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Does the bank count my overtime, my side hustle income or a second job?

Bayley Clarke · Mortgage broker on the road · Last checked 16 October 2026 · 3 min read

The 60 second version, filmed from the driver's seat. The rest of this page is the detail underneath it.

Overtime: they'll generally shave 20%

Most lenders will use your overtime, but they won't take all of it. The standard treatment is a 20% haircut: they count 80 cents of every overtime dollar you earn. So $20k a year in overtime generally goes into the numbers as $16k. That's the bank allowing for the fact that overtime is regular for you, but not guaranteed.

Where it gets better is essential work. Police, paramedics, firies, hospital nurses and a handful of other frontline roles often get overtime counted at 100% at a lot of lenders, because the overtime is part of the job. A small group of lenders count overtime at 100% for anyone with enough history, and at least one cuts it harder than everyone else.

A second job: how long you've been in it

A second job counts too. The question the bank asks is how long you've been doing it. My rule of thumb is 12 months, because 12 months clears almost every lender. It can be less than that, and if it's casual, you've generally got to be in it for at least six months before the bank will lean on it.

So if you've just picked up a second job and you're planning to buy, keep that in mind. If you're inside 12 months, it doesn't automatically mean no. It means we pick the lender carefully and know exactly what they'll accept before anything gets lodged.

Side hustle income: it has to be on paper

Side hustle income can absolutely be used, as long as it's run properly. That means it goes through an ABN and it's declared on your tax return. It can't be cash. Cash money doesn't exist to the banks, and that holds at every lender: if it's not on paper, they can't verify it, so they won't count it.

Income through an ABN is generally assessed like self-employed income, read off your tax returns rather than your payslips. So the earlier you start declaring it properly, the sooner it starts working for your borrowing power.

Where the banks actually split on this

Second job tenure: for a permanent part-time second job, six months is where most lenders sit, with a group wanting 12, including a couple of the big banks when there's mortgage insurance. For a casual second job, six months is the floor nearly everywhere, and a few want 12. Most count second job income in full; a few shave it by 10% to 20%. Several also cap your total hours, commonly at 60 a week across both jobs, and one lender only counts a second job worth less than half your employment income.

ABN side income: the panel splits roughly down the middle. A lot of lenders will work with one year of tax returns, usually only at 80% of the property's value or less, often with 10% to 20% shaved off and a minimum time trading. The rest want two years. And a couple of the big banks will assess you under their self-employed rules the moment an ABN shows up.