Bank Statement Loans In Chatham — The Quick Read: These are non-QM mortgages sized above roughly $3 million that let a self-employed borrower qualify on 12 or 24 months of bank deposits instead of traditional personal-income documentation. An underwriter totals the deposits, applies an expense factor to strip out business costs, and divides by the statement months to get qualifying income. Leverage steps down as the loan size climbs, and anything above $4,000,000 gets reviewed case by case before it’s ever submitted.
Key Terms Defined
Expense factor — a percentage the underwriter subtracts from business-account deposits to account for operating costs before counting the rest as income.
Portfolio program — a lending program that keeps loans on a lender’s own books rather than selling them into agency securitization, which is why it can use bank statements instead of traditional personal-income documentation.
Case-by-case review — a manual underwriting step, triggered by loan size, where a file gets individual scrutiny before it moves to formal submission.
Asset allowance — an income-qualification method that divides a borrower’s liquid assets by a set number of months (36, 60, or 84) instead of counting deposits at all.
Seasoning — the waiting period required after a credit event, like a late payment or bankruptcy, before a lender will consider the file.
What Counts as Super Jumbo Here
There’s no regulator that draws a line between “jumbo” and “super jumbo.” An industry glossary entry notes the term typically applies to loans greater than $3 million, but says plainly that lenders differ on where the threshold sits. Across the wholesale network Lendmire works with, the practical range runs from $300,000 to $30,000,000, split across two separate ladders. A portfolio non-QM bank-statement program carries files to $6,000,000. A bank portfolio program picks up twelve-month-statement files and carries them further, on its own size bands: 65% loan-to-value to $5,000,000, 60% to $10,000,000, and 55% to $30,000,000, with interest-only capped at 60% or the band’s own ceiling, whichever is lower.
These two programs overlap between $4,000,000 and $6,000,000. Above $6,000,000, only the bank program’s ladder applies. That overlap matters for file strategy — a $5,000,000 purchase might qualify under either program depending on documentation and occupancy, and the choice affects both leverage and whether interest-only is on the table.
How Underwriting Actually Reads the Deposits
The file starts with 12 or 24 consecutive months of statements. A transaction-history printout won’t work — most guidelines reject it outright. From there, the underwriter separates personal deposits from business deposits, because each gets treated differently. Personal-account deposits generally aren’t expense-factored, since a personal account doesn’t carry operating costs the way a business does. Real due-diligence notes on non-QM securitizations back this up: reviewers confirmed that an underwriter does not apply the expense factor to personal statements since it’s not used for operations.
Business-account deposits get a haircut. The guideline sets fixed expense ratios by business type: 20% for a service business with no employees, 40% for a service business with one to five employees, and 50% for any business with six or more employees or any product-based business. A borrower can instead submit an accountant-provided ratio, or use a profit-and-loss method capped at 80% of stated revenue. Transfers from the borrower’s own business account into a personal account count in full — no haircut applied there.
Here’s where files actually break. Real SEC-filed exception notes on non-QM pools show two distinct failure patterns. In one case, a reviewer rejected a CPA letter outright because the letter did not state a specific expense factor, so the standard guideline ratio was applied instead. In another file from the same pool, a CPA letter did state a factor — 25% — and the lender accepted it, but the resulting debt-to-income still landed at 51.84%, above the 50% program ceiling. A favorable letter doesn’t automatically clear the file.
A second failure mode shows up around business classification. One securitization file review documented this problem directly. A lender initially applied the ratio for a service business with one employee. A reviewer then flagged that the borrower’s operation was actually a product business, which carries a different, lower ratio. The corrected number pushed debt-to-income over the ceiling. The file then needed a fresh CPA letter addressing the mismatch. Getting the business type right the first time avoids that entire loop.
Ownership, Statements, and Where the 25% Line Sits
Business-account deposits only count toward a borrower’s income if that borrower owns at least 25% of the business. This isn’t a soft guideline — it’s a gate. A borrower who owns less than that share generally can’t use the account’s deposits at all, no matter how consistent or well-documented the statements are. Investors who hold multiple entities with different ownership splits should sort this out before a file gets built, not after an underwriter flags it.
