Lifetime ISA FAQs

To open a Lifetime ISA you need to be aged 18 and over but under 40 years old when you open and make the initial investment. 

Also, you must be either:

• a UK resident,
• a Crown Servant (for example a diplomat or civil servant), or
• the spouse or civil partner of a Crown Servant.

You can apply online for your Newcastle Cash Lifetime ISA.

For more information about opening an account visit our Newcastle Cash Lifetime ISA page. Once your account is open, you can fund from £1 and then manage your savings online, by telephone or post. 

Should you wish to speak to us about your application, please call us on 0345 734 4345*, lines are open Monday to Friday, 8am – 6pm, excluding bank holidays. 

The Lifetime ISA may be a suitable account if the below statements apply to you:

• You are a first time buyer and want to save to buy a house in the UK worth up to £450,000.
• You want to save towards your retirement.

The Lifetime ISA is not right for you if you will need access to your savings for another reason, or an emergency, as you may get back less than you have saved. Also, the Lifetime ISA is not right for you if you intend to purchase your home within 12 months.

You can withdraw from your Lifetime ISA (LISA) at any time, however, you will be charged a government withdrawal charge of 25% if the withdrawal is not classed as a lifetime event.  For more information on when you can withdraw penalty-free please refer to the question, ‘When can I withdraw from my Lifetime ISA?’.

You can save up to £4,000 a year and can continue to pay into your Lifetime ISA (LISA) until you reach 50 years old. The £4,000 limit, if used, forms part of your overall annual ISA limit. Please note, we need to receive your initial investment within 30 days of account opening and prior to your 40th birthday (unless you are transferring an existing LISA from another provider).

Please send a payment from your personal UK Bank or Building Society account using the following details:

If you are asked whether you wish to pay a person or a business, please select ‘person’.

• Beneficiary: Your first and last name
• Account Number: 00000008
• Sort Code: 23-59-54
• Reference: Your Newcastle Building Society account number. Your account number is a 13-digit account number which can be found in your welcome letter or by logging into your account online. Please ensure that your account number is entered exactly as shown including any uppercase letters. 

If any of the above information, including your reference, is missing or incomplete the payments may be sent back to your bank and not credited to your Newcastle Building Society account.

You can also fund your LISA by transferring a LISA you hold with another provider to us. For more information about transferring your funds, please call us on 0345 734 4345*, lines open Monday to Friday, 8am – 6pm excluding bank holidays.

This will be your initial payment and no further payments will be taken unless you set up regular payments to this account. You can do this by setting up a standing order with your bank / building society and quoting the sort code, account number and reference information above.

What is Confirmation of Payee?

We participate in the Confirmation of Payee (CoP) scheme. The CoP scheme is designed to reduce fraud and prevent payments from being sent to the wrong accounts, by requiring name checks to be carried out between bank or building society accounts.

When you set up a new nominated linked account, we will ask the account provider to check that the name on the nominated linked account matches your name. If the information does not match, we will ask you for proof that the proposed nominated linked account is in your name before you can add it.

Visit our Confirmation of Payee page for further information. 

For further information on Confirmation of Payee please visit UK Finance or PayUK.

You can save up to £4,000 a year and can continue to pay into your Lifetime ISA until you reach the age of 50. The account can stay open after then, but you can’t make any more payments into it and you will no longer receive the government bonus. The £4,000 limit, if used, forms part of your overall annual ISA limit.

Your savings will be kept on a tax-free basis for as long as you keep the money in your Lifetime ISA.

You can, however you can only pay into one Lifetime ISA in each tax year and the maximum amount you can pay in each year is your £4,000 Lifetime ISA allowance. 

For each Lifetime ISA you open, you will need to wait 12 months before being able to instruct your conveyancer when buying your first home.

