How Much Can I Borrow?
A lender assesses what actually lands in your account, not the salary on the job ad. On $90,000 a year you take home $65,698, which is 73.0% of gross. Add a student loan and it falls to $57,793, so the loan alone removes $658.72 a month of income before any lender applies its own test rate.
This page gives you no borrowing figure, on purpose
Turning take-home pay into a borrowing amount needs two things this site does not hold: the lender's test rate, which is the interest rate they assess you at rather than the one you would pay, and their living-cost benchmark. Both differ between lenders and change without notice, and neither is published by Inland Revenue or any other authority we cite. Every figure below is a payslip figure and traces to a primary source. A borrowing number would be the only one on this site that does not, so the page stops where the evidence stops.
The gap between the salary and the servicing income
The first column is the number in the job ad. The last is what arrives. On a student loan the gap widens by 12% of everything above $24,128, which is why two applicants on identical salaries can present very different incomes.
| Gross salary | Take-home a month | With a student loan | The loan costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| $60,000 | $3,886 | $3,527 | $359 |
| $80,000 | $4,960 | $4,401 | $559 |
| $100,000 | $5,989 | $5,231 | $759 |
| $120,000 | $7,019 | $6,060 | $959 |
| $150,000 | $8,562 | $7,304 | $1,259 |
Take-home pay is after PAYE, the ACC earners' levy and a 3.5% KiwiSaver contribution. Divided evenly by twelve; a real month varies with your pay cycle.
What each deduction removes, and whether you control it
Four lines stand between the salary and the servicing income. Two are fixed by law and two are partly yours to set.
- PAYE, $1,631 a month on $90,000. Income tax, and not negotiable. It is only wrong if your tax code is wrong, which is worth checking before an application rather than after.
- The ACC earners' levy, $131 a month. Charged on every dollar you earn up to the annual maximum, and not optional for an employee. It is inside the PAYE line on most payslips rather than on one of its own.
- KiwiSaver, $262.50 a month at 3.5%. Yours to set, though only to one of the published rates: 3.5%, 4%, 6%, 8% or 10%. There is no rate in between, and a savings suspension pauses it entirely. Whether a lender adds it back when assessing you differs between lenders, so it is a question to ask rather than an assumption to make.
- A student loan, $658.72 a month on $90,000. The compulsory repayment is 12% of income above $24,128 and cannot be turned off while you have a balance. A voluntary extra repayment on top of it is one you elected, and can stop.
The employer KiwiSaver contribution is not your income
Your employer contributes 3.5% on top of your salary, which on $90,000 is $3,150 a year. It is real money and it is yours, but it goes to your KiwiSaver account, never to your bank account, and ESCT is deducted from it first. It is locked in until you turn 65, or until a first home withdrawal if you qualify for one, so it can matter to a deposit while doing nothing for servicing. Counting it as pay overstates what you have available every month.
Next
- take-home pay calculatorYour own figure, line by line
- Gross vs net payWhat sits between the two
- Student loan repaymentsHow the 12% repayment works
- KiwiSaver contribution ratesEvery rate you can choose
- how to read a New Zealand payslipEvery line a lender will ask about
Common questions
Do lenders use gross or net income?
Servicing is assessed on what reaches your account, so every payslip deduction counts. On $90,000 the take-home pay is $65,698, which is 73.0% of gross. How each lender then treats that figure varies, and we publish no bank's policy.
How much does a student loan reduce what I can borrow?
The repayment is 12% of every dollar above $24,128. On $90,000 that is $7,905 a year, or $658.72 a month that never reaches your account. What that does to a borrowing figure depends on the lender's test rate, which we do not publish.
Does KiwiSaver affect how much I can borrow?
It reduces take-home pay, so it reduces what arrives. At 3.5% on $90,000 that is $262.50 a month. Whether a lender adds it back for servicing differs between lenders. A savings suspension changes the payslip figure, and a first home withdrawal is a separate question again.
Why does this page not give me a borrowing figure?
Because an honest one needs a lender's test rate and living-cost benchmark, and neither is a published statutory figure. Every other number on this site traces to Inland Revenue, Employment New Zealand or ACC. A borrowing figure would be the only one that does not, so this page stops at the payslip and says so.
Can I change what my payslip shows before applying?
Some of it. Your KiwiSaver rate is yours to set, and a savings suspension pauses it. A wrong tax code may be costing you every pay, so check which tax code am I before you apply. The compulsory student loan repayment is not optional, though a voluntary extra one is.
Where these figures come from
- IRD. Tax rates for individuals
- IRD. ACC earners' levy rates
- IRD. Employer contributions to KiwiSaver
- IRD. Student loan repayments
2026–27 tax year (1 April 2026 – 31 March 2027). Last verified 30 July 2026.
Change what your payslip says
- Change your KiwiSaver rateThe KS2 form and the 3-month rule
- KiwiSaver savings suspensionPausing contributions for 3 to 12 months
- Which tax code am I?A wrong code costs you every pay
- Student loan calculatorWhat the repayment costs you a month