The Quick Read: A bank statement jumbo loan is reviewed for a self-employed borrower on twelve or twenty-four months of bank deposits instead of traditional personal-income documentation, on a loan big enough to exceed the local conforming limit, and the lender subtracts an expense ratio from business deposits before dividing by the months. Your write-offs stop shrinking your income on paper. The cash that actually moved through your accounts becomes the starting point.
Qualifying income is eligible deposits, minus an expense ratio on business accounts, divided by the statement months. Through select wholesale programs, subject to full underwriting, a primary-residence purchase reaches 90% LTV to $1,000,000 and 85% to $2,000,000. An investment-property purchase reads from its own ladder: 85% to $1,000,000 and 80% from there to $2,500,000. Every loan above $4,000,000 is reviewed case by case before submission. Credit floors vary by scenario on the portfolio program and rise to 700 above the super-jumbo line. Each figure is subject to lender guidelines and a complete review of property type, leverage, and credit.
A quick scope note: several U.S. cities are named Bellevue, so this article explains mechanics that work the same anywhere. The one local variable is the county’s conforming limit, covered below. Lendmire is a mortgage broker, not a lender. It shops multiple wholesale programs for this loan type, and consumer mortgage lending is licensed in 16 states: AL, CA, CO, FL, GA, IN, MI, MT, NM, NC, OH, PA, TN, TX, VA, and WA.
Key Terms Defined
Six terms come up repeatedly, so here they are in plain words.
- Jumbo loan: a mortgage larger than the conforming limit for the property’s county and unit count.
- Non-QM: a loan that follows its own documentation rules instead of the standard agency checklist.
- Bank statement loan: a non-QM loan that builds income from deposit history instead of traditional personal-income documentation.
- Expense ratio: the share of business deposits the lender treats as operating cost rather than income.
- DTI (debt-to-income): your monthly debts, including the new payment, as a share of qualifying monthly income.
- Reserves: liquid money left over after closing, counted in months of the new payment.
What Makes a Loan “Jumbo”
A loan is jumbo when it exceeds the conforming limit that applies to that specific county and unit count. That is a loan-size label and nothing more. It says nothing about how your income is documented.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency sets the limits each year. Its conforming loan limit addendum puts the baseline one-unit limit at $832,750. A county’s limit rises above that baseline where 115% of the local median home value is higher, and no local limit can exceed the baseline by more than 50%. Two-, three- and four-unit limits in most areas are $1,066,250, $1,288,800 and $1,601,750. HousingWire reports the one-unit ceiling in the highest-cost counties at $1,249,125.
So a Bellevue buyer in one county and a Bellevue buyer in another can face different jumbo lines. Check your county and unit count before you assume either way.
Jumbo and bank statement are two separate choices. You can document income with full traditional personal-income documentation on a jumbo loan. You can also use bank statements on a loan well above the jumbo line, and many high-balance files do exactly that.
How Underwriting Treats Your Deposits, Step by Step
Underwriting turns raw deposits into one monthly income figure in a fixed sequence. Each step removes something or adjusts something, and the order matters because the expense ratio does the heaviest lifting.
1. Pick the window. Most programs accept 12 or 24 consecutive months. Our network’s bank portfolio program uses 12. Statements must be consecutive, and a transaction history printout never substitutes.
2. Choose the account type. You can use personal statements, business statements, or a blend, depending on how your money actually flows.
3. Sort the deposits. The underwriter removes anything that is not revenue. That means transfers between your own accounts, loan proceeds, refunds, gifts and one-time windfalls.
4. Apply ownership. Business statements need at least 25% ownership on your part, and only your share counts.
5. Apply the expense ratio to business deposits. Programs commonly use 20% for a service business with no employees, 40% for one to five employees, and 50% for six or more employees or any product business. A CPA-provided ratio can replace those defaults. A profit-and-loss method exists too, capped at 80%.
