Lifetime ISAs guide

rachlikeswinter wrote: »

Yes, exactly that. Most of us are taking advantage of regular savers etc with higher interest rates and then plan to drop in as last minute as poss. However - Skipton have announced they are not accepting any HTB transfers after 1 March, in order to make sure they can process all of them before end of tax year. So I wouldn’t wait until then in case there are any issues. I’ve actually started transferring mine now - hoping it will be complete by next week. Yes I’m missing out on a couple of months interest on my HTB (which was 3.5%) but its nominal, for peace of mind.

Re you interest query, yes that’s basically it. No one’s opened the Skipton account for the amazing interest rate; in fact we’re all ditching a good one for it. But you can’t beat 25% free money so. Perhaps other banks will start to offer this and interest rates will get competitive but at the moment, just forget about the 0.75% and it’ll be a fun surprise It’s in addition to your 4K allowance.

Perfect thank you very much for the reply! Will set mine up in Jan/Feb time :-) Hopefully I'll win the millions on premium bonds before then... Ta!

eskbanker wrote: »

A bit of both - the interest for the period from December 2016 to 5 April 2017 doesn't count towards the £4K LISA allowance for 2017/18 but the rest does. Halifax should do the calculation when transferring to Skipton....

So here’s the weird thing. Halifax have now transferred my balance over to Skipton and closed it (cba with keeping it open I have too many b/a as it is) which includes interest from part way this tax year 17/18. When I called to clarify how much allowance I have left he said £2449 (I’ve paif £1550 into HTB this year +£1 opening money) sooo... looks like interest isn’t being included after all?!

Chickabee wrote: »

Did anyone opt for one of the Nutmeg S&S LISA? I opened one as there weren't any cash LISA offered initially and I needed to get it opened before my 40th birthday. I'm hoping to lump in a larger amount before the end of the tax year. However ive never really dealt with stocks & shares before and wondered if people think switching to a cash LISA might be a better option?

Completely depends on your circumstances. Generally speaking stocks and shares should be held for a minimum of 5 years (pref longer) in order to weather the ups and downs of the stock market and you’re more likely to make more money long-term. Short term is a higher risk so if you want to use your LISA before then you should have a cash LISA. Safer but worse returns.

That’s why as a rule - if you’re buying a house go for cash Lisa and if you’re saving for retirement go for S&S. But it’s completely your decision. Transferring from one to other is fairly simple so don’t worry if you think you’ve made a mistake.

So I opened a Halifax HTB in Dec 2015. Ever since I've been putting £200 in.

On 5th April 2017, I had £4492.16 (inc interest).

I've opened a LISA 20/10/17 and put the full £4000, so have used the allowance.

Does this mean I can only transfer £4492.16 before April 2018 to make use of the extra government bonus?

Does this mean I can keep the Halifax HTB ISA? I want to keep it open and use it as a regular saver as 3.5% isn't bad.

How close to 5th April 2018 can I / should I initiate the transfer?

And then I can only use the LISA from 20/10/2018?

Are the only 2 providers offering S&S LISA still HL, and Nutmeg?

Seems no one else is doing it still? HL charges are very high, admittedly it will only be on £5k so not huge money and maybe next year more will offer it. Keen to open one before this tax year to get the £1k bonus for the missus.