The Quick Read: Lenders count only restricted stock that has vested and been delivered to you, backed by payroll and brokerage records, then average it into a monthly figure. Unvested grants add nothing to qualifying income. Jumbo has no single national rulebook for RSUs, so many lenders borrow the agency template and layer their own overlays on top. Whether the number is enough depends on your history, your lender, and the loan you ask for.
What Is RSU Income to a Lender?
RSU income is compensation paid in company stock that vests on a schedule. A lender treats it as variable income, not salary. It must prove three things: the stock reached you, it has been arriving for long enough, and it will keep arriving.
Jumbo cash-out estimate
Enter the value, the balance, and the cash wanted; choose the occupancy and the structure; the lanes, the payment, and the reserves follow.
Editable benchmark: 7.18% as of November 5, 2026 · Freddie Mac 30-year average via FRED®. A conventional market reference, not a jumbo cash-out refinance quote.
Illustrative starting assumptions: a $2,000,000 home value in the jumbo range, a $1,000,000 current balance, a principal residence on a thirty-year fixed structure at the current Freddie Mac conforming benchmark, and property taxes and insurance estimated at typical national rates. Every field is editable.
Illustrative estimate only — not a Loan Estimate, approval, quote, or commitment to lend. The rate field carries the weekly Freddie Mac thirty-year conforming benchmark, a market reference and not a jumbo cash-out refinance quote; a jumbo loan is priced by the lender at lock. The lanes shown are the wholesale cash-out lanes behind this page as of the snapshot date; the calculator reads each lane’s leverage, loan maximum by occupancy, cash-in-hand cap, and reserves as the lane table states them, and a Lendmire loan officer confirms the lane on the file. The cash available is the loan the lane allows less the balances paid off, before closing costs, which are not included; on most lanes a jumbo cash-out begins one dollar above the conforming limit for the county, and two lanes start at a stated dollar floor instead. The HELOC line is the line program’s combined loan-to-value ceiling applied to the same value and balance. Taxes and insurance are editable estimates. Licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages.
A jumbo loan is any loan above the conforming limit for your county and unit count. That limit changes yearly and varies by area, so the article does not quote it. Jumbo loans sit outside Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchase eligibility, which is why jumbo lenders write their own guidelines. Many still copy the agency approach to RSUs because it is detailed and widely understood.
The agency RSU rules serve as the template, and each lender decides how closely to follow them.
Key Terms Defined
Vesting: The date a stock grant becomes yours without a forfeiture condition.
Distribution (delivery): The point when vested shares actually land in your brokerage account, or the cash arrives, free of restrictions.
200-day moving average: The average of a stock’s price over 200 days. Lenders use it instead of today’s price to smooth out swings.
Continuance: Evidence that the income will probably continue, usually shown by a vesting schedule that runs forward.
Time-based vs. performance-based award: A time-based grant vests on the calendar. A performance-based grant vests when targets are met, so lenders view it as less predictable.
Debt-to-income ratio (DTI): Your monthly debts divided by your qualifying monthly income.
How the Lender Builds the Number, Step by Step
The agency method is the clearest picture of how most underwriters think. Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide, section B3-3.3-07 now houses the rule. Older job aids may still cite the earlier section number, B3-3.1-09. Here is the sequence.
1. Vested and distributed only. Fannie Mae’s announcement adding RSUs as eligible income says restricted stock counts once it has vested and been distributed to the borrower without restrictions. A grant you may receive someday is not income yet.
2. Collect the documents. The guide calls for a completed Form 1005 verification of employment showing stock distributions, or your latest paystub showing receipt, plus two years of W-2s. It also asks for evidence the stock is publicly traded, the current vesting schedule showing past and future vesting, and a brokerage or bank statement showing prior distributions. If you are paid in shares, it asks for the 200-day moving average price. A verbal verification of employment rounds it out.
3. Check history and continuance. For time-based awards, summaries of the agency rule describe about 12 months of receipt from the current employer. For performance-based awards, a 24-month history is the recommended standard, and 12 to 24 months may be considered with offsetting strengths. Freddie Mac’s Bulletin 2024-16 confirms a three-year continuance expectation for time-based awards.
4. Run the calculation. If you are paid in shares, the lender multiplies the 200-day moving average price by the vested pre-tax shares distributed over the last 24 months, then divides by 24. If you are paid in cash, it takes the pre-tax cash distributed over 24 months and divides by 24. With 12 to 24 months of history, the lender may divide by the actual number of months received.
5. Add it to qualifying income. The monthly figure joins your other income. The lender weighs it against your debts, including the new payment, in the DTI test.
(Freddie Mac’s version differs in small ways. Its bulletin replaced a 52-week average price with the 200-day simple moving average and allows fewer than 24 months, but at least 12, for performance-based awards.)
A Worked Example, Without Dollar Figures
Picture a homeowner with a time-based grant that vests on a regular schedule. Over the past 24 months, the shares that vested and landed in a brokerage account came to a fixed count. The lender multiplies that count by the 200-day average price, not the price on the application date. It divides by 24. The result is a monthly figure that may look noticeably smaller than the borrower expected, because it averages earlier, lower-vesting months and ignores any spike in the stock.
Many borrowers are surprised by that gap. The borrower thinks in annual grant value. The underwriter thinks in documented, averaged, delivered shares.
What Counts and What Doesn’t
| Item | Typical treatment |
|---|---|
| Vested, distributed RSUs (public stock) | Counted, after history and continuance checks |
| Unvested RSUs | Not income, not reserves |
| Sign-on RSUs | Excluded under the agency rule |
| Private-company RSUs | Generally not eligible under the agency rule |
| Performance-based awards | Counted with longer history |
| Brokerage holdings | May count as assets, if accessible |
Sign-on grants are excluded under the agency rule, even when they vest over time. Private-company stock fails the publicly-traded test under that rule. A lender’s own jumbo program may treat both differently, so ask rather than assume.
