Coles Is Offshoring Hundreds of Jobs. Here Is How Lenders Actually Read a Career Change (2026)
- Coles confirmed this week that several hundred corporate roles in finance, HR, marketing and technology will move to Accenture, with workers made redundant, redeployed or retrained, following Qantas’s similar move.
- Restructure headlines create the same quiet question everywhere: what does a job change do to a home loan? The answer runs on four things: permanency, probation, continuity and income type.
- The rule that saves people money: lenders assess the paperwork you have, not the person you are becoming. If a purchase or refinance sits in your 12-month plans, arrange it from the strong file, before the move.
- A redundancy payout counts as savings, not income. And an existing loan does not care that you changed jobs, as long as the repayments keep arriving.
The restructure era, in one week of headlines
Coles announced in August 2026 that several hundred corporate roles across finance, human resources, marketing and technology will move to Accenture’s operations under a multi-year outsourcing deal, with affected workers made redundant, redeployed or retrained. The move follows a similar offshoring decision by Qantas. For households, the practical significance of the restructure trend is its effect on income stability, which is the foundation lenders assess home loans on.
This week it was Coles: several hundred corporate roles, spanning finance, HR, marketing and technology, moving to Accenture under a multi-year deal, with the affected workers to be made redundant, redeployed or retrained. Before that it was Qantas. The pattern is now familiar enough that most professionals have quietly run the thought experiment: what if my function is next?
We are not going to editorialise about offshoring. This is about the question underneath, the one people type into search bars at 11pm: what does a job change, voluntary or otherwise, actually do to a home loan? The answer is mechanical, mostly sensible, and almost never explained plainly. Here it is.
The four things a lender reads in your employment
Lenders assess employment on four dimensions: permanency, with permanent full-time and part-time roles reading strongest; probation status, since a completed probation removes conditions some lenders apply; continuity, where a move within the same industry reads as career progression while a full pivot reads as a reset; and income type, because base salary counts in full while casual, contract and self-employed income typically needs a track record, commonly six to twelve months, before it is counted.
Strip the credit-policy language away and a lender is asking one thing: will this income keep arriving? Four dimensions decide their answer:
| The move | How a lender tends to read it |
|---|---|
| Same industry, permanent role, better pay | Career progression: reads as continuity, often lendable immediately |
| New job, still on probation | Varies: many lenders prefer probation completed, some lend through it with a strong file |
| Career pivot to a new industry | A reset: expect more questions and, at some lenders, a wait |
| Permanent to casual or contract | Track record needed, commonly six to twelve months before income counts |
| Employee to ABN or contracting | Self-employed assessment: often one to two years of figures, with alternative-documentation options sooner |
| Career break | Income continuity resets in most credit policies |
| Redundancy | The payout is savings, not income; lending waits for the next role |
Every row varies by lender, which is the recurring theme of this article: the same career move can be a decline at one lender and an approval at another, and knowing which is which is precisely a broker’s job.
Probation, the fine print of a fresh start
Probation periods, commonly three to six months in new Australian roles, are treated differently across lenders: many prefer probation completed before approving a loan, while others lend to borrowers on probation when the move is within the same industry and the file is otherwise strong. A same-field move with a pay rise reads as career progression rather than risk, which is why probation is a lender-selection question rather than an automatic waiting period.
Most new roles start with three to six months of probation, and this is where job-movers most often get surprised mid-application. The spread of lender attitudes is wide: many prefer probation done before they will rely on the income; some will lend through it, particularly when the move is a step up in the same industry, the pay is higher, and the rest of the file is clean.
Which means probation is not a sentence, it is a sorting question: the difference between waiting six months and buying this spring can be nothing more than which lender the application goes to. If you have just moved roles, or are about to, this single policy difference is worth a conversation before you assume anything.
If the redundancy lands
A redundancy payout is treated by lenders as savings rather than income, so it can strengthen a deposit but cannot service a loan. New lending generally waits until the next role begins, with a household’s second income often carrying an application in the meantime. For existing loans, nothing changes automatically on redundancy while repayments continue, and borrowers who anticipate difficulty should contact their lender’s hardship team early, before a payment is missed, when the most options are available.
If you are one of the several hundred, or the next several hundred, here is the honest map:
- The payout is a deposit, not a salary. Lenders treat redundancy money as savings: excellent for strengthening a future deposit or an offset balance, but it cannot service a loan. New borrowing generally waits for the next payslip.
- A household is not one income. A partner’s income can carry an application, or a repayment, through the gap. Plenty of purchases complete on exactly that structure.
- Your existing loan does not know you were made redundant. There is no obligation on a standard home loan to report a job change, and nothing changes while repayments continue. The danger is arrears, not redundancy itself.
- If the gap will bite, call early. Every lender runs a hardship process, and the options are widest before a payment is missed: repayment pauses, interest-only periods, restructures. Early contact is strength, not surrender, and our calm playbook piece covers the same principle from the equity side.
The sequencing rule: strong file first
Because lenders assess current, evidenced circumstances, the order of career and finance moves changes outcomes. A borrower planning both a job change and a property purchase or refinance within a year will usually preserve more options by arranging finance while still in the settled role: pre-approval before resigning, and refinancing while employment reads as stable and permanent. The same loan application can read very differently either side of a resignation letter.
