Part 9 loans for truck drivers
7 min read
Transport is an industry where a run of bad months can end in a debt agreement quickly, fuel prices move, a contract ends, a truck needs a rebuild, and where the work itself stays in demand throughout. If you are driving now and carrying an agreement, the two questions that matter are whether you are an employee or an owner-driver, and how much of your pay arrives as allowances.
What your stress is saying
“The industry chewed me up and now the paperwork says it was my fault.”
What's actually true
Lenders in this space read conduct, not history.
What your stress is saying
“Half my pay is allowances, so on paper I earn nothing.”
What's actually true
Some allowances count, some don't, and knowing which is the whole game.
Employee driver or owner-driver: two different applications
An employee driver on a payroll is assessed as a wage earner, payslips, time in the job, income shading on overtime. It is the simpler path, and the one where an approval inside an active debt agreement is most realistic.
An owner-driver on an ABN is self-employed, with everything that implies: tax returns or a low-doc alternative, ABN and GST registration history, and add-backs for depreciation on the truck, which for owner-drivers is usually a very large number.
There is a third case that trips people up. Drivers engaged through labour hire, or on an ABN but effectively working for one operator, sit awkwardly between the two. Lenders will look at the substance rather than the label, so it is worth describing the arrangement plainly rather than trying to fit it into the neater box.
How allowances are actually treated
Transport pay is allowance-heavy, and lenders sort allowances into two buckets: income you keep, and money that compensates you for a cost. The first is assessed, the second usually is not.
- Overtime and shift loadings, normally assessed, often shaded to 80%, and generally needing six months of history or a year-to-date figure.
- Living-away-from-home and travel allowances, frequently excluded or heavily discounted, on the basis that they offset accommodation and meal costs you genuinely incur.
- Meal allowances, usually excluded for the same reason.
- Per-kilometre or per-trip payments, treated as core income where they make up your normal earnings pattern, though they need a longer history because they fluctuate.
- Bonuses and safety incentives, assessed inconsistently. Some lenders count a portion after two years of history, many ignore them.
Why your licence class is an asset on the application
An HC or MC licence is a barrier to entry that took you time and money to clear, and lenders who understand the industry read it as employability. A driver with an MC and a clean record who loses one job is realistically working again quickly, in a sector with persistent driver shortages.
That is a genuine strength when set against a debt agreement, and it is worth stating explicitly rather than assuming it is obvious from your job title. Fatigue-management accreditations and dangerous-goods endorsements point the same way.
If the loan is for the truck rather than a car
A personal car loan and commercial truck finance are different products on different lender panels with different criteria. If you are an owner-driver looking to replace or add a prime mover, that is asset finance, and an active debt agreement makes it substantially harder, commercial lenders tend to be less flexible on personal insolvency than the specialist consumer lenders are.
The more common scenario, and the more achievable one, is a driver who needs a reliable personal vehicle to get to the depot and home again. That is a straightforward secured consumer loan and it sits in the segment this site is built around.
The paperwork worth having on hand
Nothing is needed to make an enquiry. Before an application, though, these are what get asked for and what most drivers have to go looking for:
- Two recent payslips with year-to-date totals, so allowances can be separated from base.
- If you are on an ABN: your last two tax returns, or six to twelve months of business bank statements.
- How long you have been with the current operator, and the one before that.
- Your licence class and any endorsements.
- Your agreement details, administrator, start date, expected completion, and whether payments are current.
The rule most people find out too late
Above $7,457, you must tell the lender you're in a debt agreement
Under section 269 of the Bankruptcy Act 1966, while you are in a debt agreement you must disclose that fact before obtaining credit above $7,457. This is not a lender policy or a preference. Failing to do it is a criminal offence and serious penalties apply.
In practice it is paperwork rather than an obstacle. A lender who writes in this space expects it and it does not, by itself, cause a decline. The risk is not the disclosure. It is going to a lender who never asks, never records it, and leaves you exposed. We raise it as a matter of course.
Figures current at 17 August 2026. AFSA reindexes 20 March and 20 September. Source: AFSA indexed amounts.
During, just after, or well after: three different answers
Where you sit relative to your agreement changes the lender panel more than anything else about you. Whatever your occupation, this is the shape of it:
- Still in the agreementThe smallest panel. A handful of specialist lenders write here, and they want agreement payments up to date, no new defaults since it started, and stable income. The s269 disclosure applies above $7,457.
- Recently completedA noticeably wider panel, and the moment most worth checking. It is common for someone declined a year earlier to be approved shortly after completion with nothing else in their life having changed. Make sure the completion is formally recorded before applying.
- Completed more than 12 months agoWider again, with better pricing available. The agreement may still appear on your credit file. AFSA's guidance is up to five years, and longer in some cases. A year of clean conduct behind you changes how it is read.
What this site does, and what nobody here can do
This site can
- Explain how lenders read a debt agreement
- Pass your enquiry to Simple Loans, who arrange the finance
- Tell you plainly when the answer is “not yet”
Nobody here can
- Provide credit, or credit assistance, from this website
- Advise you to enter, change or end an agreement
- Negotiate with your creditors or administrator
- Remove or dispute anything on your credit file
This website provides information only. Advising on an agreement, negotiating with creditors and fixing credit files are debt management services, which require a credit licence authorisation Simple Loans does not hold. For help with the agreement itself, speak to your registered administrator, or the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 which is free, independent, and not selling anything. There is also a plain-English explainer here.
Worth thinking about before you call anyone
Are you on a payroll, on your own ABN, or through a labour hire arrangement?
Describe how it actually works rather than what the contract calls it, lenders assess the substance.
On a typical payslip, roughly how much is base and how much is allowances?
What is the current vehicle situation costing you, missed shifts, lifts from other drivers, repairs?
Is this a personal car to get you to the depot, or finance for the truck itself?
Two completely different lender panels. Worth being clear before anyone starts looking.
No one is going to ask you these on a call to catch you out. They're here because the answers are yours, and they're the same ones a broker needs before they can tell you anything useful.
Truck drivers: common questions
Can a truck driver get finance during a Part 9 debt agreement?
For a personal vehicle, yes, it is possible through specialist lenders, particularly for an employee driver with agreement payments up to date and no new defaults. Commercial truck finance during an active agreement is considerably harder, because commercial lenders are generally less flexible about personal insolvency than the specialist consumer panel is.
Will my travel and meal allowances count as income?
Usually not, or only partially. Lenders treat living-away-from-home, travel and meal allowances as reimbursement for costs you actually incur rather than income you keep, so they are commonly excluded or heavily discounted. Overtime, loadings and per-trip payments that form your normal earnings are generally assessed, often at 80%, with six months of history or a year-to-date figure as evidence.
I'm an owner-driver with an ABN. What do I need?
The standard expectation is two years of tax returns and notices of assessment. Where you do not have those, low-doc alternatives, six to twelve months of business bank statements, BAS lodgements, or an accountant's declaration, are accepted by a number of lenders. Ask for depreciation on the truck to be added back, because for owner-drivers it is usually the single largest reason taxable income understates actual capacity.
Does my licence class make a difference?
It helps, and it is worth mentioning explicitly. An HC or MC licence, a clean record and endorsements such as dangerous goods all signal employability in a sector with ongoing driver shortages. Lenders assessing an application alongside a debt agreement are weighing the risk of your income stopping, and a hard-to-replace licence class is a direct answer to that question.
Find out where you actually stand
Nine questions, about two minutes, no credit check. You'll get a straight answer, including “not yet, come back in six months” if that's the honest one.