Answers
Do banks count bonus and commission for a mortgage?
A short answer, with the article it comes from.
The answer
They can, but only a prudent portion. Central Bank rules require lenders to assess how much variable income varies, count only a prudent share of the average, look at a longer period where it swings month to month, and exclude one-off windfalls. How large a share counts is each bank's policy.
CBUAE Circular 31/2013 Article 2.3, and CBUAE Consumer Protection Standards Clause 7.1.4.10, checked 2 October 2026.
Article 2.3 of the mortgage circular says: "Only reliable and sustainable income should be included when making the assessment." Bonuses and other non-standard or temporary income should be suitably discounted, and left out of the repayment assessment where they are not assured.
The Consumer Protection Standards add the method. If variable income is taken into account, the bank must "evaluate the variability of such income and only include a prudent portion of the average amount", apply a longer period of evidence where month to month variance is high, and "exclude one-off variable income such as windfall gains".
The share counted, and how many months of history a bank wants, differ across lenders, so commission earners can get quite different answers from different banks. On a large commission component, that difference can change the loan amount noticeably.
If much of your pay is not basic salary, which bank reads it most fully is the question that matters. A specialist can answer it for your own payslips.
The share of variable income counted, and the history required, are lender practice and differ across our panel.
Rules are the easy part. Your file is the question.
Paid partly in commission or bonus? Talk to a Specialist.