It’s okay if you...

  • Think the LISA bonus sounds almost too good to be true.
  • Feel overwhelmed with all the info about Lifetime ISAs out there.
  • Have a couple of questions about the bonus before you open your LISA.

We want to make things easier for you. So here are some of the top Lifetime ISA (aka LISA) bonus FAQs that have been previously asked by first-time buyers like you 🏠

How big of a bonus are we talking?

With a Lifetime ISA, you can get up to £1,000 towards your first home every tax year (which runs from April to April).

You get 25% on whatever you save, all the way up to the max annual bonus of £1,000.

If you open a Lifetime ISA at age 18 and add £4,000 every year until you’re 50, you could get £33,000 in bonuses (although, we imagine you’d maybe like to buy a house before then).

Do I have to put £4,000 into my LISA every tax year to get the bonus?

The government gives you 25% on any amount you put into your LISA — £4,000 is just the max you can put in each tax year.

So each year...

💰 If you saved £100 in your LISA, you’ll get a £25 bonus.

💰 If you saved £731, you’d get £182.70.

💰 If you saved £2,000, you'd get £500.

💰 If you saved £4,000, you'd get £1,000...you get the idea.

A quick way to work it out is [Amount you add in] x 0.25 = your bonus amount.

Is the bonus a monthly thing or…?

Your bonus lands in your account within 4-6 weeks of putting any money into your LISA. This timeline is because we tell HMRC (where the bonus comes from) how much you're due, then have to wait for them to send it over.

If you have a monthly contribution, it will feel like a monthly bonus.

But if you add a chunk of money in one go, you’ll get the bonus for that amount in one go. It depends.

With Nude, the claiming period is between the 6th and the 5th of the month (e.g. February 6th to March 5th). So, if you add money to your LISA on either side of this period, your bonus could take closer to the 6 week mark to arrive from HMRC. We’ll always keep you posted with a push notification and an email.

Could ~someone~ withdraw the bonus to spend on something else?

If someone was to withdraw some, or all, of the money from their LISA for ineligible reasons like not for buying their first home that meets the requirements (or for retirement purposes at age 60), the government would charge them a 25% penalty – so they’d lose the 25% gov bonus, plus around 6.25% of their own money.

The 25% penalty is a strict rule, but it exists to prevent other people from taking advantage of a scheme that’s designed to help first-time buyers and retirees.

Read more about how and when the withdrawal penalty applies here.

If there’s anything that would make you feel more confident about opening your Lifetime ISA, our friendly customer service team is on hand to answer your questions.

And if you feel ready, great! You can open your Nude Lifetime ISA in the app within 5 minutes.