Reserves and credit sit on top of the income calculation, and both scale with loan size. Reserves typically run 3 months of payments up to $500,000, 6 months up to $1,500,000, and 9 months above that, with 2 additional months required for each other financed property, capped at 12 months total. First-time real estate investors are generally held to 12 months regardless of loan size. Credit sits at a 660 floor on the portfolio program, moving up to 680 on the bank program, and up to 700 once a file crosses into super-jumbo overlay territory.
The Leverage Ladder, Occupancy by Occupancy
Leverage steps down as loan size climbs, and it steps down further once occupancy shifts from primary residence to second home or investment property. Every figure below is a ceiling through select wholesale programs, subject to full underwriting — not a promise.
| Loan Size | Primary Residence | Second Home | Investment Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| $300K–$1M | 90% | 85% | 85% |
| $1M–$1.5M | 85% | 80% | 80% |
| $3M–$3.5M | 75% | 65% | 60% |
| $4M–$5M | 65% (case-by-case) | 65% (case-by-case) | 65% (case-by-case) |
Above $4,000,000, every one of these numbers gets reviewed case by case before submission, regardless of occupancy. Cash-out follows the same downward slope and runs roughly five to ten points below the purchase figure at each size band, tightening further above 60% loan-to-value where a $1,500,000 cash-in-hand cap applies on the portfolio program.
Once a primary-residence loan crosses $3,500,000 — or a second home or investment property crosses $3,000,000 — a set of super-jumbo overlays kicks in on top of the standard ladder: a 700 credit floor, a clean 0x30x24 housing payment history, 48-month seasoning on any credit event, U.S. citizenship or permanent residency, no non-occupant co-borrowers, no rural property, a ten-acre maximum, and a rule that cash-out proceeds can never be used to satisfy the reserve requirement. Terms vary by lender guidelines, property type, leverage, credit profile, and full file review.
Where the General Rule Breaks: Named Edge Cases
Not every file reads the same way, and a few specific situations consistently trip the standard math.
Condotels sit outside the standard purchase-money leverage entirely, and it has nothing to do with income documentation. Fannie Mae’s own selling guide treats any project that is primarily transient in nature as an ineligible project for conventional purchase — which is exactly why condotel buyers end up in a portfolio bank-statement program regardless of how clean their deposits look. On the network Lendmire works with, condotels max out at 75% purchase, 65% cash-out on the portfolio program and 50% on the bank program. Exact terms depend on the lender’s guidelines, property type, leverage, and a full review of the borrower’s file.
Rural property hits a separate wall: capped at 80% loan-to-value on ten acres or less, and never above $3,000,000 regardless of income strength. A borrower with a strong twelve-month deposit history and a 780 credit score doesn’t override that cap — it’s a property-eligibility limit, not a documentation limit. Every figure here varies by lender and program — guidelines, property type, leverage, and credit profile all apply.
Texas home-equity loans under Section 50(a)(6) take a flat five-point leverage reduction and stop entirely at $3,000,000 on the portfolio program, even when every other metric on the file would otherwise support a larger loan.
Asset-based paths sidestep the deposit-averaging question altogether. An asset allowance divides liquid assets by 36 months (when used as a supplement, with debt-to-income at or below 60%), 60 months (supplement, debt-to-income above 60%), or 84 months (standalone, or any loan above $3,500,000). This option is available on primary and second homes only, and it’s capped at 80% loan-to-value. A separate assets-only path removes the debt-to-income calculation entirely. It requires U.S. liquid assets equal to the loan amount, plus closing costs, plus 60 months of any net loss on other residential property the borrower owns. Retirement accounts count toward either path at 70% of value, rising to 80% once the borrower turns 59½ or older. Business funds, gifts, trusts other than a revocable living trust, unvested stock, and cryptocurrency never count, on any path.
What the Investor Decision Looks Like in Practice
Market data backs up why lenders built these programs in the first place: bank statement loans now make up roughly 30% to 40% of all non-QM originations, with average borrower credit scores near 737 and loan-to-value ratios in the 60s. That’s not a subprime relic — it’s a mainstream path for borrowers whose traditional personal-income documentation understate what they actually earn.
