Borrowing capacity, income and budget
Bonuses, commissions, variable pay: how do you get the bank to count them?
A bonus or a commission counts if it is written down, regular and proven over several years. The documents to gather and the table to prepare.
Yes, a bank can count bonuses and commissions, on three conditions: a written document that provides for them, a payment every year, and proof over several financial years. It then retains a cautious average, almost never the best year. What appears in the contract or the collective agreement is read as fixed pay; the December payslips, which carry the yearly total, are the reference document.
By Sandy MASCART, mandataire d'intermédiaire en opérations de banque et en services de paiement ORIAS 26000541 sous le mandat de CDV PATRIMOINE & ASSURANCE (ORIAS 14005573)
Key points
- A bonus or a commission counts on three conditions: a written document that provides for it, yearly regularity, and proof over several financial years.
- What is written in the employment contract or the collective agreement is read as fixed pay; the rest is read as a cautious average.
- The December payslip carries the year-to-date total and is the reference document for rebuilding variable pay over several years.
- If you change employer, the variable pay of the new job does not carry over on its own: its credibility rests on continuity in the same line of work.
- The income the bank retains, often lower than the income received, is the denominator of the debt-to-income ratio: capacity is calculated on it, not on the best year.
Bonuses and commissions count towards your borrowing capacity if they are written down, regular and proven. The general grid: the income the bank retains.
Does the bank count bonuses and commissions?
Yes, if they are recurring and documented: as an average, often discounted. A one-off or recent bonus counts for little.
How each kind of variable income is read
| What you receive | How it is most often read | What gets it counted |
|---|---|---|
| Thirteenth-month pay, bonus set by the collective agreement | As fixed pay, spread over the months | The contract or the collective agreement |
| Sales commissions | As an average over several years | The commission plan and the yearly totals |
| Annual bonus on targets | As an average, with caution | The contract amendment or the targets letter, and the payment history |
| Night, on-call or meal allowances | Counted if they come with the job | Their presence month after month on the payslips |
| Overtime | Rarely, unless it is structural | Contractual working hours, regularity over several years |
| Profit-sharing and incentive schemes | Almost never as income | Once invested, they count rather as your savings |
| Tips, gratuities | Only if they are declared | The payslips and the tax notice |
Prove your variable pay with four documents
- The December payslip for each year: it carries the yearly total.
- The tax notices, with any differences explained.
- The contract and its amendments, with the commission plan.
- The last three payslips.
| Year | Annual fixed pay | Annual variable pay | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| The oldest of the years requested | total fixed pay | total variable pay | total on the December payslip |
| The following year | … | … | … |
| The last full year | … | … | … |
| The current year, to date | … | … | total on the latest payslip |
Cite the document behind each amount and leave no year out.
You have just changed employer: does variable pay start again from zero?
Not necessarily: once the probation period is over, the same line of work makes the new variable pay credible.
A change of job in sight? Submit your file before. See borrowing without a permanent contract.
Calculate on the income you can defend
35,00 % ()The bank will retain the fixed pay plus a discounted average. Calculate on both bases before the preliminary sale agreement, and see why two banks give different answers. The documents · the fees.
Your table is ready? Create your file or go through it with me by phone.
Sources
Read next
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- Parental leave and mortgage: borrowing at the right time, on the right income Borrowing on parental leave remains possible: the lender assesses income on the day of review. Choosing the submission date, the documents, the insurance.
- Why one bank refuses and another does not, for the same application Approval here, refusal there, same application: the three real causes of the gap, the one that is not up to you, and how to submit accordingly.
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