You have 30 days from the initial account funding date to change your mind. You can cancel your account by letting us know during this period, by either calling us on 0345 734 4345* (lines open 8am – 6pm, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays) or by sending us a secure message when you log into your account. Your cancelled ISA won’t count as a Lifetime ISA subscription. 

You will be able to open another Lifetime ISA in that tax year if you’re still eligible. If you choose to cancel you will get back the full amount you have paid in. You will not be entitled to the Government bonus or interest within the right to cancel period.

If you decide to make a withdrawal outside of this 30 day cancellation period, you can withdraw from your Lifetime ISA (LISA) at any time, however, you will be charged a government withdrawal charge of 25% if the withdrawal is not classed as a lifetime event.  For more information on when you can withdraw penalty-free please refer to the question, ‘When can I withdraw from my Lifetime ISA?’.

You can have both a cash ISA and a Lifetime ISA, however, deposits into both will count towards your overall ISA allowance. 

Each tax year, which runs from 6th April to the following 5th April, you are able to invest a certain amount into an ISA. 

For the 2026/2027 tax year, this is £20,000. Your £4,000 Lifetime ISA allowance is part of this overall allowance.

Your bonus is calculated on any payments you make into your account from the 6th of the month to the 5th of the following month. HMRC will calculate the bonus based on the contributions you have made each month. We will claim the 25% bonus from HMRC on your behalf.

You can pay up to £4,000 per tax year (April 6th - April 5th). When you turn 50 you can no longer pay into the account and the government bonus will stop, however, you will still receive interest on the balance. 

Your bonus will be paid into your account within 14 days of the 20th day of month two, for example:

• You make your Lifetime ISA payment between 3 October and 2 November
• Your bonus will be calculated between 3 November and 17 November
• You will receive your bonus on 1 December

The bonus is paid on all contributions you make before you reach the age of 50.

Yes, you can withdraw from your Lifetime ISA, providing your withdrawal is classed as a lifetime event. Lifetime events are:

• Buying your first home after 12 months of your account opening date
• Retirement when you reach 60
• Terminally ill, with less than 12 months to live
• Death.

If this withdrawal is not classed as a lifetime event, you may incur a 25% withdrawal penalty. For more information on when you can withdraw penalty-free please refer to the question below, ‘When can I withdraw from my Lifetime ISA?’.

You can withdraw from your Lifetime ISA (LISA) at any time, however, you will be charged a government withdrawal charge of 25% if you withdraw your money for any reason other than one of the lifetime events outlined below:

• Buying your first home
  • The home you purchase is in the UK
  • You’re buying your home with a residential mortgage (i.e. not Buy to Let)
  • You use a conveyancer or solicitor to act for you in the purchase, and the funds are paid directly to them by your LISA provider
• You are 60 years or older
• If you are terminally ill with less than 12 months to live
• In the event of your death
• Transferring to another LISA provider

Please note, your Lifetime ISA must be open for at least 12 months before you can withdraw funds from it to buy your first home.

The Lifetime ISA withdrawal charge is designed so that the Government recovers the bonus and any investment growth received. Your savings may be reduced and the amount you get back may be less than you paid in.

For those saving to buy their first home, you must have held your Lifetime ISA for over 12 months to use the funds. If you are saving for retirement, you can access these funds from age 60.

You can withdraw from your Lifetime ISA (LISA) at any time, however, you will be charged a government withdrawal charge of 25% if the withdrawal is not classed as a lifetime event.  For more information on when you can withdraw penalty-free please refer to the question, ‘When can I withdraw from my Lifetime ISA?’.

You can withdraw from your Lifetime ISA (LISA) at any time, however, you will be charged a government withdrawal charge of 25% if the withdrawal is not classed as a lifetime event.  For more information on when you can withdraw penalty-free please refer to the question, ‘When can I withdraw from my Lifetime ISA?’.

To request a penalty withdrawal from your Lifetime ISA, you can call us on 0345 734 4345* (Lines are open 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday), or you can send us a secure message. You are unable to make a penalty withdrawal via your online account.

