The Quick Read: A refinance on a super jumbo bank statement loan is a brand-new loan, so the lender rebuilds your income from the most recent consecutive twelve or twenty-four months of statements, strips out non-income deposits, applies an expense ratio, and tests the result against size, leverage, credit and reserves through select wholesale programs, subject to full underwriting.
- Fresh statements can raise or lower your qualifying income, because the window rolls forward and older months drop out.
- Transfers from your own savings and loan proceeds are removed, while transfers from your own business into a personal account count in full.
- Above $4,000,000, every file is reviewed case by case before submission, and leverage drops as the loan grows.
- Reserves typically run 3, 6 or 9 months by loan size, and cash-out proceeds cannot always count toward them.
What Do Fresh Statements Actually Change?
Fresh statements change the income number, not the idea behind it. Your old approval is history. The new lender looks only at the new window of deposits and the new property value.
Many borrowers assume the old file carries over. It does not. A refinance means a new application, a new appraisal, new title work and a new income analysis. The new note pays off the old one, and nothing from the old terms survives unless the new loan happens to match it.
Here is what moves when the window rolls forward:
- Income: It rises if your business deposits grew. It falls if a strong early period drops out of a twelve-month window.
- Leverage: The new loan amount lands in a size band, and that band sets the ceiling.
- Credit and reserves: Both are tested again on the new loan.
- Interest-only periods: A new interest-only period comes only from a new loan underwritten on its own terms. The old loan’s clock does not restart.
Here is what stays the same: the lender still wants proof that the money is real, recurring and yours. If you want the full picture of how Lendmire approaches alternative documentation and investor financing, the complete DSCR loans guide covers the neighboring paths.
Key Terms Defined
Bank statement loan: A mortgage that is reviewed around the deposits in your bank accounts instead of traditional personal-income documentation, W-2s and pay stubs.
Super jumbo: A loan large enough to trigger extra lender overlays. The line is set by lenders, not by a government rule, and in this program the heaviest overlays begin above $3,500,000 on a primary residence.
Non-QM: A loan that does not follow the standard qualified-mortgage checklist, so the lender must prove on its own that you can repay.
Expense ratio: The share of business deposits treated as the cost of running the business, removed before income is counted.
Statement window: The span of consecutive months of statements the lender averages, usually twelve or twenty-four.
Rate-and-term refinance: A new loan that replaces the old balance without taking cash out.
Cash-out refinance: A new, larger loan that pays off the old balance and puts the extra equity in your hands.
Reserves: Liquid money left over after the transaction, counted in months of the new payment.
The Refinance Sequence, Step by Step
Start with the existing note, not the new application. Audit the old loan before you spend effort on the new one. Look at its payoff terms, any prepayment penalty, and where it sits in its interest-only or adjustable period. A refinance only makes sense if the new structure beats the cost of leaving.
Then work through these steps in order:
1. Audit the current loan. Confirm the payoff mechanics and any penalty for leaving early.
2. Choose your statement window. Pick twelve or twenty-four months, based on your income trend and what the program allows.
3. Pull complete, consecutive statements. Every page, every month, with your name, the account number, the dates and the balances. Transaction histories never substitute.
4. Clean up and label the deposits. More on this below.
5. Have the lender calculate qualifying income. Eligible deposits go through the expense ratio and get divided by the number of months.
6. Test credit, debt-to-income and reserves. Debt-to-income can run up to 50% through select wholesale programs, subject to full underwriting.
7. Order the appraisal and title work. The new loan amount is checked against the new value.
8. Sign the new note. It pays off the old one.
Across the wholesale network, the files that stall tend to stall at step four. The income was there. The explanation for the deposits was not.
Picking Your Statement Window and Account Type
Choose the window that matches your income story. A twelve-month window helps when your latest year is your strongest. A twenty-four-month window smooths out seasonal or lumpy income. Some programs fix the window, and the bank portfolio program, which carries the largest loans, uses twelve months.
