Choose the situation closest to yours. The page will show the main questions that can affect an assessment, evidence that may help, and what to prepare before choosing a lender.
Started a new permanent job? The payslip is only the first check.
A permanent role is usually the most straightforward employment type to have assessed, but "straightforward" still means several genuinely different evidence pathways depending on the lender.
What matters
- Full-time or part-time?
- How long in your current role?
- On probation?
- Same occupation or industry as before?
- Any employment gap?
- How much year-to-date income is on your payslip?
- Prior financial-year income available?
- Approximate deposit / LVR band?
What lenders may assess
- Permanent vs casual/contract status
- Time with your current employer
- Whether you are still on probation
- Overall employment continuity
- Same occupation/industry history
- Any employment gap and its length
- YTD income shown on your payslip
- Whether salary credits in your bank account support the payslip
- Your deposit/LVR, and whether LMI is involved
Evidence pathways found across lenders
Evidence requirements vary materially by lender. Some policies can work from one recent payslip where the YTD figure and history are already clear. Others want one payslip plus an employment contract, employer confirmation, or prior-financial-year income. Some ask for two recent consecutive payslips. Others want a payslip plus a bank statement showing the matching salary credit. And where the current YTD is short, some policies bring in prior-financial-year evidence to fill the gap.
This is exactly why the useful question is "how much YTD is on your payslip?", not simply "are you full-time?"
Tenure and same-industry history
Current-role tenure requirements, and the exceptions to them, differ across lenders. A short time in your current role can be viewed differently where you have a strong, continuous history in the same occupation or industry. Other policies still require a minimum current-employer period regardless of your broader work history.
Probation
Probation is not treated identically across lender policies. Some can assess an applicant who is still on probation, in the right overall scenario. Others require probation to be completed first, with no exceptions.
Example
Permanent role, 1 month with current employer, 5 years in the same industry, currently on probation, 2 recent payslips with a short YTD.
- Whether probation is acceptable to the lender/product in question
- Whether the same-industry history offsets the short current tenure
- Whether the YTD figure is sufficient on its own
- Whether an employer letter or prior-year evidence will be needed
- Whether a higher LVR (and any resulting LMI) tightens the criteria further
Casual income can be usable, the history and consistency behind it decide how strong it looks.
Casual employment is genuinely usable across most of lenders, but "casual" isn't one evidence standard, the required history length and how it's annualised differ by lender.
What matters
- How many months with your current employer?
- Years of experience in the same industry?
- Average weekly hours?
- Year-to-date income?
- Last financial year's income?
- Is your role in an essential-service category?
What varies across lenders
- Shorter history pathways in selected circumstances
- A common ~6-month current-employer requirement
- Stricter policies asking for 12 months
- Same-industry history treated as a mitigating factor for a shorter current tenure
- Annualisation using fewer than 52 weeks in some policies, which can produce a more conservative income figure
- YTD plus prior-year evidence where the current YTD is short
What this typically shows
- History strength
- Evidence depth required
- Income consistency
- Sensitivity at higher LVR
A contract expiry date is not the entire employment story.
Contract income, common in Canberra especially, is read through several lenses beyond just "when does the contract end."
What matters
- PAYG contract or self-employed contractor?
- Current contract term?
- How much time remains?
- Prior contracts or renewals?
- Same industry as previous contracts?
- Any employment gap?
- Year-to-date and prior-year income?
What lenders may examine
- Current contract term and time remaining
- Renewal history
- Same-industry experience
- Overall contracting history
- YTD and prior contracts/renewals
- Previous PAYG employment history, if any
How policy approaches differ
Some policies can work from a shorter current contract where industry continuity is strong, a long track record of consecutive contracts in the same field can carry real weight. Other policies want a longer current-contract term, more remaining time at assessment, or more general evidence that the income is likely to continue beyond the current contract.
Evidence to prepare
- Current contract, including start and end dates
- Prior contracts and renewals
- Recent payslips
- YTD and previous-year income
- A simple written employment chronology if your contract history is complex
Overtime becomes stronger when the history proves it's part of your normal earnings, not a one-off.
What matters
- Is your role an essential-service category?
- Is the overtime regular/rostered or irregular?
- How many months of history do you have?
- YTD figure vs last financial year?
What gets assessed
- Essential-service role or not
- Regular/compulsory overtime vs irregular overtime
- History length, commonly assessed over 6, 12 or 24 months depending on the policy
- YTD compared against the prior year
- What percentage of the overtime figure is usable
- Whether the latest period is lower than history, and if so, which figure controls
One important caution
PolicyMatch does not publish one universal "overtime shading percentage", it genuinely differs by lender, by role type, and by how consistent your specific history is. Treat any online claim of a single fixed percentage with real scepticism.