You will need to confirm the amount that you wish to withdraw. If this is the full amount, please confirm if you wish to close your account, or keep it open with a nil balance. You may wish to keep this open to continue saving in the future.

We will respond confirming the penalty amount and you will need to agree to this before your withdrawal can be processed.

Any withdrawals from your Lifetime ISA (LISA) which are not lifetime events will have a 25% government penalty charge applied. As well as recovering the 25% government bonus, you'll also lose some of your own savings and will receive back less than you invested. This is demonstrated in the example below.

This example doesn't include any interest earned.

You’ll need to complete an Investor Declaration form (PDF, 469 kB) to access your Lifetime ISA funds. We must receive this from your conveyancer, who will in turn complete a Conveyancer Declaration confirming your eligibility to withdraw penalty free. 

Once we receive the correct information from your conveyancer, we will confirm you're happy before transferring the money to your conveyancer within 30 days. From this point the purchase needs to complete within 90 days or your conveyancer needs to apply for an extension.

If the purchase doesn’t proceed and the money is not returned (unless an extension has been agreed) the government withdrawal charge of 25% of the amount withdrawn will apply.

When you come to buy a property, you’ll need to tell your conveyancer you want to use part, or all, of your Lifetime ISA towards the purchase and provide them with a declaration.

Your conveyancer also has to provide us with a declaration. It’s your responsibility to ensure this is provided, but your conveyancer should do this as part of the buying process.

Once we receive the appropriate paperwork from your conveyancer, we’ll confirm we’ve received the request and then pay the amount requested to the conveyancer within 30 days without applying the government withdrawal charge. 

Your conveyancer must advise us that your purchase has completed within 10 days of completion.

Please see below for Conveyancer and Investor Declaration forms:

• Lifetime ISA Conveyancer Declaration Form (PDF, 115 kB)
• Lifetime ISA Investor Declaration Form (PDF, 469 kB)

If you use your Lifetime ISA to buy a house, your savings will go towards the deposit of your first home. 

Your new home must not exceed the value of £450,000 and the property must be purchased in the UK with a residential mortgage, but not a Buy to Let mortgage. You must occupy the property as your main residence.

If both you and the person you are buying your home with are first time buyers, you can both use your Lifetime ISA for the purchase of your home without paying a withdrawal charge.

If you are a first time buyer, but the person you are buying your home with has owned a property before, then they will not be able to use their Lifetime ISA (if they hold a Lifetime ISA) for the purchase of your home without paying a withdrawal charge. However, you, as a first time buyer, would still be able to use your own Lifetime ISA towards the price of the home that you are buying together.

In both cases the price of the home you’re buying must not exceed £450,000 if you wish to use your Lifetime ISA towards it without paying a withdrawal charge.

You have 90 days from your conveyancer receiving the funds from us to complete your property purchase. If it’s taking longer than 90 days, the conveyancer can write to us to request an extension.

If your purchase does not complete within 90 days of the withdrawal, your conveyancer must tell us and return the amount withdrawn to the Newcastle Cash Lifetime ISA within 10 working days, unless your conveyancer applies for an extension under the ISA regulations.

The conveyancer is able to request withdrawals from the account as many times as you wish up to completion, there is no minimum withdrawal amount. We’d require completed declarations from both you and your conveyancer each time a withdrawal is requested during this process.

No, if you hold both of these accounts you are only eligible to claim the bonus from one of the government schemes to buy your first home. The Help to Buy ISA is now closed to new applicants and the government bonus on a Help to Buy: ISA must be claimed by 1 December 2030.

Yes, in order to rent the rooms out you must occupy the property as your main or only residence upon completion of the purchase. 

However, if you withdraw funds from your Lifetime ISA to purchase a property that you intend to let, or to purchase land, you will incur a government withdrawal penalty.