Lendmire’s piece Can You Use 12 Months of Statements on a Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loan? goes deeper on that choice.
| Your income trend | Window that often fits |
|---|---|
| Rising steadily | 12 months |
| Flat year to year | Either one |
| Seasonal or lumpy | 24 months |
| Strong early, softer lately | 24 months, if the program allows |
Account type matters just as much. Personal statements usually count most eligible deposits. Business statements need you to own at least 25% of the business, and the expense ratio comes off the top.
Mixed accounts cause trouble. If personal and business money run through one account, a lender may ask for extra business statements or reclassify the file. Keeping the two separate before you apply is the cleanest fix.
How Deposits Become Qualifying Income
Qualifying income is eligible deposits, reduced by an expense ratio, divided by the number of statement months. Docsumo’s explainer on bank statement income walks through the same basic formula. The lender removes items that are not income, such as transfers from your own savings and loan proceeds. Large one-time deposits, such as an insurance payout or a gift, may also be left out.
Across the wholesale network, the expense ratio is usually one of these:
- 20% for a service business with no employees.
- 40% for a business with one to five employees.
- 50% for a business with six or more employees, or any product business.
- An accountant-provided ratio, which can replace the fixed ones.
- A profit-and-loss method, which is capped at 80%.
One favorable rule: transfers from your own business into your personal account count at 100%, because the business account already carried the expense burden.
Here is a modeled example with made-up units, not market data. Say twelve months of business deposits total 100 units, and the business has three employees.
| Step | Result per 100 units of deposits |
|---|---|
| Total deposits | 100 |
| Remove owner savings transfer | 10 |
| Remove loan advance | 5 |
| Eligible deposits | 85 |
| Apply 40% expense ratio | 51 |
| Divide by 12 months | about 4.25 per month |
Notice how the income that counts is about half of what hit the account. That gap is normal. An accountant-supported ratio can narrow it when your real costs run lower than the fixed ratio.
Deposit Hygiene Before You Apply
Clean deposits decide most outcomes. A little preparation goes a long way.
Do:
- Keep personal and business flows in separate accounts.
- Write a short explanation for any unusual deposit, with proof of its source.
- Keep every statement page, including the blank-looking ones.
- Pay business expenses from the business account.
Don’t:
- Move large sums between your own accounts just before applying.
- Deposit cash you cannot document.
- Skip months, even if a month looks weak.
- Open or close accounts in the middle of your statement window without a clear reason.
The weak-month problem deserves one more note. A single soft month rarely sinks a file when the average holds. A string of soft months at the end of the window does, because that trend is what the underwriter notices first.
Super Jumbo Size, Leverage and Credit
Leverage steps down as the loan grows. The table below shows primary-residence ceilings by loan amount. The bands are loan amounts, never purchase prices, so compute your price times leverage first, then read the band for that loan.
| Loan amount band | Rate-and-term | Cash-out | Program |
|---|---|---|---|
| $300K–$1M | 90% | 80% | Portfolio |
| $1M–$1.5M | 85% | 80% | Portfolio |
| $1.5M–$2M | 85% | 75% | Portfolio |
| $2M–$2.5M | 80% | 70% | Portfolio |
| $2.5M–$3M | 80% | 70% | Portfolio |
| $3M–$3.5M | 75% | 65% | Portfolio |
| $3.5M–$4M | 70% | 65% | Portfolio, super-jumbo overlays |
| $4M–$5M | 65% | 60% | Bank, case by case |
| $5M–$6M | 60% | 55% | Bank, case by case |
| $6M–$10M | 60% | 55% | Bank, case by case |
| $10M–$20M | 55% | 50% | Bank, case by case |
| $20M–$30M | 55% | 50% | Bank, case by case |
Two programs sit behind that table. The portfolio non-QM program holds loans on the investor’s books and carries files to $6,000,000. The bank portfolio program carries twelve-month-statement files to $30,000,000 on its own ladder, which begins above $4,000,000 and overlaps the first program to $6,000,000. Every figure is a ceiling through select wholesale programs, subject to full underwriting, and every file above $4,000,000 is reviewed case by case before submission.
The credit score in each band is what the top leverage cell needs, never a floor. The top cell needs 680 or better up to $1,000,000, 700 or better from $1,000,000 to $1,500,000, 720 or better from $1,500,000 to $3,500,000, and 760 or better from $3,500,000 to $4,000,000. The portfolio program floors at 660 up to the super-jumbo line and 700 above it. The bank program keeps its own 680 floor at every size. A lower score takes a lower leverage cell inside the same band.
