The Quick Read: No rule sets a dollar amount for RSU or bonus earners. Two separate tests set the cash, and the tighter one wins. The first is how much equity the lender will release. The second is whether your new, larger payment fits the income the lender will count. Only vested, documented RSUs and averaged bonuses count toward that second test.
Key Takeaways
- Cash-out is the smaller of the collateral number and the income number.
- Vested, distributed shares can count as income. Unvested grants usually add nothing today.
- Bonus pay is averaged over a history, not taken at last year’s peak.
- Each jumbo lender sets its own rules, so the same file can land differently from one lender to the next.
- For many equity-compensation earners, income caps the cash before home equity does.
How Is the Cash-Out Amount Set?
The cash-out amount is the lower of two results: what the home’s value allows and what your qualifying income supports. Most borrowers focus on equity. Borrowers paid in stock and bonuses often hit the income limit first.
Start with the collateral side. A cash-out refinance replaces your current mortgage with a new, larger one. The lender takes the appraised value, applies the maximum leverage for that program, and subtracts your current payoff and any financed costs. What is left is the most cash the home can release.
Value comes from the appraisal, not your own estimate. On the largest loan amounts, the wholesale lenders Lendmire places files with ask for two appraisals above a set threshold.
Now the income side. The new loan comes with a new payment: principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and any HOA dues. The lender divides your monthly debts, including that payment, by your qualifying monthly income. That result is your debt-to-income ratio, or DTI. On the fixed jumbo lanes, the ceiling is 50%. It is 45% on the adjustable lane and 43% on the interest-only lane. A bigger cash-out means a bigger payment, and a bigger payment needs more counted income.
Here is the catch. Your W-2 might show a large total. But the lender only counts the part it can document, average, and expect to continue.
What Is a Jumbo Cash-Out, and Where Do the Rules Come From?
A jumbo loan is any mortgage above the conforming limit for your county. The Federal Housing Finance Agency sets that limit each year for loans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy. Higher-cost counties get a higher ceiling. One dollar above your county’s number, and the loan is a jumbo.
That matters because jumbo loans sit outside the agency purchase framework. Each lender or investor writes its own guidelines. Many borrow Fannie Mae’s income logic as a starting point. None must follow it.
Across the wholesale programs Lendmire places files with, the headline jumbo lane starts at a 660 decision score. Leverage reaches up to 90% on purchases, and loans go up to $5,000,000 on the largest lanes. Cash-out sits at lower leverage than a purchase, and the largest lanes add a cash cap. Reserves are measured in months of your full payment and rise with the loan amount. All of this is subject to lender guidelines and full file review.
The details are on Lendmire’s jumbo cash-out refinance program page. For this article, what matters is how the income half of the test treats equity pay.
How Does a Lender Count RSU and Bonus Income?
Lenders sort pay into three buckets. Base salary counts right away. Bonus is variable income with a history test. Vested RSUs form their own category, with their own history and paperwork.
| Income type | What the lender wants | How it is counted |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | Paystub, W-2s, employer verification | Monthly amount as documented |
| Bonus | Prior history, year-to-date pay | Averaged over the history period |
| Time-vested RSU | Vesting schedule, proof of past vests | Averaged from vested, distributed shares |
| Performance RSU | Same, plus a longer record | Averaged, often with a stricter history |
Let’s take each in turn, using Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide as the reference standard. Your jumbo lender may follow it, tighten it, or loosen it.
Bonus income
Under the Selling Guide’s bonus income rules, a two-year history is recommended. A shorter history, no less than 12 months, can work when other strengths offset it. The lender documents the pay and compares year-to-date income with prior years.
If bonus pay is steady or rising, it is averaged across the year-to-date period and prior earnings. If it is falling, the lender must confirm it has leveled off before counting it. Last year’s best bonus does not become your monthly income. It gets averaged with the rest.
RSU income
The Selling Guide’s RSU section draws firm lines. Shares must be vested and distributed to you without restrictions. Sign-on stock that vests over time is not eligible. The employer’s stock must be publicly traded.
The paperwork is heavier than for salary. The lender looks for:
- A verification of employment or a recent paystub plus W-2s showing stock income
- The current vesting schedule, showing past and future vests
- Brokerage or bank statements showing earlier distributions
- Proof the stock is publicly traded
- A 200-day moving-average share price when income is paid in shares
That last item protects you and the lender from a one-day price spike. It also means a stock that has run up recently counts at a smoother, lower number than today’s quote.
The Selling Guide’s income chapter was restructured in a recent update, and mortgage insurers’ training aids show Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can compute different monthly figures from identical RSU facts. A jumbo lender can differ again. This is why Lendmire’s team asks which guideline set applies before running any math.
