You spent a year building your total comp. Base salary, RSU vesting, year-end bonus — your 2025 Notice of Assessment tells a good story. Then you changed companies in late 2025, and your mortgage broker just told you: that NOA doesn't count.
This isn't a bank being difficult. It's how MAS regulations work — and the impact on your loan eligibility is larger than most people expect.
What happened to your NOA
Under MAS Notice 645, the regulation that governs how all Singapore banks compute your Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR), your income is assessed in two parts:
Fixed salary: assessed at the time of application — meaning your current salary at your current employer, right now.
Variable income (bonuses, RSU vesting, allowances): assessed as the average of the preceding 12 months, from your current employment.
When you changed companies, you reset both clocks. Your previous employer's income is no longer "currently receivable." The variable income averaging period restarts at zero. The result: the bank calculates your TDSR using only your new fixed base salary, even if it's lower than what you were earning before.
Your 2025 NOA, which includes all the variable income from your previous employer, is effectively set aside.
The dollar impact
Here's a typical scenario for a senior tech worker in Singapore.
Previous company (Employer A):
| Income component | Monthly amount | Bank assessment rate | Assessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $10,000 | 100% | $10,000 |
| RSU vesting (averaged) | $4,000 | 70% | $2,800 |
| Annual bonus (averaged) | $2,000 | 70% | $1,400 |
| Total | $16,000 | — | $14,200 |
New company (Employer B), joined Nov 2025:
| Income component | Monthly amount | Bank assessment rate | Assessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $11,000 | 100% | $11,000 |
| Variable income | — | None (no history yet) | $0 |
| Total | $11,000 | — | $11,000 |
The difference is $3,200/month in assessed income. At a 55% TDSR threshold, with a 25-year loan at the 4% MAS stress test rate, that translates to:
| Scenario | Max monthly repayment | Estimated loan eligibility |
|---|---|---|
| Income assessed using Employer A (with variable) | $7,810 | ~$1.48M |
| Income assessed using Employer B only (current) | $6,050 | ~$1.15M |
| Difference | $1,760/month | ~$330,000 |
A $330,000 reduction in how much bank you can borrow — not because your income fell, but because the timing of your job change reset your income history.
Why the regulation works this way
The logic behind MAS Notice 645's "currently receivable" requirement is income continuity. Variable compensation — bonuses, RSUs, allowances — is tied to your performance at a specific employer. When you leave, that employer can no longer be expected to pay those amounts. The bank has no basis to project that income forward.
For variable income to count, you need a 12-month track record of receiving it from your current employer. That's the minimum averaging window required under Notice 645. Until that window is complete, your variable income is $0 for TDSR purposes, regardless of what your NOA shows.
Note: this is separate from the 30% haircut that applies to variable income. Even if you wait 12 months and your variable income becomes assessable, it will still be discounted by 30%. The job change issue is that you cannot use it at all until the clock resets.
One common misconception
Some people assume the bank will at least use the base salary from the previous NOA. It won't — and here's why.
Your fixed income is assessed based on your current salary "at the time of applying." If your current base at Employer B is $11,000, that's the figure the bank uses. The fact that your base at Employer A was $10,000 (or higher) is irrelevant — the current salary supersedes the NOA for the fixed portion. The NOA's role is to provide the variable income breakdown, and once that income is no longer being paid to you, the document loses its function.
What you can do right now
You have options while you wait for your income history to rebuild.
1. Pledge eligible financial assets
Under MAS Notice 645, certain financial assets — fixed deposits, shares, ETFs, unit trusts, SSBs, bonds — can be converted into a notional monthly income contribution. The formula is:
Monthly income contribution = (Asset value × recognition rate) ÷ 48
For example, $400,000 in SGD fixed deposits pledged with the lending bank (for ≥4 years) contributes $8,333/month to your assessed income with no haircut — enough to more than recover the $3,200/month you lost. If your RSUs vested in cash or shares before you left Employer A, those assets can now do the work your income history no longer can.
Use the Income Structuring Estimator to calculate exactly how much in pledged assets would close your specific gap.
2. Add a co-borrower
A spouse or family member with stable employment income can be added as a co-borrower. Their income is assessed separately and pools with yours for TDSR calculation. If they have uninterrupted employment with a fixed salary, their income is recognised at 100% immediately.
3. Apply before you leave
If you are still employed at Employer A when you apply, the bank will assess income based on your current Employer A payslips — including variable components with documented history. An In-Principle Approval (IPA) granted while you are still at Employer A locks in that income assessment. A job change after IPA can trigger re-underwriting, so timing the application and the job change carefully matters.
4. Wait for the 12-month window
If you joined Employer B in November 2025, your variable income history at Employer B begins accumulating from that date. By November 2026, you will have 12 months of payslips from Employer B — at which point any variable components (bonuses, RSU vesting) paid by Employer B during that period become assessable, subject to the standard 30% haircut.
This also means your 2026 NOA (reflecting Employer B income from late 2025 and 2026) will be more useful at your 2027 application than it would be today.
The strategic question
If you're considering buying in the next 6–12 months, the calculation is straightforward: either bridge the income gap through pledgeable assets, or time your purchase to align with when your income history recovers.
What you should not do is assume the bank will make an exception because your total comp is objectively higher or because the job change was a career move rather than a downgrade. The regulation does not have a carve-out for same-industry moves, voluntary vs involuntary changes, or tech workers with complex compensation structures. The clock resets regardless.
Use the Income Structuring Estimator to model your specific situation — including how much in pledged assets would be needed to offset your income gap and restore your previous loan eligibility.