Whether or not you get the money sooner or later (which is a lottery), you still have to pay:
Additionally:
Probably better to stick to high interest accounts
Ouch, those fees are quite high!
The reason is simple: market value. They certainly donāt want an empty house, paying them nothing. Upping the rent isnāt mean, itās charging what they can.
I assume you donāt turn down pay rises?
Yes was just thinking about this - I guess the bank would see the additional deposit as debt and therefore maybe you wouldnāt be able to use it as a deposit, or as you say it would reduce the total amount you could borrow slightly (must be the latter otherwise why would they set the company up!?)
Also yes fees are high!
Yeap charging what they can at the detriment of local/less well off people most of the time. Iām not against proportional rises e.g. 2 or 3% maybe or moving someones rent from 500 to 550 after a couple of years of tenancy but definitely not anymore than that.
No I wouldnāt but me getting a pay rise wouldnāt push a family to a brink. Make them have to move home etc. So not a real comparison to be fair
Thanks again for the inspiration @Tom-H - Iāve signed up for a LISA through Skipton Building Society.
If I pay in Ā£4000 per year, Iāll get Ā£1000 per year bonus. Thatās totally doable for my wife and I, then weāll get together a good deposit by the time weāre 40.
A colleague told me about this a few months ago https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/lifetime-ISAs
You are loosing out on so much if you use this: instead of receiving interest, and potentially a government bonus, you actually pay them 3-5% every month. Add to that house price inflation, and you are in a terrible position, should you be the last one to be paid. And letās not forget your chances of being last, are just as large, as those of being first. Then, you keep paying every month until the end of your agreed period, anyway, even if you get lucky and receive your money first, so whatās the point?
And if your world falls apart, and you suddenly need cash, you are also locked out.
I cannot see how this could truly be advantageous for anyone, except for the operators of that schemeā¦
And finally how does the bank accept that? If you are the first to receive your money, you are effectively and legally taking out a loan for your deposit. Thatās about as terrible an idea as it getsā¦
Great! LISA looks like a great option for saving. Good luck!
Yeah I agree with a lot of what youāre saying @nanos, your money is locked up, which could create big problems if you need to get out, and I have no idea whether / how the bank would accept it as a deposit. As for the fees I had read that as 3-5% per year, billed monthly - but if it is 3-5% per month then obviously is a total rip
Iām not advocating for them, just saw it and though it was an interesting / novel solution to the housing crisis. Definitely something to be treated with caution - probably only for savings beyond the LISA limit, and only if youāre sure you can keep paying the amount after you have bought the house. But the main benefit is that it gets you off paying unproductive rent sooner and onto paying a mortgage down - if it brings that forward 2 years then that is actually worth quite a lot to you (and even more so if there is house price inflation).
I was just looking at this calculator again today. With a potential 25k deposit and 800 pm there is nowhere in my area that is affordable.
I may have gotten the fees wrong. Still: even 3% pa seems much to me.
Also, this isnāt at all novel, and they themselves say as much. The idea has been around for 100s of years, just that this method wasnāt originally used for a deposit but for the whole mortgage. If thatās how you get your mortgage then thatās an all together different proposition. (Itās the basic idea behind building societies in their original incarnation, I think. Mutuals and cooperatives also work with the same basic ideas.)
Also canāt see how using this method of saving combines with other methods: assume you save money in a savings account and with them. Then assume you are lucky and get your money first. Then what? You presumably still need to save for X years until you have saved up enough in your normal savings, in order to combine it with the money you got through them, and thus make up your house deposit. During that time theyāll hold your funds in escrow, without interest, and you still need to pay fees and make your contributions. Thatād be the worst of both worldsā¦
Yep, itās sad, isnāt it 
Great to hear! Youāll make it, I promise!
How can what youāve achieved be translated from your own words into a Monzo feature?
Great question! Iād say - lots of improvements to the way saving works in Monzo.
A choice of savings products - I really needed was the full on marketplace (because actually my savings were everywhere, not just in bank accounts). Iāve recently been using Yolt so I can see my overall balance (which is about nothing now!!!), although this doesnāt support investment apps and such where a lot of my balance was held. So an effective marketplace that lets you control and see all your money this in one place would be 
A way to make you feel good about saving. Right now you have to transfer to somewhere external, and this will show as spending, not saving.
Some sort of reverse summary view, that calculated how much your money would increase in the next 5 years or so based on current trends.
Savings targets.
Just started saving into a LISA recently, both myself and the girlfriend. Weāre using Moneybox, where Iāve gone for the medium risk plan, and she has gone for the low risk.
Recently moved job and cut commute in half, both time and mileage, which then means half on fuel.
Always try and knock bills down. Iām on SIM only with EE, as I always get my phoneās separate and 0% credit card them. This means no interest that youāll get with a phone contract and I have the freedom to go to another network when a good deal pops up. Iāve just had a chat with them yesterday and knocked my bill down by 2 quid but now have 8Gb more data. If you donāt ask, you donāt get I always say.
Cashback is a good about and Iām using Quidco and TopCashback. If thereās any others, let me know!
Try and share meals if you ever go out with friends. Some places do sharing plates, or portions big enough to share. That way a meal becomes inexpensive and most of the time, we canāt eat it all anyway!
Drink water with meals, itās not only free but better on the gut than fizzy pop.
Thatās my input!
Cheers 
Just remember lenders donāt see your credit rating/score, they see your history.
Iām also looking to buy my first property and will keep up to date with the thread.
At CreditLadder we want to help tenants to get onto the property ladder. We recently were announced as winners of the HM Treasury Rent Recognition Challenge.
Read more here, https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/money/renters-boost-chances-mortgage/
Definitely do this. I got my fiance to call Vodafone and ask for her PAC code. Sure enough, Vodafone called back a few days later and she now has tons more data and the bill is a third less than before. She managed to get a good as new Galaxy S9 on Ebayās ā15% offā promotion last Friday for a shade over Ā£400 too 
I use a website called mobilephonedirect
Sim Only Plan i have at the minute is 12GB data, unlmtd texts, unlmtd calls for Ā£15 a month
BUTTT they have a cashback claim where you get Ā£6 back a month which turns this to Ā£9 a month 