You’ll be unable to use it without paying the government withdrawal charge if you already own a property. If you’re unsure whether you already legally own the property or need any clarification, you should seek some independent advice.

You can continue saving in your Lifetime ISA (LISA) until the day before your 50th birthday and you can withdraw savings for your retirement when you reach 60. We can't give you advice on whether the account is suitable for you as a retirement fund.

A Cash Lifetime ISA may not be the best option for your retirement savings. If you are thinking about one as a way of boosting your retirement savings then you should think about when you intend to retire. What other provisions for retirement you are making (such as a pension) and whether a Lifetime ISA will help you meet your savings goals (for example, will it help provide sufficient income in retirement).

You should consider if saving in a Cash Lifetime ISA is the right option for saving towards your retirement. If you are employed, you should consider the potential availability of a workplace pension scheme through an employer, which provides employer matched contributions, and your tax position.

If you save in a Lifetime ISA instead of enrolling in, or contributing to, a pension scheme from your employer or personal pension scheme:

• You may lose the benefit of contributions by an employer (if any) to that scheme; and
• Your current or future entitlement to means tested benefits may be affected (these depend on the amount of income and capital you have, which includes savings).

A financial adviser will be able to help you map out the best route to plan for your retirement.

When you reach your 60th birthday, you will be able to make as many withdrawals as you like from your Lifetime ISA penalty-free.

To request a withdrawal from your Lifetime ISA, you can call us on 0345 734 4345*, lines are open Monday to Friday from 8am – 6pm, excluding bank holidays. Alternatively, you can send us a secure message. You are unable to make a withdrawal using your account online.

You can withdraw from your Lifetime ISA (LISA) at any time, however, you will be charged a government withdrawal charge of 25% if the withdrawal is not classed as a lifetime event.  For more information on when you can withdraw penalty-free please refer to the question, ‘When can I withdraw from my Lifetime ISA?’.

This won’t affect your Lifetime ISA, it just means you’ll have access to your Lifetime ISA before you retire. As it’s based on age rather than retirement age, you can withdraw your Lifetime ISA at 60, transfer to another savings account or leave your funds in your Lifetime ISA.

Newcastle Building Society only accepts full Lifetime ISA transfers.

The transfer will start once your Newcastle Building Society Lifetime ISA is open, and we have received the transfer instruction and any documentation required to support your application. 

A transfer request should be completed within 30 working days from when the transfer request is received (for a Cash Lifetime ISA transfer) and 30 calendar days for a Stocks and Shares Lifetime ISA transfer. 

If you do send funds to us before the Lifetime ISA transfer is complete, they will be retained by us and we will only credit these to your account once the Lifetime ISA transfer has completed. 

You will not receive any interest on these funds until they have been applied to your Lifetime ISA.

The transfer will start once we have received the transfer instruction and any documentation required.  

A transfer request should be completed within 30 business days from when the transfer request is received.  

No, at Newcastle Building Society, a Lifetime ISA can only be funded via a completed Lifetime ISA transfer or via new investment.

There are two scenarios why you may have not received this: 

a) If the transfer date has taken place before your previous Lifetime ISA provider has received the monthly bonus payment from HMRC, it is the responsibility of the previous Lifetime ISA provider to forward the bonus payment onto Newcastle Building Society once they have received it. This will be automatically credited to your new Lifetime ISA once received by us.

b) If the transfer date has taken place after the last monthly bonus payment from HMRC and before the next monthly bonus payment request date to HMRC, we will automatically ensure the bonus request is included within the next payment request. You will receive confirmation of the amount received once this has been credited to your Lifetime ISA.

Lifetime ISAs are not currently part of the eISA transfer service. Any Lifetime ISA transfers must therefore be completed via a paper transfer between your existing and new Lifetime ISA providers.

Your Newcastle Cash Lifetime ISA will not be open until the Lifetime ISA transfer from the previous provider has completed. Please do not send any additional funds to your Newcastle LISA until we have confirmed your account is open.