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Introducing Team up - the new way to save for a house together

By
Anya GairAnya Gair
Last Updated 9 April 2024

Almost two-thirds of first-time buyers team up to get on ladder. It’s unsurprising when first-time buyers have to put down an average deposit of over £53,000. Clubbing together with a partner, friends, siblings or other family members to buy together is a way to boost your borrowing power and overcome the house affordability gap - so you can buy sooner.


Whether you want to buy a house with a partner, mate or loved one, at Tembo we’ve made it easier for you to save for a house together with the in-built ‘Team up’ feature in our Lifetime ISA app.

In this guide

  • What is Team up?
  • How ‘Team up’ works:
  • Why use Team up?

What is Team up?

Team up is like two-player mode for your first home. Whether you’re a couple, best friends, or family — if you’re looking to buy your first home together, Team up can make it much easier to build your house deposit and see how long it could take to become homeowners together.

Without Team up, for example if you have a Lifetime ISA with a different provider to Tembo, you and your house-buying co-part will probably be using separate apps, confusing who-saved-what spreadsheets and be trying trying to calculate how long it could take until you both have enough for a deposit. Sounds stressful (and not worth the extra wrinkles).

With the Tembo Lifetime ISA app, you can track your progress towards your house deposit goal together. We’ll also show you your time to buy - a personalised countdown that shows you how long it could take to save for a home. As you save, your time to buy will go down. 

Plus, we’ll show you and your partner personalised money-saving ideas that could help you buy your home sooner. And monthly cash giveaways! 💸

Read more: How much deposit do I need to buy a house?

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Open a Tembo Lifetime ISA today

Sign up for a Tembo Lifetime ISA today, or transfer your LISA to us to make saving for a house together simple.

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“I wish I’d had this years ago. Super easy to save, me and my partner are using the ‘Team up’ function and it’s so rewarding to see how much we’ve collectively saved so quickly.”

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Tom

Tembo app user

How ‘Team up’ works:

Step 1: Both open a Tembo Lifetime ISA.

Team up is not a joint account. You manage your share of the deposit in your own Tembo Lifetime ISA and each get a 25% bonus from the UK government, tax-free on your savings.

Bonus you say?

Yep. With a Tembo Lifetime ISA, you can get up to £1,000 in bonuses every tax year!

Read our guide to Lifetime ISAs here.

Step 2: Send your ‘Team up’ invite.

Now that you’ve both opened your Tembo Lifetime ISAs, it’s time to team up!

📲  Person 1 sends an invite code to Person 2.

👋  Person 2 accepts the invite in their Tembo app.

🏠  And you’re done! You’re all teamed up and ready to build your deposit together.

It’s as easy as that!

Step 3: See how long it could take to buy your first home together.

Before you team up, you’ll see how long it could take to buy your first home on your own. This is based on how much you’ve saved already, how much you could put aside each month and of course, the 25% Lifetime ISA bonus.

Team up takes all this information from both of you and combines it to show you how long it could take to buy your first home together.


Now, you have one joint goal to work towards. Every time one of you puts money into your Lifetime ISA, or you get the government bonus, interest, return on investments, you’ll be able to see your progress towards your saving goal together.

You might like: 17 ways to smash your savings goals in 2024

Why use Team up?

💸 1. Get up to £2,000 towards your home every year

Let’s say you both smash it and max out your Tembo Lifetime ISAs.

Your £1,000 Lifetime ISA bonus + their £1,000 Lifetime ISA bonus = £2,000 towards your first home every year, tax-free. That could help you buy a home months or even years sooner.

🔮 2. Plan for the future

Instead of guessing when you’ll be ready to buy your first home, our in-app countdown will give you a clear idea of when it'll be possible to take this next big step.

💪 3. Stay motivated

Two things that help you stay focussed on achieving big goals?

  1. Seeing progress.
  2. Being held accountable.

With Team up, you get both!

💰💰 4. Your money stays separate

If things don’t work out, there’s no need to worry about getting your money back from a joint account. All your money is kept in your own Tembo account that only you can access. Plus, you can un-Team-up at the touch of a button.

🏡 5. Get the best bits of Tembo

As well as Team up, our app has loads of additional features designed to help you save for your first home sooner. Like personalised insights about your spending and money-saving ideas, Gift Links for you to share with loved ones to contribute your house fund and monthly cash giveaways. See what else you get when you join Tembo.

Ready to start building your deposit together?

Install the Tembo app and open your account in just 5 minutes, or transfer your LISA from another provider.

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