A paramedic in Blacktown earned a base salary that looked modest on paper, and roughly a third again on top of it in shift penalties, overtime and allowances.
Often, at the right lender. Some count regular rostered overtime, penalties and allowances at close to full value with a year or two of history; others count half or none of it.
On the same payslips that can change borrowing power by tens of thousands, which is what this example shows.
Part of the employment and income home loans guide.
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The treatments differ enormously. A common approach counts a fixed percentage of overtime, often somewhere between 50 and 80 per cent, averaged over one or two years. Some apply more generous policies specifically to essential-services and healthcare employment.
Some lenders count rostered shift penalties at full value where the employment is permanent and the pattern is documented, treating them differently from discretionary overtime. The overtime and allowances guide sets out the options, and the healthcare guide covers profession-specific policies.
Two years of payslips and both PAYG summaries, to establish the pattern rather than a good quarter. Which components are award-based and which are discretionary, since lenders separate them. And then the placement decision, which on this file is worth more than any rate negotiation.
The employment letter, confirming permanency and the rostered nature of the penalties, because a letter that describes overtime as guaranteed reads very differently from one that calls it available.
Mainly whether the overtime is genuine and durable: hours loaded up for six months to lift an application become a repayment you may not want to carry in three years, and a good broker will say so.
Where the roster is changing, or a move to part-time is planned, the realistic assessment runs on the income that will be there.
Lenders will also want to see that the base salary alone leaves the household somewhere near survivable, which is a reasonable test and a useful one for the borrower too.
If a meaningful share of your income arrives as penalties or overtime, the lender you apply to matters more than almost anything else about your file.
Bring two years of evidence and an employment letter that describes the roster accurately, and ask specifically how each component will be treated before an application is lodged rather than after a number comes back low.
Yes, but differently: some take a percentage, some average it over a period, and some count it in full for particular occupations, commonly essential services. The treatment can move a borrowing figure a long way. Overtime and allowances has the detail.
For shift-based work the base can be a fraction of real earnings. The right lender counts the income you earn, evidenced through payslips and a year-to-date figure.
Recent payslips showing the pattern, a year-to-date total, and the prior year's summary. A consistent history is what turns loadings from a maybe into counted income.
Thirty minutes with Charles: how your penalties and overtime read to different lenders, and which reading your file deserves.
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This is an illustrative example scenario, not a description of a specific client and not a testimonial. The figures are realistic but rounded, no lender is named, and no outcome is promised, every application is assessed on its own facts. General information only, not credit or financial advice.
Official sources for the figures on this page: Revenue NSW, transfer duty. Scheme rules change; the official pages are the final word. Checked against these sources on 12 October 2026.
