Sarah Chen
The eligibility checker tells you whether a specific home loan will actually pass a Singapore bank's assessment, applying MAS income haircuts, debt servicing limits and income-weighted average age across up to four joint borrowers. It is the full regulatory gate that sits behind a real loan approval.
A rough affordability estimate is one thing; passing the bank's assessment is another. This checker models the regulatory test that lenders actually apply. You enter each borrower's income (fixed and variable), any rental income, pledged and unpledged financial assets, existing liabilities, and the loan amount you are proposing. It then computes your qualifying income after MAS haircuts, your Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) and Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) for that loan, the income-weighted average age of the borrowers, and the maximum loan you would qualify for under both HDB/EC and private-property rules.
The result is a clear yes-or-no on whether the proposed loan fits, and by how much margin.
Several MAS rules combine to produce the answer.
Income is not taken at face value. Variable income, such as bonuses, commissions, director's fees and rental, is recognised at only 70%, a 30% haircut, to reflect its instability. The same haircut applies to self-employed income.
Financial assets can boost qualifying income, but with conditions. Eligible assets pledged to the lending bank for at least four years count in full and are converted to income by dividing over 48 months. Unpledged eligible assets are recognised at just 30% of their value before being divided over 48 months. The assets must remain in your account and cannot double up as your downpayment.
Debt servicing limits then apply: total monthly debt repayments (including the new mortgage) must stay within 55% of qualifying income under TDSR, and for HDB flats and ECs the housing repayment must also stay within 30% under MSR. Both are tested at a 4% stress-test interest rate, or the prevailing rate if higher.
Finally, the income-weighted average age (IWAA) of all borrowers sets the maximum loan tenure. The IWAA weights each borrower's age by their share of income, so a younger, higher-earning co-borrower can extend the tenure. Because tenure feeds the monthly repayment, the IWAA directly affects the maximum loan.
For a private property loan, the maximum tenure is 35 years, but two cliffs reduce your Loan-to-Value limit: a tenure beyond 30 years, or one that runs past the youngest borrower's age 65, cuts the LTV from 75% to 55%. Because the IWAA helps determine whether your loan crosses those lines, it can be the difference between borrowing 75% and 55% of the price. The checker surfaces your IWAA so you can structure the borrower mix to keep the loan on the favourable side of the cliff.
Consider a couple borrowing together: one aged 35 earning S$10,000 a month, the other aged 60 earning S$5,000. Their IWAA is (35 × 10/15) + (60 × 5/15), about 43 years, which limits the tenure and may trigger an LTV cliff. If the older borrower also earns a S$2,000 monthly rental, only S$1,400 counts after the 30% haircut. The checker applies these adjustments, then tests the proposed loan against the 55% TDSR and, for an HDB or EC, the 30% MSR, to confirm whether it passes.
Couples and families applying together use it to confirm a loan will clear before approaching a bank. Buyers with significant savings use it to see how pledging assets lifts their qualifying income. Self-employed and commission-based earners use it to understand the haircut applied to their income. Mortgage advisers use it to pre-qualify clients and structure the borrower mix.
The IWAA is the average age of all borrowers, weighted by each person's share of income. It sets the maximum loan tenure, and through tenure it can affect your LTV limit.
Variable income such as bonuses, commissions and rental is recognised at 70%, a 30% haircut, when calculating eligibility.
Yes. Eligible financial assets pledged for at least four years count in full (divided over 48 months as income); unpledged assets count at 30% of value. The assets cannot also be used for your downpayment.
TDSR caps all monthly debt at 55% of income and applies to every property loan. MSR caps just the housing repayment at 30% of income and applies only to HDB flats and ECs.
Banks assess eligibility at a 4% per annum floor, or the prevailing rate if higher, even if your actual package rate is lower.
This guide is for general information and does not constitute financial advice. Final eligibility is determined by the lending bank based on your full documents and credit profile.
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