your ability to pay is better determined by looking at pay slips, which a bank can (and probably will) demand from you. the fact that you paid X dollars monthly

your ability to pay is better determined by looking at pay slips, which a bank can (and probably will) demand from you. the fact that you paid X dollars monthly for Y years is not sufficient to determine the upper limit of your paying ability. so, i think a combination of nice pay slips + lack of defaults in the past is quite sufficient.