6. Divide by the months. What remains is divided by 12 or 24.
7. Test DTI. Qualifying income is compared with the proposed payment plus your other debts. Programs commonly allow DTI up to 50%.
8. Check credit, reserves and the appraisal. A jumbo file typically needs a full appraisal.
Here is how the arithmetic runs, shown as a share of deposits instead of dollars. Suppose twelve months of business deposits total 100 units. The underwriter pulls out 10 units of transfers and refunds, leaving 90 eligible. A business with three employees takes the 40% ratio, which leaves 54 units of income. Divide by 12 and you have the monthly figure the payment is tested against.
Now change one input. A CPA letter supporting a 30% ratio would leave 63 units from the same 90. That is why documentation of the ratio is often worth real effort. Lendmire’s piece How to Write a CPA Letter for a Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loan covers what that letter needs to say.
One rule favors you. Transfers from your own business into your personal account count at 100%, because the business expense ratio was already applied upstream.
Which Deposits Count and Which Don’t
Most files that stall do so on deposit sorting, not on the headline numbers. Underwriters need every unusual deposit explained with a paper trail.
| Deposit type | Usually treated as |
|---|---|
| Customer or client payments | Income |
| Transfers from your own business to personal | Income at 100% |
| Transfers between your own accounts | Excluded |
| Loan proceeds | Excluded |
| Refunds and reversals | Excluded |
| Gifts and one-time windfalls | Excluded unless documented as recurring |
| Large unexplained cash | Excluded |
Excluded deposits are not a penalty. They are simply not income. The damage comes when a large deposit has no explanation and the underwriter cannot tell what it was.
Personal Statements or Business Statements?
Personal statements are simpler when your business pays you through regular transfers. The underwriter reads the deposits, applies the transfer rule, and moves on. Business statements make sense when the business keeps profit inside the company, which is common for founders and practice owners. They bring the expense ratio into play and the ownership test with it.
Commingled accounts are the trouble spot. When groceries, client payments, and rental income all land in one account, the sorting takes longer and more deposits get questioned. Separate the flows at least three months before you apply, and the file reads cleaner.
Size, Leverage and Credit
Leverage steps down as the loan grows. These figures are ceilings available through select wholesale programs, subject to full underwriting.
On a primary-residence purchase:
- 90% LTV to $1,000,000
- 85% LTV to $2,000,000
- 80% LTV to $3,000,000
- 75% LTV at the top credit tier to $4,000,000. Leverage, reserves, and pricing vary by lender and program; the final terms follow the full file review.
Past $4,000,000, everything is reviewed case by case before submission. The bank portfolio program’s own ladder starts above $4,000,000 and overlaps the portfolio non-QM program to $6,000,000. On a primary-residence purchase, that ladder runs 65% to $5,000,000, then 60% to $10,000,000, then 55% to $30,000,000, all on review.
Second homes and investment property take their own ladders. Read each figure from that occupancy’s table, never by subtracting from the primary number. On an investment-property purchase, for example, the ladder reads 85% to $1,000,000, 80% to $2,500,000, then 75% to $3,000,000, through select wholesale programs and subject to underwriting.
Two programs sit behind these numbers. The portfolio non-QM program, a loan held by the lender instead of sold to investors, carries files to $6,000,000. The bank portfolio program carries twelve-month-statement files to $30,000,000.
On credit, the portfolio program starts at a 660 floor and the bank program at 680. Both move to 700 above the super-jumbo line, which is $3,500,000 on a primary residence and $3,000,000 on a second home or investment property. Reserves run 3 months to $500,000, 6 months to $1,500,000, and 9 months above that. Add 2 months per additional financed property, up to 12 months. First-time investors carry 12.
Above the super-jumbo line, extra overlays apply. Expect a clean 0x30x24 housing history, 48 months of seasoning after any credit event, and U.S. citizen or permanent resident status. These programs also exclude non-occupant co-borrowers, rural property, and parcels over ten acres.
Variations Beyond the Standard Deposit Method
Deposits are not the only road. Which one fits depends on where your wealth sits.