Which Number Binds: Equity or Income?
For borrowers with large equity, income usually binds first. For borrowers with thin equity and high earnings, the collateral number usually binds. Check both before you plan around a figure.
Here are three illustrative profiles. They use percentages and plain words, not dollar amounts, and they are not predictions.
Scenario one: steady vests and bonus. A borrower has a long vest history and a stable bonus. After averaging, equity pay is a healthy share of qualifying income. The new payment fits under the DTI ceiling. The collateral number sets the cash. Leverage is the limit.
Scenario two: a declining bonus. The borrower’s bonus fell last year. The lender must see that it has stabilized before counting it. If it cannot, only the base salary and the steadier income count. The new payment then strains the ratio, and the cash-out shrinks well below what the equity would allow. Income is the limit.
Scenario three: a new grant. The borrower started at the company recently. The shares are unvested. They add nothing to qualifying income today, however big the grant looks on paper. A borrower who waits for the first vests, and builds a distribution history, may see a different result later. Timing is the limit.
The lesson: a paper grant is not cash-out capacity. Vested, documented, averaged income is.
Where Does the General Rule Break?
The rules above hold in most files. These cases are where they bend.
| Situation | How it is typically treated | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Private or pre-IPO stock | Ineligible under the Fannie reference | Ask whether the lender has its own policy |
| Sign-on RSUs | Excluded under the reference | Count only other income |
| Recent job change | Vest history is generally counted from the current employer | Wait for history, or lean on base pay |
| One-time vest spike | Averaged, not taken at face value | Expect a smoothed figure |
| Declining bonus | Must show it has stabilized | Gather proof of leveling off |
| Spouse holds the equity | Depends on who is on the loan | Ask whether the spouse should be a borrower |
Three more edge cases deserve a sentence each.
Jumbo versus agency rules. Because jumbo lenders write their own guidelines, one may accept RSU income that another trims. Some mirror Fannie Mae closely. Others add a haircut or a longer history.
Occupancy. Cash-out leverage depends on whether the home is your primary residence, a second home, or an investment property. Occupancy changes the leverage, and the program lane spells out the limit.
Cash-out versus limited cash-out. A “limited” cash-out refinance caps the cash you take at a small amount, and Fannie Mae treats it more favorably than a true cash-out. If you only want to pay off a second mortgage or cover closing costs, ask which type your file is.
Do Reserves and Condition of the Home Matter?
Yes. Reserves are cash and liquid assets left after closing. Jumbo lanes measure them in months of your full payment, and the requirement rises with the loan amount. Larger loans need more months. Ask the lender whether the cash you pull out can count toward reserves, since policies differ.
Condition and property type matter too. Two of the lanes allow non-warrantable condominiums, which are condo projects that fall outside standard agency criteria. Ownership seasoning, the time you have held the home, can also affect your options.
What Documents Does the Underwriter See?
A cash-out file for an RSU and bonus earner usually includes:
1. Recent paystubs showing year-to-date base, bonus, and stock income
2. Two years of W-2s
3. Your employer’s vesting schedule, past and future
4. Brokerage statements showing vest deposits
5. Proof of the employer’s public listing
6. Statements for the assets behind your reserves
7. A mortgage statement for the loan being replaced
Expect a verbal check with your employer before closing too. If your equity pay arrives on a set calendar, line up your application with it. A recent vest or paid bonus gives the lender fresh, current numbers to average.
How Does Cash-Out Compare With Your Other Options?
A cash-out refinance is one way to reach equity. It is not the only way.
| Option | What happens to your first mortgage | Income needed |
|---|---|---|
| Jumbo cash-out refinance | Replaced with a new, larger loan | Full qualifying review |
| Home equity line or loan | Stays in place | Lender sets its own review |
| Selling vested shares | Not affected | None, but a tax event may follow |
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains the structural difference: a cash-out refinance replaces the original mortgage, while a home equity loan leaves the first lien intact. If your current loan is attractive to keep, that distinction matters.
Selling shares has tax consequences. Tax treatment can depend on your situation; borrowers should speak with a qualified tax professional before relying on any deduction or credit.
What Are the Risks of Borrowing Against Variable Pay?
The main risk is simple. Your RSU income depends on the share price at vest. A payment sized to a strong year can feel heavy if the stock falls and the vest is worth less. Bonuses can shrink too.
The home is collateral either way. The CFPB’s research on cash-out refinances and non-mortgage debt notes that turning other debt into mortgage debt can put the home at risk if payments become hard to sustain.
