PeopleMuster

Salary certificate format

Salary certificates are read by lenders, not by HR. A loan officer wants the components of the pay, the deductions already committed, and a name they can ring to check it.

Issue one when an employee applies for a loan, a card, a lease or a visa that tests affordability. For a letter that only confirms the job exists, the employment verification letter is the shorter document.

[COMPANY NAME]
[COMPANY ADDRESS]

Ref: [CERTIFICATE REFERENCE]
Date: [DATE OF ISSUE]

To: [LENDER OR ADDRESSEE]

SALARY CERTIFICATE

[FULL NAME OF EMPLOYEE], holding [ID DOCUMENT NUMBER], is employed with us as [JOB TITLE].

Earnings, per month:

- Basic: [BASIC COMPONENT]
- [ALLOWANCE NAME]: [ALLOWANCE AMOUNT]
- [ALLOWANCE NAME]: [ALLOWANCE AMOUNT]
- Gross: [GROSS MONTHLY SALARY]

Deductions already committed, per month:

- [DEDUCTION NAME]: [DEDUCTION AMOUNT]
- [DEDUCTION NAME]: [DEDUCTION AMOUNT]
- Net paid: [NET MONTHLY SALARY]

Pay is credited to [BANK NAME] on or around the [PAY DAY] of each month.

Issued at the employee's request for [STATED PURPOSE].

For [COMPANY NAME]

[SIGNATORY NAME], [SIGNATORY TITLE]
[SIGNATORY EMAIL AND DIRECT LINE]
Company stamp

What to put in each blank

[BASIC COMPONENT]
Write the basic figure only. Lenders size the loan on this, not on the gross.
[ALLOWANCE AMOUNT]
One line per allowance. A single lump sum invites a phone call asking for the split.
[DEDUCTION AMOUNT]
List recurring deductions only. A one-off recovery this month distorts the picture.
[PAY DAY]
Give the usual day of the month. Lenders match it against bank statements.
[STATED PURPOSE]
Name the reason on the face of the letter, so it cannot be reused elsewhere.

Before you send it

  • Print a direct line, not a switchboard. Lenders verify by phone and abandon letters they cannot check.
  • Get the employee's written request first. Earnings are private and the letter travels further than either of you expects.
  • Keep the currency and the components in the format your finance team already uses. Rewriting them for one letter causes a mismatch later.
  • How earnings are described, and what a lender may ask for, differs by country and by lender. Ask the employee what their bank has requested.

PeopleMuster keeps the pay and benefits policy alongside the others, with a slug and a category

Questions people ask about this letter

What is the difference between a salary certificate and a pay record?

A certificate states the current monthly picture and is addressed to one reader. A pay record is a history of what was actually paid, month by month. Lenders often ask for both.

Should the certificate show gross or net?

Show both, with the components between them. A lender that only sees gross will ask for deductions, and one that only sees net will assume the worst.

Can an employee ask for the amounts to be left out?

Then what they want is an employment verification letter instead. A salary certificate with no figures answers none of the questions it was written for.

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