Most difficult home loans are income problems: one lender counts the income and another does not.
Lenders differ most on overtime, bonuses, commission, casual hours, second jobs and probation, so the same payslips produce different borrowing figures. Some count regular overtime in full; others average it over two years and count only part.
Choosing the lender that reads your income properly is usually worth more than a sharper rate.
Yours could be the next one.
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How much could you borrow?
What moves the number
Choose any that apply. Each shows roughly how much it changes the figure, the way a lender’s assessment would.
is an indicative borrowing figure at today’s typical rates. Lenders typically count around 80% of rental income, which is why an investment purchase can lift your number, your real figure comes from a proper assessment.
Confirm your numbers.
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How long the income has run, and how likely it is to keep running. Time in the role, the field and the pattern of hours all count toward it. Income without a standard employer is read differently again, as with a PhD stipend, Centrelink payments or workers compensation.
What proves the income on paper: payslips, year-to-date figures, contracts, returns. The same income with better evidence is a stronger file.
Lenders shade, average or fully count each income type by written policy, and the treatment varies between them. This is where lender choice moves the number. Some jobs have rules of their own, covered for Defence Force members, FIFO workers, police and firefighters and tradies.
Charles Touma, Mortgage Broker.
Yes, with the right lender. Some lenders accept probationary employment where you have a history in the same industry; others want three to six months in the role. The employment contract and previous payslips matter more than the probation label itself.
Most lenders count overtime, allowances and bonuses at 80 per cent, and some at 100 per cent for essential services workers. They want a one to two year history on payslips or group certificates. Regular, documented extra income can lift borrowing power materially.
Yes. Most lenders want six to twelve months in the same casual role, with some accepting three months in the same industry. Income is usually averaged over the year from payslips and the group certificate. Steady hours and a consistent employer make the application straightforward.
A second job is usually counted once it has run for six to twelve months, with payslips to show it is regular. Some lenders shade it to 80 per cent.
Short-term or seasonal second jobs are often excluded, so the first job needs to carry the application.
Because each lender writes its own rules on which income counts and how much of it.
The assessment rate they test repayments at, the minimum living expenses they assume, and the percentage of overtime, commission or casual income they include are all set independently. Those three settings alone routinely move the same household's figure by six figures.
Two years of payslips and both PAYG summaries for anyone with variable income, and an employment letter that describes the arrangement accurately rather than loosely.
A letter calling rostered penalties "available overtime" reads very differently from one describing them as part of the role. The document centre lists what applies to each situation.
Not necessarily. Some lenders apply a blanket probation rule; others accept probationary employment where you have continuous prior service in the same industry and a permanent contract. If that describes you, the wall you have hit is one lender's policy rather than a market-wide position.
It helps once each source is established and complicates the assessment until then: lenders assess each stream under its own rules, so a second job may need six to twelve months of history before it counts, and rental income is discounted for vacancy and costs.
Worth asking, not worth assuming. Your bank knows your transaction history but applies one policy, and if that policy discounts your kind of income heavily, the answer will be lower than the market's.
A decline also leaves an enquiry on your credit file, so the order of applications matters more than most borrowers realise.
Most people are more than one. Charles can tell you how your whole income picture reads, and which lenders read it most fully.
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General information only, not credit or financial advice. Income assessment policies differ between lenders and change over time; nothing here is a statement of any particular lender's current policy or a promise that an application will be approved. Your position is confirmed in a full assessment.