For a high-net-worth borrower, the real decision usually comes down to one question: which documentation path produces the strongest number? The options are deposit averaging, an accountant-supported expense ratio, an asset allowance, or an assets-only structure. Take a founder with heavy business write-offs. That founder might do better using 24-month deposits with a CPA letter that addresses the correct expense ratio up front. That’s better than waiting for an underwriter to catch a business-type mismatch mid-file. Now take an investor with significant liquid assets but thin recent deposit activity. That investor might do better skipping income calculation entirely and using the assets-only path instead.
Some borrowers own the property purely as a rental. They want the underwriting to run off the property’s own cash flow, not personal deposits at all. That calls for a different product family. Lendmire’s complete DSCR loans guide explains how that qualification path works. It’s worth comparing before you lock into a bank-statement structure. This series includes two other file breakdowns: how a similar file reads in Charleston and the version anchored in Malibu. Both walk through the same mechanics against different property types and occupancy mixes.
Investors comparing a bank statement file to a property-income DSCR file should know something important. DSCR loans are business-purpose, non-owner-occupied products. Lenders underwrite them differently than a standard owner-occupied mortgage. The rental income itself drives qualification — not personal deposits — subject to lender guidelines.
Tax treatment on any of these structures depends on how the funds are used and how title is held; investors should keep clean records and talk to a qualified tax professional before relying on a deduction.
Investors putting a file together on a loan size in this range can reach Lendmire’s team at 828-256-2183 to talk through which documentation path — deposits, assets, or a blended structure — fits a specific income picture.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a super jumbo bank statement loan require traditional income documentation at all?
No — qualification runs on bank deposits, an accountant-provided ratio, or liquid assets instead of conventional personal-income paperwork, subject to lender guidelines. Some files still request a CPA letter to support a lower expense ratio, but that’s a supporting document, not a tax return.
Why do personal and business bank statements get treated differently?
A business account carries operating costs a personal account doesn’t, so business deposits get reduced by an expense factor — typically 20%, 40%, or 50% depending on business type — before counting as income. Personal deposits generally skip that reduction entirely.
What happens once a loan crosses $4,000,000?
Every file above that size gets reviewed case by case before formal submission, regardless of how strong the deposit history or credit profile looks. This applies across primary, second-home, and investment-property files alike.
Can a CPA letter guarantee a lower expense ratio?
No. A CPA letter has to state a specific ratio and be dated appropriately, and even when accepted, the resulting debt-to-income can still land above the program ceiling — real file notes show a 25% CPA-supported ratio still failing the 50% cap in one case.
Is a condotel eligible under this program?
Yes, but at reduced leverage — 75% purchase and 65% cash-out on the portfolio program, 50% cash-out on the bank program — because condotels fall outside conventional purchase eligibility as a property type, separate from any income-documentation question. Final terms depend on lender guidelines, property type, leverage, and the borrower’s complete credit picture.
For current guidelines and terms, see Lendmire’s super jumbo bank statement loan programs page.
Self-employed borrowers can compare both super jumbo programs on Lendmire’s self-employed mortgages page.
About Lendmire
Lendmire — NMLS# 2371349 — is a mortgage brokerage specializing in DSCR investor loans, helping arrange financing across 40 markets, including Washington, D.C., through wholesale and investor-lending channels. The model centers on property-level rental income reviewed by the lender rather than W-2 documentation, subject to lender guidelines, suiting entity-owned and multi-property investors. Lendmire holds Scotsman Guide Top Mortgage Workplace recognition for 2025 and 2026.
Lendmire’s Top Mortgage Workplace recognition is documented by Scotsman Guide 2025 Top Mortgage Workplace and Scotsman Guide 2026 Top Mortgage Workplace.
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References
1. SEC EDGAR — Atlas A&D Opportunity Fund III ABS-15G
2. SEC EDGAR — VMC Asset Depositor ABS-15G exception file
Brandon Miller
Founder & CEO, Mortgage Loan Originator, Lendmire LLC
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Required disclosures. Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) operates as a licensed mortgage broker, not a direct lender or depository. The discussion in this article is general in nature and should not be relied upon as financial, legal, or tax advice — every investment scenario is unique and should be reviewed by a qualified professional. Any loan inquiry is subject to lender underwriting, and this article is not a commitment to lend or a guarantee of approval. Mortgage rates, loan terms, and program guidelines vary by borrower, property, and state, and may change without notice. Equal Housing Opportunity. Verify licensure at NMLS Consumer Access.
