Case study: a casual nurse approved using annualised year-to-date income

The situation

A casual emergency-department nurse, three years in the same role, with income made up of base hourly pay plus penalty rates for nights, weekends and public holidays. Her most recent payslip showed year-to-date gross of $61,200 across 28 weeks.

Her bank had assessed her on base hours only and offered $395,000 — not enough for anything she wanted to buy.

The challenge

• Casual status, despite three years of continuous work in the same role
• Income varied month to month depending on shifts taken
• Penalty rates made up nearly 30% of her total earnings
• Some lenders annualise casual income over 52 weeks, others over 48

What we did

We annualised her year-to-date figure properly: $61,200 over 28 weeks equals $2,185 a week, which annualises to about $113,600 over 52 weeks or $104,900 on the more conservative 48-week casual basis that several lenders apply to allow for unpaid leave.

We then chose a lender that accepts casual income at 100% after twelve months in the same role and counts shift allowances in full for essential-services workers. We supported the application with two years of PAYG summaries showing consistent earnings, which removed any argument that the year-to-date figure was an outlier.

The outcome

• Assessed income of $104,800 instead of base-hours-only
• Approved for $520,000 — $125,000 more than her bank offered
• Casual income accepted at 100%, shift allowances included
• No change to her employment, hours or savings — only the lender changed

The lesson for shift workers

If your income includes penalties, allowances or overtime, the lender you pick matters more than almost anything else you can control. Two lenders looking at the same payslips can be $100,000 apart. Run your figures through the income annualisation calculator first so you know what your real assessable income looks like.