Profit-and-loss method. A P&L-only path exists for some files, capped at 80%. It suits borrowers whose statements are messy but whose books are clean.
Asset allowance. The lender divides your liquid assets by 36, 60 or 84 months and adds that to income. Thirty-six months applies when DTI is at or below 60%, and 60 months when it is above 60%. The 84-month version works as a standalone path and is required above $3,500,000. It covers primary and second homes only, at 80% maximum.
Assets-only. No DTI test at all. You need U.S. liquid assets equal to the loan amount plus closing costs, plus sixty months of any net loss on other residential property. Retirement accounts count at 70%, or 80% once you are past 59.5. Business funds, gifts, most trusts, unvested stock and cryptocurrency never count.
Cash-out. Unlimited proceeds are available at or below 60% LTV. Above 60%, the portfolio non-QM program caps cash in hand at $1,500,000. On a primary residence, cash-out tops out at 80% LTV up to $1,000,000. Terms vary by lender guidelines, property type, leverage, credit profile, and full file review.
Interest-only. The portfolio program offers a 40-year term with a ten-year interest-only period, to 85% LTV with a 700 score, on purchase and rate-and-term files only. The bank program offers interest-only at 60% on five- and seven-year fixed-period adjustables. Exact terms depend on the lender’s guidelines, property type, leverage, and a full review of the borrower’s file.
Property types. Warrantable condos go to 85% and non-warrantable condos to 80%. Two-to-four unit properties go to 85%, while second homes must be one unit.
Where the General Rule Breaks
The standard method assumes steady, clean, two-year history. These cases bend it.
A business younger than 24 months. A 12-month window can work, and the underwriter weighs liquid assets and credit more heavily. The asset paths above may fit better.
Pass-through deposits. A contractor who collects money and pays subcontractors sees deposits that look large but are mostly someone else’s. Expect those to be excluded or hit with a higher effective expense ratio.
No support for a lower ratio. If you cannot document the lower figure, the file falls back to the program default. That is why the 20%, 40% and 50% tiers matter.
Falling deposits. A decline in recent months is a red flag. Underwriters often average the window anyway, but a clear downward trend can lead them to use only the recent months. Explain the cause in writing if you can.
Occupancy changes the rules. Investment-property loans are designed as business-purpose loans, which are reviewed differently from a standard owner-occupied mortgage. The line is not always where borrowers expect. The CFPB’s commentary on business-purpose credit says a loan to buy an owner-occupied rental counts as business-purpose only if the property has more than two units. A non-owner-occupied rental is a different case.
Entity vesting. Closing in an LLC depends on program guidelines and varies by lender in the network.
Super-jumbo overlays. Above $3,500,000 on a primary residence, the overlays listed earlier change who is eligible, not just how much you can borrow.
Texas home equity. A Texas 50(a)(6) loan takes a 5-point LTV reduction and stops at $3,000,000 on the portfolio program.
Bank Statement or DSCR?
The choice usually comes down to occupancy and rent strength. A bank statement file tests your income against the payment. A DSCR file tests the property’s rent against its payment.
| Factor | Bank statement | DSCR |
|---|---|---|
| What is tested | Your deposits | Property rent |
| Primary home | Yes | No |
| Second home | Yes | No |
| Investment property | Yes | Yes |
| Personal DTI | Yes | Not primary test |
If the rent clears the full monthly obligation comfortably, DSCR skips the deposit sorting. A DSCR loan is reviewed primarily on property-level rental income covering the payment, subject to lender guidelines. Programs below 1.00 coverage are available through select lenders in the network, though LTV and terms adjust. Where rent is thin, or the home is one you live in, bank statements carry the file. The complete DSCR loans guide covers the property-income side.
Many investors use both. A founder might use bank statements for a primary residence and DSCR for the rentals.
