How Czech banks count income earned in euros and other currencies

Czech banks lend to people paid from abroad, but they convert the foreign income into koruna and most of them cut it by a safety haircut for exchange-rate risk (kurzové riziko). On the same net salary you will therefore get less than someone paid in koruna.

That applies to commuters to Germany and Austria, to people working from home for a foreign company and to Czechs abroad buying back home: the loan is in koruna, while the pay arrives in euros, francs, pounds or dollars.

The LTV rule is the same as for everyone else: 80 %, or 90 % if at least one applicant is under 36. The rate in October 2026 is around 5.00 %. How much you get depends mostly on the size of the haircut. After that come how easily the bank can verify your employer and how long an income history you can show.

Which foreign income do Czech banks accept?

The easiest case is a commuter who lives in Czechia and travels daily or weekly to a job in Germany, Austria or Slovakia. An EU employer, an employment contract, payslips and a salary paid into an account are simple for a bank to read, and most banks that accept foreign income start here.

Working from home for a foreign company is a step up. If you are employed by a company from Ireland, the Netherlands or the USA, the bank asks whether the employer can be verified, where social contributions are paid and whether the job is really a contractor arrangement in disguise. An EU employer is simpler. One from the United Kingdom, Switzerland or the USA means more paperwork, and some banks will refuse.

If you are self-employed (OSVČ) with clients abroad, the currency of your invoices matters less. You hold a Czech trade licence and file a Czech tax return, so the bank assesses you on that return in koruna, as described in Mortgage for the self-employed.

Hardest of all is living and working abroad while buying in Czechia. The bank can rarely see your debts abroad, your spending happens elsewhere and there is often no Czech account with a history. Some banks turn such applicants down; others want a larger deposit.

How much does the currency haircut cut your loan?

Roughly in proportion to the haircut. A 20 % haircut cuts the maximum loan by about a fifth: a commuter on EUR 3,000 net gets about CZK 5.0 million instead of CZK 6.3 million (worked through below).

The bank works in three steps. It takes your net income in the foreign currency (for a foreign salary, after local tax and contributions) and converts it at an exchange rate, usually the ČNB rate on a given day or an average over a period. Most banks then apply a haircut to cover the risk that the koruna strengthens and your income in koruna falls. Nothing prescribes its size. Every bank sets its own, some apply none to the euro, and this is where differences running into millions arise. The risk behind it is real: if the euro loses 10 % against the koruna, you need 1 / 0.9, or about 11.1 % more euros to pay the same koruna instalment.

Variable pay (bonuses, overtime, employee shares) is counted even more cautiously on a foreign salary than on a Czech one. Plan on your base salary.

A commuter to Bavaria at two banks

The CZK 25/EUR rate and the 20 % haircut are for illustration; a bank uses actual values on the day it assesses you. The lesson holds regardless: picking a bank by how it treats foreign currency can be worth more than a year of your own saving.

Extra documents compared with a Czech employee

• your employment contract with the foreign employer, with an official translation at some banks (others accept English or German originals);
• payslips for the last 3–6 months;
• statements for the account your salary goes into, so the bank can see regular payments from the employer;
• the annual statement of pay and tax from the employer's country (the Lohnsteuerbescheinigung in Germany, the Lohnzettel in Austria);
• a letter from the employer confirming that you are not in a probation period (zkušební doba) or serving notice, and that the job continues;
• your Czech tax return (daňové přiznání), if you file one. A Czech tax resident declares foreign income here too, and banks treat the return as strong evidence;
• a signed declaration of your liabilities abroad, or an extract from a foreign credit register such as the German SCHUFA. Foreign loans are not in the Czech registers BRKI, NRKI and SOLUS; the one exception is BRKI's data exchange with the Slovak register SBCB and the German SCHUFA, and only with your consent.

Property documents and the general list for all applicants are in the article on mortgage documents. With foreign income, allow two to three weeks longer to gather the paperwork.

What else the bank checks

First, how long and how securely you are employed. A bank judges a new job abroad more strictly than an equally new one at home, because it knows less about the foreign employer. Most banks want a longer track record and no probation period.

Then where, and in what currency, the money arrives. A salary paid into the Czech account you will repay from is simplest. If your pay goes into a foreign account and you send only part of it home, the bank will want statements from both.

If the bank ties a rate discount to payment protection insurance, check whether the policy also covers losing a job with a foreign employer. Exclusions differ between insurers.

Residence and citizenship play a part as well. EU citizens get the same conditions as Czechs. Applicants from outside the EU need permanent residence (trvalý pobyt) or long-term residence (dlouhodobý pobyt) in Czechia, and banks often hold their LTV at 70–80 %; more in Mortgage for foreigners.

How to get the highest amount

1. Have the same income assessed at two or three banks. With foreign income the gap between banks is wider than on rates, and a mortgage adviser (hypoteční poradce) will know which bank currently leaves the euro uncut, or cuts it least.
2. Add a co-applicant paid in koruna. That lowers the foreign-currency share of household income and softens the haircut.
3. Show a longer history than the minimum. A stable foreign-currency income over a year convinces a bank more than three months of payslips.
4. File a Czech tax return for last year if you are obliged to and have not yet done so. It documents your income in koruna and answers many of the bank's questions in advance.
5. Take a longer term. At 5.00 %, each million over 30 years costs about CZK 5,368 a month, more over 25 years, so a longer term raises the maximum loan on the same counted income.
6. Keep a reserve in the foreign currency, enough for several payments. When the koruna strengthens you cover the difference without stress, and banks like seeing that reserve on your statements.