Income Bank

If you are student and earn money from paid work for a short time, such as during holiday periods, Income Bank helps you to keep more of your Youth Allowance, Austudy payment or ABSTUDY.

Income Bank allows students who receive an income support payment to build up income credits to offset any income they earn above the fortnightly income-free area.

As a full-time student, you can earn up to $236 a fortnight before your Centrelink payment is affected.

If you earn less than $236 a fortnight, the balance up to $236 is added to the Income Bank for the periods when you earn more than this amount in a fortnight.

The Income Bank is available to people on Youth Allowance, Austudy and ABSTUDY who are:

• full-time students
• participate in full-time training
• full-time Australian Apprentices