Complex income
You earn well. The scorecard just cannot read it
Bonus, commission, shift allowances, trust distributions, foreign currency, equity vesting. All genuine income, all discounted differently by every lender on the panel.
0–100%
Range of bonus income counted, depending on lender
2 yrs
History most lenders want before counting variable pay
$310k
Median capacity difference between best and worst lender
40+
Lenders compared on every application
Who is this for?
Income that confuses an assessment
None of this is unusual in practice. It is only unusual to a system built around a fortnightly payslip.
01
A large share of pay is bonus or commission
Sales, finance and executive roles where base salary is a fraction of total earnings. Some lenders count the full two-year average; others take half, and a few disregard it entirely.
02
Shift allowances, overtime and penalties
Nurses, police, paramedics and fly-in fly-out workers routinely earn a third of their income this way. Essential-services occupations get better treatment from certain lenders.
03
Trust distributions or dividend income
Regular distributions from a family trust or dividends from your own company are countable where they are consistent and evidenced through the financials.
04
Foreign or multi-currency income
Paid partly or wholly offshore. Typically shaded by twenty per cent for exchange risk, and a number of lenders will not consider it at all.
Why Lending Institute?
The spread is the opportunity
On a complex income file the difference between the most and least generous lender is routinely three hundred thousand dollars of capacity. Same borrower, same documents.
01
We read the credit policy, not the rate sheet
Specialist lending is decided on policy detail — how a lender treats retained profits, whether a corporate trustee is acceptable, what liquidity an SMSF must retain. We track those rules across the panel and check them before we submit.
02
The file is built for the assessor
A complex file presented well is often approved where the same file, submitted raw, is declined. Financials, structure diagrams and a written explanation go in with the application, not after a query.
03
We tell you early when the answer is no
If your file will not place at a sensible rate, you will hear that in the first conversation rather than after three weeks and a credit enquiry. That honesty costs us applications and keeps our approval rate where it is.
04
Accreditation across the specialist panel
SMSF, commercial, bridging, alt-doc and credit-impaired funders each require separate accreditation and volume to maintain. We hold and use all of them.
How it works
Understand → Compare → Apply → Settle
01
Day 0
Tell us the whole story
Including the decline, the credit event or the structure you think is a problem. Nothing is placed until we understand it.
Credit impact — none
02
Days 1–10
Structure and match
Financials reviewed, the entity structure confirmed, and the file matched to funders whose policy it genuinely fits.
Credit impact — soft enquiry only
03
Weeks 2–3
Submit with the argument attached
The application goes in with financials, add-back workings and a written explanation for the assessor.
Credit impact — enquiry recorded
04
Weeks 4–8
Settle
Specialist files run longer. We manage valuations, legal review of trust deeds and the settlement booking.
Credit impact — account reported
Model your position across the panel
Borrowing power applies the same three per cent buffer a lender will, so the number you see is the number they work from.
Open the calculatorsCommon questions
Complex income questions
If yours is not here, ask it directly — you will get a straight answer, not a callback form.
Ask a broker →Between none and all of it. Most sit at fifty to eighty per cent of a two-year average, and the more generous outcomes usually require a letter from your employer confirming the bonus is contractual rather than discretionary. On a large variable component this single policy point can move your capacity by several hundred thousand dollars.
For some lenders yes, particularly where you moved into the role from a similar position and the income is demonstrably continuous. Others insist on two years without exception. This is precisely the case where comparing the full panel matters more than comparing rates.
Usually, and often at a hundred per cent. Several lenders explicitly recognise that overtime and penalty rates for nurses, police, paramedics and firefighters are structural rather than occasional, and assess them accordingly. It is one of the clearer examples of policy differing for good reason.
With a limited number of lenders. Expect a twenty per cent shading for exchange risk and a lower maximum LVR, with major currencies treated more favourably than emerging ones. If you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident working offshore, the panel is wider than most people assume.
Unvested equity is almost never counted. Vested shares and a documented vesting schedule can be assessed by a small number of lenders, typically at a discount. It is worth asking rather than assuming, particularly on larger files.
Related services
Often looked at alongside this
Supporting paragraph for this section.
Get started
Find the lender that counts your income properly
Tell us how you are actually paid. We will rank the panel by what each lender will assess and show you the spread.
Panel ranked
By treatment of your income mix specifically.
Evidence prepared
Employer letters and averages, before lodging.
No credit enquiry
Nothing recorded until you instruct us.