Regular readers will recognise this rule, because it decided the nurses piece and it decides this one: a lender assesses the paperwork you have, not the person you are becoming. Same person, different paperwork, different answer.
So if a career move is even a maybe, and a property decision sits anywhere in your next twelve months, sequence deliberately:
- Pre-approval before resignation. Approval is assessed on the job you hold, and it buys you months of certainty while you make the move.
- Refinance while your employment reads clean. A rate review costs nothing and is easiest to win from a settled, permanent role. Our refinance savings calculator shows what the win is worth over one, ten, twenty and thirty years.
- Structure before uncertainty. If change is coming, an offset account holding a genuine buffer beats extra repayments locked away, because access matters when income pauses. The offset checker confirms yours is set up right.
Career moving? Sequence the finance first.
Tell us what you hold, what you owe and what might change. We will tell you plainly which lenders suit your situation, whether to lock the pre-approval or the refinance in first, and what to leave alone. Former bankers, no cost, no obligation, no judgement about the restructure.
Book a chat with a former bankerEmployed but uneasy: the buffer playbook
Homeowners who feel exposed to restructures can strengthen their position without changing jobs or homes: building cash in an offset account, which cuts interest daily while staying accessible; asking the current lender for a sharper rate, which requires no refinance; testing the repayment against the market with a savings calculator; and checking their equity position while valuations remain current. Each step widens the margin a household can absorb a shock with.
Most people reading a Coles headline are not being made redundant; they are simply reminded that nobody is structural anymore. If that is you, the productive response is boring and takes an evening:
- Move the buffer into an offset, where it cuts interest daily and stays reachable if the music stops.
- Reprice without refinancing. One call, or one call from us, asking your lender for their best behaviour. No new application, no employment questions.
- Know your number. The refinance calculator tells you what switching is worth; the equity checker tells you where you stand if prices keep sliding; the years-off calculator shows what today’s strong income could buy your future self.
A household with a buffer, a sharp rate and a known equity position can read any restructure headline with its heart rate unchanged. That is the whole goal.
Frequently asked questions
Does changing jobs affect a home loan application?
Yes, though usually less than people fear. Lenders read permanency, probation status, industry continuity and income type. A permanent same-industry move with equal or better pay commonly reads as career progression; casual, contract and self-employed transitions typically need a track record before the income counts.
Can I get a home loan while on probation?
Often, yes. Many lenders prefer probation completed, but others lend through it when the move is within the same field and the file is otherwise strong. It is a lender-selection question, which is why the same applicant can be declined at one bank and approved at another in the same week.
Do I have to tell my bank I changed or lost my job?
On a standard existing home loan, no: there is no ongoing obligation to report employment changes, and nothing changes while repayments continue. The exception is if you anticipate missing payments, where contacting the lender’s hardship team early gives you the most options.
Is a redundancy payout counted as income for a loan?
No. Lenders treat it as savings: useful for a deposit or an offset buffer, but not capable of servicing a loan. New lending generally waits for income from the next role, or runs on a partner’s income in the meantime.
Should I refinance before or after changing jobs?
Before, almost always. A refinance is assessed on your current employment, so a settled permanent role is the strongest position to apply from. After a move, some lenders will want probation completed first. The rate review costs nothing either way.
What if I move from employee to contractor or an ABN?
You move into self-employed assessment, where most lenders want one to two years of figures, though alternative-documentation lending can work sooner on evidence like BAS statements and bank trading history. Sequencing any planned purchase before the switch preserves the most options.
How long after starting a new job can I borrow?
With some lenders, immediately, particularly for permanent same-industry moves. Others prefer three to six months or completed probation. Casual roles typically need six to twelve months of history. The spread between lenders is the point: policy selection is the difference between waiting and proceeding.
I have a mortgage and just got made redundant. What should I do first?
Count the runway: payout, buffer, partner income against monthly commitments. Keep repayments running if you can, park the payout in the offset, and if the runway looks short, call the lender’s hardship team before missing a payment, when pauses and restructures are easiest to arrange. Redundancy itself changes nothing on the loan; arrears do.
The honest summary
Restructures are corporate weather now: Coles this week, Qantas before it, someone else next quarter. You cannot control the weather, but the lending consequences of a career change are almost entirely a matter of sequence and selection: arrange finance from the strong file, know which lenders read your kind of move kindly, keep the buffer where you can reach it, and treat a payout as the deposit it is rather than the income it is not. None of that requires predicting whose function is next. It requires an evening of housekeeping and, if a move is coming, one conversation at the right time, which is before.
Nobody is structural anymore. Your finances can be.
A buffer that reaches, a rate that is honest, pre-approval timed to your plans, and a lender whose policy suits your next move, whatever it is. One conversation, former bankers, no cost.
Book a chat with a former bankerAbout the author. Ahmed Lotfi is co-founder of Everstone Finance and a former banker who now works as a mortgage and finance broker in South Yarra, Melbourne, arranging home, investment and commercial lending for clients across Australia. Everstone Finance operates under the Best Interests Duty as Credit Representative 574314 of LMG Broker Services Pty Ltd, Australian Credit Licence 517921.