Unusual Income
Casual income
There are a few lenders that will use casual income in assessing your loan as long as the position has been held for 6 months and Lenders Mortgage Insurance is not involved. Generally speaking lenders will want to see 12 months in the position before they will use this income
Commission Income
A lender needs to see a pattern or consistency to ensure this income stream is stable. The rule of thumb is that the lenders will rely on the average of 2 years group certificates (similar to self-employed) however, a few lenders will allow this type of income to be allowed with as little as 3 months (even with Lenders Mortgage insurance)
Bonuses
Depends on what the bonus is paid for. Banks will need to see that it is not a one off and that it is something that is achievable over future years.
Motor Vehicle Allowances
A key consideration for this type of allowance is what the money is used for. If the person is a sales person on the road often then it is harder to use this as income as it is simply replacing an expense. However if there is a car loan then many lenders will use the allowance as income to offset this expense
Company Car
Most lenders will only use a car as additional income if the applicant has the choice of handing the car in for a higher salary. However some lenders have formulae to allow for lower living expenses if an applicant is entitled to a company car
Tax free income
Many “Not for profit” organisations such charities and churches pay their staff tax free allowances. As long as we can justify that this money is not being used for work expenses then this type of income is usually allowed
Salary Packaging
This type of income is paid with out having tax taken out of it. This increases the applicant’s net wage. There are Fringe Benefits Laws to be taken into consideration but generally this type of income is allowed. Quite often a letter from the employer will be required as well to explain the pay slips as they often look complicated
Centrelink Income
There is a big variation in what the lenders will use for this type of income. Generally speaking the lenders wants to see that all Govt income is ongoing for minimum 3 yrs for some lenders but mainly 5 years. The types of income that lenders have used in the past are:
- Family Tax A&B
- Child support
- Parenting payments
- Disability pension
- Sole parent pension
- Carers allowance
