Broker guide
Flight Attendant Mortgages: Income and Lender Rules
Roster pay, allowances and overseas credits can change a flight attendant’s mortgage file. Check stable earnings and lender evidence before submitting.
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A flight attendant mortgage application needs an income breakdown that separates stable earnings from roster-dependent pay and expense reimbursements. For a broker, the usable income follows the selected lender’s rules for each pay item, supported by the client’s employment history.
A flying allowance can contain an expense component. Counting the full bank credit as salary can therefore overstate the income available for loan repayments.
Read the Airline Pay Record
Read each airline pay code against the employment agreement before assigning it an income category. Base salary, flight allowances, overtime and reimbursements can appear in the same pay run, but they need separate assessment.
The Aircraft Cabin Crew Award separates domestic, regional and international allowances. Its domestic flying allowance includes a component for meals and incidentals. This is a reason to establish what an allowance pays for before treating all of it as earnings.
Use the client’s own contract and applicable agreement. Virgin Australia’s cabin crew employment information says crew are employed under an enterprise bargaining agreement. An award pay example alone doesn’t establish that client’s contractual pay.
Build the breakdown from the payslip as follows:
- Record base pay and the contracted hours or salary it covers.
- Identify flight, duty and roster allowances, including the event that triggers payment.
- Separate overtime from ordinary hours and shift allowances.
- Mark reimbursements and any expense component within a combined allowance.
- Record foreign-currency payments separately, including the original currency and the account receiving them.
International duties don’t establish that salary is foreign income. Trace who pays the client and the currency of payment. If earnings arrive in another currency, assess them under the lender’s foreign-income conditions.
For example, a hypothetical annual pay reconciliation shows $78,000 in gross payments, including $6,000 identified by payroll as expense reimbursements. Show the remaining $72,000 of earnings separately. The lender still needs to decide which components it accepts, so $78,000 isn’t a supported salary input by itself.
Check Employment and Income History
Compare the current contract with actual earnings over a representative period, including quieter rosters. A high-pay roster shows what happened during that period. It doesn’t establish the amount the client will keep receiving.
Record whether the client is permanent, part-time, casual or on a fixed-term contract. Establish the start of employment and any probation conditions. If the client has changed airlines, gather evidence of earlier cabin-crew work so the lender can assess industry continuity.
Virgin Australia says its cabin crew initially enter full-time contracts and paid employment starts with training. For a new starter, distinguish training pay from earnings after flying duties begin. Don’t project allowances that the client hasn’t yet earned or that their employment terms don’t support.
Compare year-to-date earnings with the prior financial year and the current roster. Explain differences caused by unpaid leave, changed hours or a promotion. A recent pay rise needs evidence of the new rate, while extra duties need evidence that they continue.
If the client’s roster has reduced, calculate income from the continuing work pattern. The file needs to explain why the chosen figure is sustainable, even when an earlier year shows higher earnings.
Test the Selected Lender’s Treatment
Apply the lender’s rules separately to base pay, allowances and overtime. Income shading means the lender uses only a proportion of an income component for serviceability, its assessment of repayment capacity.
Macquarie’s residential credit guidelines accept shift allowances at 100% when they’re a condition of employment and industry standard.
Regular, ongoing and evidenced overtime is accepted at 80% for non-essential services or 100% for its defined essential services. That definition includes frontline aviation workers and excludes baggage handlers and office or administration staff.
For cabin crew, match the actual role to that definition before choosing the overtime treatment. These are Macquarie’s conditions, so don’t apply them automatically to another lender.
Macquarie’s calculator instructions say to enter the full overtime figure because the calculator applies shading. Reducing the input first can apply the reduction twice. Follow the selected lender’s input instructions and compare the calculator’s assessed amount with your intended treatment.
An occupational offer needs its own eligibility check. Separate an employer-linked discount or a qualifying occupation concession from ordinary income policy.
Check the named employer, eligible role and product conditions before describing the client as eligible. Cabin-crew employment alone doesn’t establish a profession-wide entitlement to discounted rates or waived lenders mortgage insurance.
Assemble the Submission Evidence
Submit a reconciliation that connects every income input to its supporting record and the lender’s treatment. A bank credit supports receipt of net pay, while the payslip explains gross earnings and deductions.
Gather the documents that resolve the file’s actual questions:
- Recent payslips showing pay codes and year-to-date earnings.
- The employment contract or employer letter confirming status and continuing pay arrangements.
- Annual income records to compare against the current earnings pattern.
- Account statements showing salary credits and any separately paid allowances.
- An employer explanation of unclear pay codes or combined expense allowances.
Macquarie’s guidelines require at least three months of year-to-date earnings for the standard variable-income payslip route. They specify additional evidence when that history is shorter or missing, with separate requirements for casual and contract income.
For an unclear allowance, ask payroll what it covers and whether it continues under the client’s current duties. Retain that explanation with the calculation. If the lender must decide whether the pay item qualifies, obtain that decision before relying on it for the required loan amount.
Before submission, check that the calculator, payslip reconciliation and application use the same income basis. Any difference must have an explanation, such as excluded reimbursements or a lender-applied reduction. The assessor can then follow the figure from the pay record to the serviceability result.
