Salary

Bemr

Not sure what income figure to declare on the application

Mickey666

What salary does your employment contract state?  I’d use that.  How you spend that salary (which is all a salary sacrifice is) is up to you.  If the CC company needs proof of salary you can use your employment contract as proof.

Se1Lad

I only have one income from one employer - when applying for any credit I always list my total compensation package which includes salary, pension contributions I make, pension contributions my employer makes, bonus and other benefits I am provided with.  I could if I chose to for example reduce my pension contributions and take a higher salary, or convert the benefits to salary which is why I include everything provided by my employer as my income. 

 A couple of times when applying for new products I have been asked for proof of income and have submitted payslips which could suggest a lower income than I have stated (as they don’t include my annual bonus for example depending on the dates of payslips they ask for), but this has never been questioned or challenged.
I've never been asked for proof when applying for a credit card however - just when applying for bank accounts e.g. HSBC Premier/Barclays Premier etc.

Fighter1986

Some application forms ask for monthly take home pay, others ask for salary.

Salary is the gross annual figure detailed on your contract of employment, monthly take home pay is of course exactly that.

Just input exactly what you're asked to input. 

surreysaver

Fighter1986 said:

Some application forms ask for monthly take home pay, others ask for salary.

Salary is the gross annual figure detailed on your contract of employment, monthly take home pay is of course exactly that.

Just input exactly what you're asked to input. 

Even take home pay could be open to interpretation.  I have things come out of my salary before it goes in my bank - Share Incentive, AVCs etc.  What is the difference between them coming out of my pay before it goes in the bank, and me receiving it into my bank then paying it straight into a pension or ISA?  If they're voluntary payments that you can stop at any time, then I would include them as take home pay.

ARH_2

How about your P60 end of year statement? You should have received one recently as the deadline was 31-May.

This is a fair reflection of what you earned least year, and seems like a sensible thing to put down in the gross income box. It'll include the bonus and overtime you mention, and  - I'd expect - your salary before the sharesave complexities. It's probably one of the bigger numbers you could use, so maximises you acceptance chance. If asked for proof, you could then produce the P60.   

pjread

I generally just put base salary if it asks for salary; trying to explain anything too complicated rarely fits well with data processing.

[Deleted User]

surreysaver said:

Fighter1986 said:

Some application forms ask for monthly take home pay, others ask for salary.

Salary is the gross annual figure detailed on your contract of employment, monthly take home pay is of course exactly that.

Just input exactly what you're asked to input. 

Even take home pay could be open to interpretation.  I have things come out of my salary before it goes in my bank - Share Incentive, AVCs etc.  What is the difference between them coming out of my pay before it goes in the bank, and me receiving it into my bank then paying it straight into a pension or ISA?  If they're voluntary payments that you can stop at any time, then I would include them as take home pay.

Your take home pay is what get after deductions, the fact that you buy extra assets in the form of shares/pension doesn't change that. They want to know your disposable income not your possible disposable income. 

Malkytheheed

Bemr said:

gjpowen said:

I've never been asked for proof when applying for a credit card however - just when applying for bank accounts e.g. HSBC Premier/Barclays Premier etc.

Forgot to say, I got asked for proof once a few years ago when applying for a Tesco credit card.  They asked for both gross and take home pay on the application, and because there was a small disparity (I was making slightly increased pension contributions at the time, but nowhere near the % I'm doing now), I subsequently had to explain the difference over the phone and post payslips as proof.  It worked out okay that time but felt like I was pushing my luck.

God I would have told them to forget it. Take your business elsewhere.

Fighter1986

surreysaver said:

Even take home pay could be open to interpretation.  I have things come out of my salary before it goes in my bank - Share Incentive, AVCs etc.  What is the difference between them coming out of my pay before it goes in the bank, and me receiving it into my bank then paying it straight into a pension or ISA?  If they're voluntary payments that you can stop at any time, then I would include them as take home pay.

Take home pay is exactly that - the amount of cash that hits your bank account. The amount of money you "Take home" less any AVCs, pensions, and the such like.

The definitions really are black and white for Take Home and Annual Salary. 

Whether or not we disagree with the difference between paying into an AVC before or after the payment hits your bank account, the lender, if asking for take home pay, want to know how much cash you take home after all deductions on your payslip. 

Fighter1986

Bemr said:

The trouble with me just putting base is that it may still complicate things due to the mismatch with take home pay after pension contributions.  If I'll have to explain complexities anyway I'm thinking I might as well use the higher figure.

Literally, just enter what you're asked for.

Don't interpret it in your own way, don't massage the figures. Just enter exactly what you're asked for. If you enter anything else, you could be liable for a CIFAS Cat 4 marker.