Getting approved for your home loan as a casual employee can be more challenging than for permanent employees. Lenders all have differing policies, minimum employment timeframes and more, with most of this information not being readily available to the public.
Want to give yourself the best possible chance of approval? Simplifi Lending are experts in casual employee policy- we will match you with the right lender for your personal situation from our panel of over 35 top home lenders.
Proper analysis and attention to detail are critical when putting together home loan applications for casual workers. There are some lenders who will simply decline an application if their policy is not met. Getting an application declined can make getting approved elsewhere much more difficult.
But how can you know if you meet a lender’s policy when these policies aren’t shared publicly? Working with an expert mortgage broker is the answer. We have access to and are very familiar with the policies for casual workers for the lenders on our panel.
Whether you are looking to buy your first home or upsize to make space for a growing family, casual workers can access the right home loan option with Simplifi Lending. For more detail, check out our First Home Buying and Next Home Buying pages
If you already have a home loan and aren’t happy with your banks offer, or want to look to restructure or consolidate debts, home loan refinancing may be the solution! Casual workers have access to many of the same options as permanent employees.
If you’re looking to build, but are have casual income, it is even more important than usual that your situation is properly assessed and your application is packaged in the right way. For more detail on the home building process, see our Construction Home Loan page.
Concerned about where interest rates are heading in the future? A fixed rate home loan might be for you. Think rates are heading south? Then a variable rate home loan may suit you better. We will talk you through the pros and cons of these different loan types as part of your preliminary assessment and make sure your loan is structured correctly.
Working with an expert mortgage broker can take the stress and guesswork out of applying for a home loan as a casual worker. We can advise what documentation and evidence is required, provide your borrowing capacity and manage the application for you.
A few things for casual workers to keep in mind when considering a home loan application include:
The above are all factors we will consider before looking to place your application with a particular lender- for the full process, see our Home Loan Application Process page.
The documentation requirement for casual workers can vary slightly from the requirements for a permanent employee, and may include the below.
Due to the nature of casual employment having no guaranteed hours, lenders may be more interested in seeing your income history. A common requirement for casual workers is provision of your PAYG Summary for the most recently completed financial year. This is provided by your employer and detailed all income and allowances earned with them.
Your chosen lender may need to formally validate the start date of your casual employment and the simplest way to do this is to view your employment contract with your employer.
Most lenders will only require the two most recent payslips for permanent employees. For casual workers, they may wish to see more than 2, particularly if your casual income also includes overtime or additional allowances. The extra payslips allow the lender to break down your casual income in more detail.
Having a good credit score is critical in any home loan application, including those for casual workers. Your credit file will contain information about your conduct on existing liabilities, your credit application history and details of any defaults or judgements. If you suspect there are issues on your file, please let us know upfront so we can investigate these.
While online borrowing power calculators can provide a rough guide, we will confirm your accurate borrowing capacity as part of your preliminary assessment. The basic online calculators often don’t factor in expenses, HELP debts, credit card limits and more, which can throw off the calculation substantially.
Deposit requirements for casual workers are typically the same as for any other employee type. Some schemes may allow you to purchase a home with as little as 5% deposit plus costs, but having between 8-20% plus costs may allow you to access far more home lenders.
There is a perception that getting home loan approval for casual workers is more difficult, but this isn’t really accurate. Rather, it is very important to make sure you are applying with the right lender who has appetite for the slightly higher risk of a casual worker. When preparing your application, we will make sure we choose the appropriate lender for you.
While there typically is a minimum time in role of 3-6 months for casual workers, some lenders may remove this requirement if you are moving to a new casual role that you have existing experience in, or is the same role as your previous job. If you think this may apply to you, please let us know when we discuss your options.
With the vast majority of lenders, there is no difference in the assessment timeframes for casual workers when compared to permanent employees. We will walk you through the application timeframes prior to submitting your application.
