Limited time only: Transfer to Tembo’s Lifetime ISA to earn £100

This Black Friday, Tembo is offering a £100 cash bonus to anyone transferring their Lifetime ISA.

Lifetime ISA (LISA) customers could receive a £100 cash bonus thanks to a limited-time Black Friday offer from Tembo, a mortgages and savings platform.

Starting today (Friday 29 November 2024), this offer will run across the Black Friday weekend and end at 23:59 on Cyber Monday (2 December).

To claim the £100, customers simply need to request to transfer their existing Lifetime ISA (with a minimum balance of £5,000) to Tembo within this period. Tembo will then pay the £100 into the customer’s nominated bank account by the end of January 2025.

Customers need to keep their Tembo Lifetime ISA open for at least 12 months after transferring to keep this cash bonus.

Tembo’s Lifetime ISA also pays a competitive 4.75% AER, so any customers transferring their LISA to Tembo will receive an attractive interest rate in addition to the £100 bonus.

“Following a rocky couple of months since the Autumn Budget, the swap market remains volatile which has meant many lenders have been moving to increase the rates on their fixed rate mortgages. This news may be especially disheartening for first-time buyers with a limited deposit,” commented Caitlyn Eastell, spokesperson for Moneyfactscompare.co.uk.

“Tembo’s new £100 Black Friday offer will be a welcome boost for many prospective buyers looking to transfer an existing Lifetime ISA to a Tembo LISA,” she continued.

Transferring a Lifetime ISA

If you want to transfer your LISA to Tembo to benefit from the £100 cash bonus, it’s important to follow the correct ISA transfer process.

Don’t withdraw your funds from your existing LISA as this will incur a penalty charge and will affect your annual ISA allowance.

To transfer to Tembo, you need to say that you already have a LISA when you sign up. The provider will ask questions about your existing LISA and start the transfer process.

Bear in mind it could take up to six weeks for your LISA funds to be transferred to Tembo.

Are Lifetime ISAs still worth it?

Lifetime ISAs have come under scrutiny in recent years, which may lead some first-time buyers to question whether they’re the right option for them.

First-time buyers can only withdraw from their LISA to buy a property worth up to £450,000 without facing any penalty charges.

While this won’t be a problem for many first-time buyers, because house prices have increased but the cap hasn’t changed since the LISA was introduced in 2017, some borrowers have had to pay a 25% charge to use their LISA to get on the property ladder.

This is likely to particularly affect those wanting to buy in London, as the average first-time buyer home in London cost £456,000 in September 2024, according to the latest UK House Price Index . By contrast, this figure was £422,380 in September 2017 , which was below the Lifetime ISA cap.

There were hopes that the Government would address this issue in the Autumn Budget, but, as this didn’t materialise, the £450,000 cap remains in place.

Nevertheless, the perk of the 25% Government bonus means that Lifetime ISAs are still worth considering for many first-time buyers. Thanks to this bonus, you can get an extra £1,000, in addition to the interest paid on the account, on every £4,000 you deposit in a LISA each tax-year.