Borrowing Capacity

Your borrowing power will vary between banks and lenders because they use different methods to assess your capacity and have different lending criteria.

One of the most frequently asked questions in home finance is – how much can I borrow? Your borrowing power will give you a good idea of how much you can borrow to purchase a property.  As a guideline, when determining how much you can borrow banks and lenders will look at:

• Credit card limits
• Income and types of income e.g. casual, contract, full-time
• The size of the loan compared to the property value
• Number of dependents and their situation
• Type of loan
• General living expenses, and
• Existing asset position ( including the size of your deposit)

You can also check how much you can borrow by using our how much can I borrow calculator, however, this will only give you an indicative figure.

Tips On Your Borrowing Power

• Pay off and close any credit card or overdraft facilities
• Do the sums  and stick to a budget to improve your deposit and savings history
• Pay off outstanding term debts (e.g. personal loans)