Income Bank

Income Bank allows students and Australian Apprentices who receive an income support payment to build up income credits.

As an Australian Apprentice, full-time student or a student with a study load concession, you can earn up to $405 a fortnight before your Centrelink payment is reduced.

If you earn or receive less income than this amount, the difference between the $405 limit and your income is added to the Income Bank. 

For example, if you earn $350 in a fortnight, you will accrue $55 in your Income Bank. That means in the following payment period you can earn $455 before your payment is reduced.

The maximum amount you can accumulate in your Income Bank is $10,100 if you are a student or $1000 if you are an Australian Apprentice. The student Income Bank will be indexed to the CPI on 1 January each year, starting from 1 January 2013.

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

• are full-time students or students with a study load concession
• participate in full-time training
• are full-time Australian Apprentices.

If you want to find out more, call the Youth Allowance and Austudy line on 132 490 or the ABSTUDY line Freecall TM on
1800 132 317.