Obtaining finance can be very difficult for casual employees

No matter how steady and secure your casual job may appear, some lenders make permanent employment a prerequisite when applicants apply for finance. Recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data indicates that over 20% of the workforce is employed on a casual basis; which we’re sure you will agree is a fairly significant part of the population! Despite this, many lenders have set criteria that dictate who they will and won’t lend money to, and one of these requirements is the need to be in permanent employment.

This criterion hasn’t been chosen on a whim, but to protect both borrowers and lenders. The reason is that lenders need to make sure, as best they can, when approving to lend you money that you can comfortably afford to pay them back. Assessment of your ability to repay a loan is generally calculated over five years, so because a casual or seasonal worker might not have any shifts or be working the next week let alone the next year, lenders may not be too confident that you will be able to make the repayments. This represents too much of a risk for many lenders, which is why they have set permanent employment as part of their criteria. This does not mean you need to be in full time employment; permanent part-time may be adequate as long as you meet serviceability.

The same applies with personal loans while on probation. Lenders may want to see that you’re out of probation before approving a loan. They may even go so far as to call your HR department to get confirmation of permanent employment direct from your employer – so not telling the truth isn’t an option or recommended. This will only lead to an almost guaranteed decline which will then affect your credit score and ability to take out credit in the future. For this reason it pays to know the things that impact your application before hitting the submit button.