Variable pay needs a history, not just one good month.
What matters
- How long have you received commission/bonus payments?
- Paid quarterly, annually, or another frequency?
- YTD figure?
- Income for the last one or two financial years?
Where lenders differ
- Minimum history required before any commission/bonus is counted
- Averaging periods used
- Lower-of vs average-of calculation methods
- Shading applied to the figure
- Whether quarterly or annual payment frequency changes the evidence needed
Evidence to prepare
- YTD figure
- Previous one to two years' income
- An employer statement confirming the commission/bonus structure
- Bank statements showing the actual credits landing
A second job can improve your position, once the lender is comfortable it's sustainable.
What matters
- How long have you held the second job?
- Hours per week across both roles?
- Any overlap or scheduling conflict between the two?
- Same or different industry to your main job?
- YTD and tax evidence for the second income?
What tends to matter
- Tenure in the second role
- Total hours across both jobs (a sustainability check, not just an income add-up)
- Whether the two roles genuinely don't overlap
- Industry consistency
- YTD and tax-return evidence for the second income specifically
A caution on how this is used
Second-job income is not simply added dollar-for-dollar by every lender, sustainability and evidence quality matter, and PolicyMatch does not run a public "borrowing capacity" tool that counts every second-job dollar at face value.
Parental leave changes the timing of your income, not necessarily your long-term employment position.
This is one of the least consistently treated scenarios across lenders, which makes it worth checking specifically rather than assuming either the most generous or the most conservative treatment applies.
What matters
- Permanent or casual employment?
- Current leave dates?
- Confirmed return-to-work date?
- Expected hours and salary after you return?
- What income are you receiving during leave, if any?
- Do you have savings or redraw available to cover a temporary shortfall?
What lenders may ask for
- A written return-to-work letter or confirmation from your employer, including expected date, hours and salary, a recurring evidence requirement across lenders
- Whether post-return income can be used where the return falls within a defined period, rather than your current (reduced) leave income
- The lower income actually received during leave, or an LVR restriction, under some policies while you're still on leave
- Evidence of savings or redraw sufficient to cover a temporary shortfall, under some policies
Permanent vs casual leave
Casual employees taking parental leave can be treated differently to permanent employees under the same lender's policy, there is often no guaranteed return to the same role or hours in the same way a permanent contract provides, which changes the evidence a lender is likely to want. If you're casual and currently on or planning parental leave, this is worth checking specifically rather than assuming the permanent-employee pathway applies to you.
Why timing is central here
The acceptable method genuinely differs by lender and product, some will assess you on your confirmed post-return position now, others want to wait until you've actually returned and have payslips to show it. Neither approach is universal, which is why the return date and the evidence you can put together around it matter more than the fact that you're on leave at all.
Your business income is a set of financial statements, not one profit number.
This is genuinely one of the most policy-sensitive areas in home lending, the same set of financials can be read quite differently across lenders. Four common scenarios are broken out below.
What matters
- ABN age?
- GST registration age?
- Business structure (sole trader, company, trust)?
- Year 1 profit/income?
- Year 2 profit/income?
- Current BAS or business bank statements available?
- Any business liabilities?
- Approximate LVR?
Established business, what may change the lender fit
- Which financial year(s) are required
- One-year vs two-year assessment methods
- How growth or decline is treated
- Which add-backs are accepted, and at what value
- How business debts factor into personal serviceability
- ABN/GST tenure required
- Documentation pathway, full-doc vs alternative/mid-doc
If your business grew strongly
A 40% profit increase does not mean every lender uses 40% more income. Growth-control approaches found across lenders include: two-year averaging, using the latest year only if it is actually the lower figure, capping the increase to a set percentage above the prior year, and requiring an explanation or current-trading evidence where the growth is material.
A useful worked example: Year 1 profit $80,000, Year 2 profit $120,000, a 50% increase. Depending on the policy applied, a lender might use the full $120,000, an averaged ~$100,000, a capped figure somewhere between the two, or ask for additional current-year evidence (BAS, bank statements) before accepting the increase as sustained.
If your latest year is lower
When the latest year falls, the reason behind it, and your current trading position, become important. A worked example: Year 1 $120,000, Year 2 $85,000. Many policy approaches become more conservative once the latest year has declined, and the lower figure can become the controlling number rather than an average of the two years.