Plenty of stock-heavy earners already hold a large share of their wealth in one employer. Adding a bigger mortgage on top is a choice worth weighing, not just a number to maximize. Taking less than the maximum can be the better call.
What Should You Do Before Applying?
Treat this as a short checklist:
- Pull your vesting schedule and brokerage statements, and confirm which shares have actually been distributed.
- Total your bonus history. Check whether it is steady, rising, or falling.
- List your other monthly debts, since they sit in the same DTI ratio.
- Estimate your home’s value conservatively. The appraisal decides, not you.
- Decide what the cash is for, and whether a smaller amount would do.
- Ask which guideline set the lender uses for RSU income, and whether it matches the agency reference.
If you are in a stretch where a vest or bonus is about to land, the file may look stronger after it posts.
Key Terms Defined
Qualifying income: The monthly income a lender agrees to count after documenting and averaging it. It is often lower than your take-home or your W-2 total.
RSU (restricted stock unit): A promise of company shares that you receive after a vesting schedule is met. Only vested, distributed shares count toward qualifying income.
Vesting: The point at which you earn ownership of granted shares. Unvested shares are not yours yet.
Debt-to-income ratio (DTI): Your total monthly debts, including the new mortgage payment, divided by your qualifying monthly income.
Loan-to-value (LTV): The loan balance as a percentage of the home’s appraised value. Cash-out loans use a lower limit than purchases.
Seasoning: The length of time you have owned the home or held the income before applying.
Reserves: Liquid assets you still hold after closing, measured in months of your payment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do unvested RSUs count toward a jumbo cash-out?
Usually not. Under the Fannie Mae reference most jumbo lenders borrow from, shares must be vested and distributed to you without restrictions. An unvested grant may help your case once it vests and you have a distribution history.
Do I have to sell shares to use RSU income?
No. Lenders look at documented vest history and the averaged monthly figure, not a sale. They want to see the stock was distributed to you, typically through brokerage statements. Whether you sell is a separate decision with its own tax questions.
Can a spike in one vest or one bonus raise my cash-out?
Not by itself. Lenders average equity pay over a history period, so one large payment gets spread across the rest. A rising trend helps. A single outlier mostly does not.
Does a recent job change hurt me?
It can, because RSU history is generally counted from your current employer, so a new job restarts the clock on equity pay. Base salary counts right away, which means a recent changer may qualify on salary alone while the RSU history builds.
Is a cash-out refinance the same as a home equity line?
No. A cash-out refinance replaces your first mortgage with a new, larger loan. A home equity line or loan sits beside your existing mortgage. Which one fits depends on your current loan and how much income the lender will count.
If you are weighing a cash-out refinance against keeping the loan you have, Lendmire can help you compare the programs and the equity each one reaches.
For your own numbers, request a scenario review with Lendmire.
About Lendmire
As a mortgage broker (NMLS# 2371349), Lendmire helps homeowners and home buyers in 16 states with FHA, VA, conventional and jumbo purchase and refinance loans arranged through wholesale lenders. Lendmire is never the lender; program terms are set by the lender and the agency guidelines. Scotsman Guide named Lendmire a Top Mortgage Workplace in both 2025 and 2026.
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References
1. FHFA – 2026 Conforming Loan Limit Values
2. Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.3-02: Bonus, Commission, Overtime, and Tip Income
3. Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.3-07: Restricted Stock Units and Restricted Stock Employment Income
4. Fannie Mae B2-1.3-02 Limited Cash-Out Refinance
5. CFPB – A Look at Cash-Out Refinance Mortgages and Their Borrowers
6. CFPB – Cash-Out Refinances and Paydown Behavior of Non-Mortgage Debt Balances
This article is part of Lendmire’s Jumbo Loans series — every loan program’s qualification details, guidelines, and scenarios live on the loan options page.
Related reading: How Much a Low Second Appraisal Cuts a Jumbo Cash-Out · How Much Jumbo Cash-Out Lends at Each Credit and Loan-to-Value Tier · How Much a Jumbo Cash-Out Costs When Replacing a Low Jumbo
Brandon Miller
Founder & CEO, Mortgage Loan Originator, Lendmire LLC
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Important disclosures. Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a licensed mortgage brokerage. Lendmire is not a direct lender, depository institution, or financial advisor. All loan inquiries are subject to lender underwriting; this article does not constitute a commitment to lend. Rates, terms, and program guidelines are subject to change without notice and vary by borrower profile, property type, and state. Information in this article is general in nature and is not financial, legal, or tax advice. Equal Housing Opportunity. NMLS Consumer Access: nmlsconsumeraccess.org.