What the Decision Looks Like in Practice
Picture a physician who owns her practice. Her returns show heavy deductions, but deposits are steady. Business statements with a CPA-supported expense ratio can produce qualifying income, though at mid-seven-figure loan sizes the leverage available is typically lower than at smaller sizes, depending on the credit tier and the size ladder.
Consider a software founder whose company pays him through irregular transfers. Personal statements at 24 months smooth the lumps, and the 100% transfer rule works in his favor. Lenders in the network differ on how they average the months, so the same file can look stronger at one program than another.
Say you are a seasoned investor with large liquid holdings but uneven deposits. The assets-only path skips the income test entirely, and a rental portfolio’s performance does not enter the DTI math.
Across our wholesale network, the files that close cleanly share three habits. Borrowers separate personal and business flows early. They explain every large deposit in writing before the underwriter asks. And they bring the expense-ratio support up front, not as a late rescue.
Tax treatment can depend on how the funds are used and how the property is held; investors should keep clear records and speak with a qualified tax professional before relying on any deduction.
When this loan is the wrong fit: if your traditional income documentation shows strong income, a full-documentation jumbo may be simpler. A bank statement loan earns its place when returns understate what you really earn.
Comparing Your Options
Nothing here is a commitment to lend; every file is underwritten individually. Reach the team at 828-256-2183 or through the quote request page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many months of statements do I need?
Most programs ask for 12 or 24 consecutive months. The bank portfolio program in the network uses 12. Statements must be complete and consecutive, and a printed transaction history is not accepted in their place.
Can I use personal and business statements together?
Yes, in many cases. Business deposits take the expense ratio, and transfers from your own business into your personal account count at 100%. Programs differ on how they combine the two, so mixing is reviewed file by file.
What credit score do I need?
Pricing and available terms vary by lender, borrower profile, property type, and full underwriting review. Above the super-jumbo line, 700 is the floor, and the top leverage tiers ask for higher scores. All of that is subject to full underwriting.
Does the loan have to be jumbo to use bank statements?
No. Bank statements are a documentation method, and jumbo is a size label. The two often travel together because high-balance borrowers are frequently self-employed, but they are separate decisions.
Can I use this for an investment property?
Yes, through select wholesale programs. An investment-property purchase reads from its own ladder, 85% to $1,000,000 and 80% to $2,500,000, and credit and reserve overlays tighten above $3,000,000. Above $4,000,000, every investment-property file is reviewed case by case before submission.
For current guidelines and terms, see Lendmire’s super jumbo bank statement loan programs page.
Lendmire’s self-employed mortgages page presents both super jumbo programs, bank statement and DSCR, side by side.
About Lendmire
Lendmire is a non-QM mortgage brokerage (NMLS# 2371349) arranging DSCR investor loans in 41 markets, including Washington, D.C., through wholesale and investor-lending channels. DSCR loans are evaluated by the lender on rental income rather than personal income, subject to lender guidelines — a fit for LLC-owned portfolios, self-employed investors, and operators scaling beyond conventional loan caps. Recognized as a Scotsman Guide Top Mortgage Workplace in 2025 and 2026.
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References
1. FHFA conforming loan limit addendum
2. HousingWire on the conforming loan limit
3. CFPB Regulation Z section 1026.3 with commentary
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 a Super Jumbo ARM Bank Statement Loan Works · Is a Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loan Available in Florida? · How a Luxury Home Bank Statement Loan Works in Michigan
Brandon Miller
Founder & CEO, Mortgage Loan Originator, Lendmire LLC
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Disclosure information. Lendmire is a state-licensed mortgage brokerage under NMLS# 2371349. Lendmire is not a depository institution, direct lender, or financial advisor — all loans referenced are placed through wholesale lender partners and are subject to each lender's underwriting standards. This article is provided for general informational purposes and is not a commitment to lend, nor does it constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Loan programs, terms, rates, and qualification standards change without notice and depend on borrower profile, property type, and the state in which the subject property is located. Equal Housing Opportunity provider. NMLS Consumer Access: nmlsconsumeraccess.org.