What lenders may ask for: why did profit fall? Was it a one-off cost? A lost contract? A business restructure? Is current trading (BAS, recent bank statements, management accounts) showing recovery?
Shorter trading history / recent ABN
A shorter trading history can move the application into a different product category. Lenders contain pathways ranging from shorter specialist/alternative-documentation histories through to traditional two-year full-doc requirements. Shorter ABN/GST history usually reduces the number of standard pathways available, and can change the LVR, documentation, pricing and fees that apply, it narrows the field rather than ruling anything out automatically.
Business history ladder
- Under ~6 months, very narrow. A small number of specialist-style pathways exist in this range, usually requiring prior industry/employment experience in the same field and strong current-trading evidence.
- ~6–12 months, selected specialist and alt/mid-doc pathways open up, typically wanting current BAS or business bank statements alongside industry experience.
- ~12–18 months, several one-year and specialist professional pathways become available, though plenty of policies still want a longer history.
- ~18–24 months, more mainstream-style assessment approaches start to fit, subject to documentation, business performance and LVR.
- 24+ months, the traditional two-year history most policies are built around; generally the broadest choice of assessment method (latest-year, average, lower-year, specialist).
Add-backs, potential adjustments, not a guaranteed calculator
An accountant-prepared "net profit" figure and a lender's usable servicing income are not the same thing, lenders can add back certain non-cash or discretionary items, but treatment genuinely varies, so PolicyMatch will never auto-total every possible add-back and call it your income.
Items that can potentially be relevant, each with real conditions: director salary/wages (often only where not already counted elsewhere); depreciation (widely considered, but several policies cap it, commonly around 20%, or restrict it for capital-intensive/critical business assets, rather than adding back the full amount); interest (often only added back where the related debt is already included in servicing, or is being refinanced/paid out, the add-back and the debt need to be looked at together); voluntary superannuation above the compulsory amount; genuinely non-recurring expenses, with an explanation; and lease/hire-purchase costs, again usually paired with the corresponding liability rather than treated in isolation. Non-recurring income is typically the opposite, deducted rather than added, since it is not expected to continue.
The honest sequence is: accounting result → potential adjustments → which method the specific lender uses → usable servicing income. Skipping straight from the accounting result to a headline "income" figure is exactly the mistake this page exists to avoid.
Business liabilities and personal borrowing capacity
The same business debt can be treated differently under different lenders' methods, some require every business liability to be included or expensed against you personally; others can exclude certain company liabilities where the business is demonstrably profitable and self-supporting. Ownership, entity type (sole trader vs company vs trust) and which income-assessment method is being used all factor in.
Worth having answered before you ask a lender: who legally owes the debt? Is it in a company/trust name or a personal name? Is the business genuinely servicing the commitment from its own income, independent of you? Is company profit being relied on for the home loan application at all? What is your ownership/shareholding? Is the commitment being refinanced as part of this transaction?
A company debt is not automatically ignored, and it is not automatically counted against you personally either, the entity, ownership and lender methodology all need to be checked together.
Documentation pathway, full-doc, alt-doc, mid-doc
Full documentation (tax returns, Notices of Assessment, financial statements, sometimes current BAS) remains the traditional route, exact years required and how "current" the figures need to be still differ by lender. Alternative documentation (an accountant declaration/letter plus BAS and/or business bank statements) can suit a business whose formal financials do not line up with a lender's timing rules, but the trade-off is real: product, LVR, pricing and credit criteria can be different to a standard full-doc loan. Mid-doc/BAS-based routes work similarly, using recent BAS or several months of trading statements.
Alternative documentation changes the evidence method, it is not a way to avoid demonstrating that the loan is genuinely affordable and suitable.
How much deposit you have, and how it was built, are two different questions.
What matters
- How much deposit do you have in total?
- What proportion is savings you've built up yourself, vs a gift, vs other sources?
- How long has that saved portion been held?
- Approximate LVR?
What lenders show
Genuine savings is a lender concept, not one rule used identically everywhere. Across lenders, many high-LVR situations involve a concept of roughly 5% genuine savings with an established evidence history, commonly around three months, though the exact threshold and accepted alternatives vary by lender and product. This becomes more relevant as LVR rises; it is often less central to lending decisions at lower LVRs.
Sources that can count
- Personal savings
- Term deposits
- Shares
- Equity or sale proceeds from another property
- First Home Super Saver (FHSS) released funds
- Accelerated repayments on an existing loan, in some policies
Gifted or borrowed funds
Gifted or borrowed funds may be acceptable as a source of deposit funds, but may not satisfy the same genuine-savings requirement on their own, some policies still want a portion of genuine savings alongside a gift, particularly at higher LVRs. Some lenders also accept a documented rental-history record as an alternative to genuine savings.
