You can navigate a map in the dark, carry 20kg through the training area, and brief a commander under pressure — but the moment you sit across from a bank, suddenly your entire income “doesn’t count.” Your mil factor? Ignored. OEAPR? Blank stares. OEASF? “We’ll need to verify that.” Banks aren’t built for the way you get paid — and most advisers aren’t either. So they do what they always do with things they don’t understand: they say no.

It’s not because you’re a risk. It’s because you’re different from the civilian borrowers their systems are built around. NZDF pay structures — with allowances, service components, and superannuation contributions woven through them — don’t fit neatly into a standard bank income calculator. So rather than take the time to understand it, most lenders discount it, set it aside, or ignore it altogether. The result is soldiers who earn solid, stable incomes being told they can’t borrow enough to buy a home — or being told they can’t buy at all.

Here’s what they’re not telling you. A specialist mortgage adviser who actually understands NZDF pay structures can present your full income correctly — allowances included — and match you with lenders who know how to read it. That changes everything. First home buyers who thought they couldn’t qualify. Soldiers living in barracks who thought they needed 20%. People who were told their income was “too irregular.” All of them are now in homes. The bank’s confusion is not your problem. It’s just not being told to the right person.

I spent 20 years in the NZ Army before becoming a mortgage adviser. I know what your payslip looks like because I had one. I know which lenders understand NZDF income and which ones don’t — and I know how to present your application so your full earning picture is on the table, not just the parts the bank’s system recognises. If you’ve been told no, or if you haven’t asked yet because you assumed the answer would be no — talk to me first.