Police, put your overtime into overdrive with these 4 tips

If you’re a police officer working long hours and earning overtime, then you probably don’t have a lot of spare time left to think about how your overtime can work harder for you. You’ll be pleased to know that with a few easy tweaks you can switch your overtime pay into overdrive and achieve your goals sooner.

1. Use your police overtime to boost your savings

If you’re saving for something important like a house deposit, then you can use your overtime to fast track your savings. By treating your overtime payment separately from your normal pay, and transferring it straight into a savings account on police payday, you’ll see your savings increase, without much effort on your part.

You can make it even easier for yourself by setting up an automatic direct deposit, so you’re not tempted to dip into those additional payments when you get paid.

2. Police, find a lender who will consider up to 100% of your overtime

If buying a first home or upgrading your existing home is high on your agenda then it’s important to find a lender who’ll consider all of your overtime when assessing your borrowing power. For example, if you earn $80,000 per year as your base salary and an additional $15,000 in overtime payments and allowances, you want to be assessed on a salary of $95,000 rather than $80,000. Generally, the higher your salary, the more you can borrow.

“While some lenders only consider a portion of overtime and allowances, at BankVic we consider up to 100% of additional payments giving police more confidence when purchasing a property,” explains Mobile Lending Manager, Paul Meilak.

3. Getting a loan on a fluctuating wage

While overtime is a great way for police to save for a home loan, it may cause your wage to fluctuate from pay to pay. However, a fluctuating wage shouldn’t impact your loan application

“Because we help police get home loans every day, we understand the different streams of income police earn, including overtime and penalty rates,“ explains Mobile Banking Lender Paul Meilak. “Whether your income fluctuates fortnight to fortnight or month to month, it won’t impact your lending capacity as we’ll assess your year-to-date payslips”.

4. Use your overtime to help reduce your loan interest

If you’re paying off a variable home loan with a redraw account, a clever way to make your overtime work harder is by putting it into your loan redraw account. Any funds in your redraw account will work towards reducing the interest you pay on your home loan and helping you pay it off quicker.

If you’re wanting to use your overtime to save for a home or buy a home, get in touch with a bank that understands police.

Talk to one of our lenders by calling 13 63 73 or book a time with a mobile lending manager to find out how our lending products are tailored to meet the unique needs of police. 

BankVic is proud to serve Victorians working in police, emergency services, and health.

This article was published on 3 December 2021 and the information was current at that time. Normal lending criteria apply to all loan applications. The information in this article is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation or needs. Please consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on this information.