Do not confuse this with the Government 5% Deposit Scheme
The Australian Government's 5% Deposit Scheme has its own eligibility and minimum-deposit rules, set independently of any individual lender's genuine-savings policy. Meeting the scheme's deposit requirement does not automatically satisfy a participating lender's own credit and genuine-savings policy, and vice versa, both need to be checked. See the current official rules at Housing Australia before relying on either.
A credit event can change the lender category, LVR and price, it doesn't always end the discussion.
What matters
- Type of event, default, arrears, mortgage arrears, bankruptcy, Part IX, tax debt, other?
- Amount?
- Date it occurred?
- Paid or unpaid?
- What does current conduct on your other accounts look like?
Mainstream lenders
Generally the tightest tolerance for recent or severe credit events. A clean current-conduct record and time elapsed since the event both matter.
Near-prime / specialist non-bank lenders
A credit event does not automatically end the conversation here. Some products can assess defined paid or unpaid defaults and limited arrears, subject to the specific event type, amount, age, current conduct and resulting LVR, usually with different pricing to a mainstream loan.
Broader specialist credit products
Some products extend to broader default, arrears or discharged-bankruptcy tolerances under specific product rules, case-by-case, subject to time elapsed, explanation and overall application strength. Broader credit tolerance normally comes with stricter product, LVR, fee and pricing considerations, and still requires a workable current position, not just an old explanation.
Private / specialist structures
May be able to consider more complex, short-term, or security/exit-driven scenarios that don't fit elsewhere. This is not equivalent to ordinary consumer home lending, suitability, security, term and a credible exit strategy are central, and it should never be treated as an approval shortcut.
What to prepare
- A recent credit report, if you have one
- Evidence of payment or rectification where the event has been resolved
- Current statements on your other accounts, showing recent conduct
- A concise, honest explanation of what happened and why it will not recur
Important
This is educational information about how lender categories can differ, not an approval indicator, and not a suggestion that specialist or private lending is an easy workaround. Every scenario here needs individual assessment. PolicyMatch's public enquiry form asks only for a broad "credit-history issue to discuss" flag, a full credit report or detailed adverse-credit history is never requested through the public website.
Citizenship and visa status can change which lenders, deposit requirements, and duty rules apply.
What matters
- Citizenship, permanent residency, or visa subclass?
- Visa expiry date, if applicable?
- Where is your income earned and in what currency?
- Property type you're considering?
What can be affected
- Which lenders will consider the application at all
- Deposit requirements
- Whether a foreign-purchaser duty surcharge applies in the relevant state or territory
- LVR and property-type restrictions
- FIRB (Foreign Investment Review Board) considerations for some purchases
Important
This is general information only, not migration advice. Visa and residency rules change, and lender policy in this area is genuinely lender-specific and visa-specific, worth raising directly rather than assuming either way. See the relevant official government source for current visa and FIRB rules.
The borrower can fit the policy and the property can still change the lender.
What matters
- Standard house, or something else, apartment, rural, company title, vacant land?
- Building size / density if an apartment?
- Any special zoning or unusual title structure?
Property types that can change lender appetite
- Small or high-density apartments
- Serviced apartments
- Company title (rather than strata or torrens title)
- Rural or acreage property
- Vacant land
- Multiple dwellings on one title
- Construction (see the dedicated Construction section)
- Off-the-plan purchases
- Property under special zoning or unusual security arrangements
Why this matters
Lenders assess security property, not just the borrower, a property type outside their standard security policy can narrow the lender field even for an otherwise straightforward applicant. This is a security-appetite question, not a reflection on you.
Construction finance follows the build, in stages.
What matters
- Land already owned, or being purchased with the build?
- Fixed-price building contract in place?
- Builder details available?
- Project type, single dwelling, multiple dwellings, or owner-builder?
- Approximate LVR?
What lenders assess
- Land status and ownership position
- Whether a fixed-price building contract is in place
- Builder details and standing
- Project type and number of dwellings
- Valuation approach for the completed build
- How progress draws are structured
- How variations to the build are handled
- Total construction period
- Owner-builder status, often more restricted than a licensed-builder contract
Full detail
See the dedicated Construction Hub for the full funding flow, product features, timing factors, risks and what to prepare.
General information only. Loan eligibility and approval depend on your full circumstances, verification and the lender’s current requirements.