Above $3,500,000 on a primary residence, extra overlays apply:
- 700 credit floor.
- 0x30x24 housing history.
- 48-month seasoning on any credit event.
- U.S. citizens and permanent residents only.
- No non-occupant co-borrowers, no rural property, and ten acres maximum.
- Cash-out proceeds cannot satisfy reserves.
Second homes and investment properties follow their own ladders, and their overlays start at $3,000,000. Their figures sometimes match the primary-residence cell and sometimes sit several points below it, so read each from its own ladder. On an investment property between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000, for example, the ceiling is 80% on a rate-and-term refinance and 75% on a cash-out.
Rate-and-Term Versus Cash-Out on a Large Balance
A rate-and-term refinance sets the loan at the payoff plus costs. A cash-out refinance sets it higher and pays you the difference. The cash-out column is always lower in the ladder, which is the price of taking equity out.
On the portfolio program, cash-out proceeds are unlimited at or below 60% LTV. Above 60%, cash in hand is capped at $1,500,000. The bank program has no published cap. Lendmire’s analysis of cash-out loan limits at super jumbo sizes covers that gap in detail. Exact terms depend on the lender’s guidelines, property type, leverage, and a full review of the borrower’s file.
Reserves scale with the loan. Typical guidelines through select wholesale programs ask for 3 months up to $500,000, 6 months up to $1,500,000 and 9 months above that. Each additional financed property adds 2 months, up to a 12-month maximum, and first-time investors need 12. Above the overlay line, cash-out proceeds cannot count toward reserves, so plan to hold them separately.
Interest-only structures follow separate rules. The portfolio program allows interest-only on purchase and rate-and-term files up to 85% LTV with a 700 credit floor, using a 40-year term with a 10-year interest-only period. The bank program allows it up to 60%, on five- and seven-year fixed-period adjustable loans. Interest-only never raises a cash-out ceiling, so a cash-out file still tops out at the cash-out column. Every figure here varies by lender and program — guidelines, property type, leverage, and credit profile all apply.
Where the General Rule Breaks
Asset paths replace deposits. An asset allowance divides liquid assets by 36, 60 or 84 months to create income. Use 36 months when your debt-to-income before the asset income is at or below 60%, and 60 months when it is above. Use 84 months for a standalone file or any loan above $3,500,000. The final ratio must still fit the 50% ceiling. It works on primary and second homes only, at 80% maximum. An assets-only file needs no debt-to-income test when U.S. liquid assets equal the loan plus closing costs plus sixty months of any net loss on other residential property. Retirement accounts count at 70%, or 80% at age 59.5 and up. Business funds, gifts, most trusts, unvested stock and cryptocurrency never count.
Property type changes the ceiling. Warrantable condos reach 85% and non-warrantable condos 80%. Condotels reach 75% on a purchase and 65% on a cash-out, and 50% on the bank program. Two- to four-unit properties reach 85%. Second homes are one unit only. Rural properties stop at 80% on ten acres or less and never go above $3,000,000. Texas home-equity loans under section 50(a)(6) take a 5-point reduction and stop at $3,000,000 on the portfolio program.
Rentals can use the property instead of you. For a business-purpose investment property, a DSCR loan is reviewed primarily on property-level rental income covering the payment, subject to lender guidelines. Your personal deposits matter less. Investors with strong rent but messy personal cash flow often find that path cleaner.
Non-QM costs more. Test standard documentation first, and use statements when your returns understate your real income.
Why Lenders Check Every Deposit
The reason underwriters trace deposits is a legal duty. A refinance is a new loan, so the lender must make a fresh determination that you can repay. The CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule says your own statement that you can repay does not prove the lender’s determination was reasonable.
Non-QM lenders get no presumption of compliance, so the lender carries that burden itself. The Federal Register notice for the rule says the lender must verify the income it relies on using reasonably reliable third-party records. Bank statements are exactly those records. That is why deposits with no clear source get excluded, and why a bank statement file still is reviewed on documented income under the applicable program, subject to lender guidelines.
