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Not everyone has a 9-5 job. There’s many flavours of employees out there, with contractors and casual employees being just two. For people who fall these categories, getting finance for a new home can be tricky as it’s harder to prove they have a stable income.
But things are changing. Modern home loan lenders are beginning to understand that not everyone fits their traditional lending criteria, and they’re slowly putting in place policies to account for this.
All sorts of workers
In years gone by, it was primarily hospitality and performing arts employees that struggled to get the banks to say yes to a home loan. But today, there are many more people employed on a casual, part-time or contract basis. There’s also a large sector who heavily rely overtime income.
If you’re in any of these groups, it’s not likely you fit the bank’s standard rules of lending. They worry about you because they believe you have an unstable source of income. As such, they consider you a high risk borrower. This is even more so for casual employees, as lenders believe they would be the first to go if an employer needed to cut back on staff.
What the bank will want to know
All lenders have certain criteria you must meet to be considered for a loan. If you’re a casual or contract worker seeking a loan, there are some added variables. When applying for finance, the bank will want to know:
- The number of hours you work & how consistent they are
- Your likely loan-to-value (LVR) ratio
- How long you’ve been in your current job (should be at least 3 months)
- Whether you’ve been in the same industry for at least 1 year
Should you pass the lender’s criteria and can demonstrate you can repay the loan, you might still be able to borrow up to 95% loan-to-value ratio (LVR) in many cases.
Be realistic, be cautious
Even if a lender gives you loan approval, you should only go ahead if you believe your income is stable enough to enable you to confidently make repayments. If you’re aren’t sure if you’re in this boat, connect with us today. We work with many lenders who approve loans to casual and contract workers, and our strong network means we often successfully get loans approved where other brokers have failed.