal penalty is normally 25% but has been reduced to 20% during the current tax year, which finishes on Monday.

anotherquestion said:

2 If she does leave the money in but in the meantime buys a house what will happen to the money in October, will bonus still be added and she can withdraw?

As above, the bonus will already have been added, but unless she leaves the money in until she's 60, she'll pay the withdrawal penalty for any access other than to buy a first property.

anotherquestion said:

3 Is moneybox a legit company?

Yes.


Obviously it would have made more sense to research the company and the product before putting her money in, but if she wishes to read up on it now, https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/lifetime-isas/ is a reasonable place to start....

anotherquestion

Thank you very much for the in depth explanation.