Is Refinancing the Right Move?
Refinancing is one of five paths, and the right one depends on whose numbers look strongest.
| Path | Reviewed on | Fits when |
|---|---|---|
| Stay put | Nothing new | The current terms still work |
| Ask for a modification | Current lender’s view | Your lender will adjust terms |
| Refinance on statements | Your deposits | Returns understate income |
| Refinance on assets | Your liquid assets | Deposits are uneven but assets are large |
| DSCR (rentals only) | Property rent | The property covers its own payment |
Banks.com notes that deposit-based underwriting lets legitimate write-offs stand without hurting eligibility, which is why high earners with heavy deductions often turn to it. Tax treatment can depend on how the funds are used and how the property is held; borrowers should keep clear records and speak with a qualified tax professional before relying on any deduction.
A wholesale broker adds one thing a single lender cannot. Lendmire can compare several programs’ guidelines side by side, because overlays differ from program to program. The strictest programs want longer seasoning and cleaner histories. Others take a looser view of document types.
Documents to Gather, in Order of Need
Gather in this order, so nothing blocks the next step:
1. Payoff statement and loan terms for the existing note.
2. Twelve or twenty-four months of complete, consecutive statements.
3. Proof of business ownership of at least 25%, for business accounts.
4. An accountant letter or profit-and-loss statement, if you want a different expense ratio.
5. Written explanations for large or unusual deposits.
6. Liquid asset statements, for reserves and any asset path.
7. Property documents for the appraisal, insurance and title work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I refinance with my current lender, or should I shop?
You can do either, and it is worth asking your current lender about a modification first. A new loan from a different lender restarts underwriting from scratch, so compare the full terms of each route. A broker can place the file across several wholesale programs and show you where the guidelines differ.
Does my old bank statement documentation carry over to the new loan?
No. A refinance is underwritten as a new loan, with a new window of statements, a new appraisal and new credit and reserve tests. The old approval gives the new lender no weight.
Do transfers from my own business count as income?
Transfers from your own business into a personal account count at 100%. Transfers from your own savings, and loan proceeds, do not count at all. Keep the paper trail clear on which is which.
What happens to a large one-time deposit, like an insurance payout?
Large one-time deposits may be excluded from qualifying income, because they are not recurring earnings. A written explanation and proof of the source helps the underwriter decide.
Can I switch from bank statements to standard documentation later?
Yes, if your traditional personal-income documentation and pay records support the loan amount. Standard documentation generally costs less, so testing it first can save money. Statements are the better tool when your returns understate your real income.
Seeing How Your Numbers Work
If you are financing a high-balance property on business or personal bank statements and want to see how the numbers work, Lendmire can help you compare super jumbo bank statement loan options based on your deposits, the property, credit profile, leverage, and your goals. Lendmire’s consumer mortgage lending covers 16 states: AL, CA, CO, FL, GA, IN, MI, MT, NM, NC, OH, PA, TN, TX, VA and WA. Nothing here is a commitment to lend, and every file is underwritten individually.
Lendmire’s self-employed mortgages page presents both super jumbo programs, bank statement and DSCR, side by side.
About Lendmire
As a mortgage broker (NMLS# 2371349), Lendmire helps self-employed and high-net-worth borrowers in 16 states qualify on bank statements, a profit-and-loss statement, 1099s or liquid assets instead of tax returns, through wholesale lenders. Lendmire is never the lender; program terms are set by the lender and its guidelines. Scotsman Guide named Lendmire a Top Mortgage Workplace in both 2025 and 2026.
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References
1. Docsumo, Bank Statement Income Verification
2. CFPB, 12 CFR 1026.43 ability-to-repay rule
3. Federal Register, Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage Standards
4. Banks.com, Bank Statement Loans
This article is part of Lendmire’s super jumbo bank statement loan program — full qualification details, guidelines, and scenarios live on the program page.
Related reading: How to Use a Retirement Account With Bank Statements on a Super Jumbo Loan · How to Get a Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loan as a Marketplace Seller · How to Pick Business Bank Statement Months on a Super Jumbo Loan
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.