The same logic applies to reserves. Freddie Mac’s guidance on eligible funds sets the tone, since stock with limits on access is not an eligible source of funds. Unvested RSUs generally cannot cover reserves either.
Where Jumbo Departs from the Agency Template
Here is the honest answer: it depends on the lender. Some jumbo lenders adopt the agency RSU rules nearly word for word. Others apply their variable-income policy, which can mean a longer history, a lower share of the average counted, or a tighter documentation list. Portfolio lenders, who keep loans on their own books, have the most room to set their own test.
One federal rule applies to all of them. The CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule, 12 CFR 1026.43, requires a lender to make a reasonable, good-faith determination that you can repay and to verify the income it relies on with third-party records. An RSU grant letter alone doesn’t verify anything. Payroll and brokerage records showing the stock reached you do. The rule sets no DTI cap, so each lender picks its own.
How the Cash-Out Layer Changes the Analysis
A cash-out refinance replaces your whole first mortgage with a new, larger loan. The appraisal sets the value, the program sets how much of that value the new loan can reach, and your cash is the new loan minus the payoff and closing costs. That structure matters for RSU income in three ways.
The new payment must be supported. Your RSU-based income has to carry the entire new loan payment, not just the added portion. A bigger cash-out raises that payment and tightens DTI.
Leverage is lower than on a purchase. Across the wholesale jumbo programs Lendmire places files with, purchase-side leverage varies by lane, and no program lends above 90% of value. Cash-out is written at lower leverage than purchase, so expect your cash-out ceiling to sit below those purchase limits, and the largest lanes add a cash cap. The headline lane carries a 660 decision score, and loans reach $5,000,000 on the largest lanes. All of this is subject to lender guidelines and full file review.
Ratios and reserves scale with the loan. The fixed lanes carry a 50% ratio ceiling, while adjustable lanes stop at 45% and interest-only lanes at 43%. Reserves are measured in months of the full payment and rise with the loan amount. Above a lane’s threshold amount, two appraisals are required. Non-warrantable condominiums fit on two lanes. Occupancy matters too: primary residence, second home, and investment property each carry their own leverage within a lane, so a second home won’t reach the same leverage as a primary.
For the broader mechanics, see Lendmire’s jumbo cash-out refinance program page. It shows how those lanes compare.
Stress-Testing: What If the RSU Income Drops?
The lender tests today’s file, but you live with the loan afterward. A few scenarios are worth running before you commit.
- A falling share price. The 200-day average smooths a decline, so a sharp drop after closing won’t change your coverage figure. It can change what you actually receive.
- A job change. New employers’ grants start with no history. Sign-on grants don’t count at all. Keep the loan payment in mind if the new package is mostly unvested stock.
- A program ending or shrinking. Companies change grant sizes. If your vesting schedule shortens, continuance may no longer hold.
- Base pay alone. Ask what the file looks like if the lender counts only salary. If that version still works, the RSU income is a cushion. If it doesn’t, the loan leans on variable income.
When RSUs Don’t Count Cleanly
Short history. Under 12 months of receipt on a time-based award is typically a stop. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two agencies whose RSU rules many jumbo lenders borrow, do not word their rules identically, and lenders that borrow either one can reach different monthly figures from the same documents. That is one reason to ask which version a lender follows.
New-hire and sign-on stock. Sign-on grants are excluded under the agency rule, and a new employer’s grants start with no history. Even a large package may add nothing on day one.
Recently public companies. The stock must be publicly traded, and the lender wants a trading history to average.
Stacked income. If you also earn a bonus, the lender evaluates bonus income separately, on its own history. The two don’t blend into one number.
Before You Apply: A Documentation Checklist
- Two years of W-2s
- Your latest paystub showing stock receipt
- The current vesting schedule, past and future
- Brokerage statements showing delivered shares
- Proof the stock is publicly traded
- A recent employment verification
- The grant agreement, for your own reference
Timing matters. Brokerage statements and stock-price averages must be recent, and vesting dates between application and closing can change the calculation.
How to Choose a Lender for This File
The best program for your situation depends on how your RSUs are structured. Lenders that write this loan differ on history, award type, private-stock treatment, and how much of the average counts. A broker that shops multiple wholesale lenders can match the file to the lender whose RSU policy fits. Ask each one the same five questions: how many months of history, how it treats performance awards, whether sign-on stock counts, how it averages price, and what it does with reserves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do unvested RSUs help me qualify for a jumbo cash-out?
No. Only stock that has vested and been delivered without restrictions counts as income. Unvested stock also generally can’t serve as reserves. It may still matter to a lender’s view of continuance, since your vesting schedule shows future delivery.
Does the lender use today’s share price?
Usually not. The agency method uses a 200-day moving average rather than the spot price, so a spike won’t inflate your income and a dip won’t sink it. A jumbo lender’s own overlay may differ, so ask which price it uses.
Do I have to sell my shares for them to count?
It depends on the lender, but delivery is what matters. Vested shares in your account can count as income when the records show a history of receipt. Selling or holding changes your assets, not the income calculation.
Do private-company RSUs count?
Rarely. The agency rule requires publicly traded stock. Some non-agency jumbo programs may treat private stock differently, so this is a question for the lender before you apply.
Can I count RSU income if I only started the job recently?
Probably not. Time-based awards generally need about 12 months of receipt from the current employer, and sign-on grants are excluded. Base pay may have to carry the loan until you build history.
If You’re Weighing Your Options
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. Program figures are subject to lender guidelines and full file review, and nothing here is a commitment to lend.
For your own numbers, request a scenario review with Lendmire.
About Lendmire
Lendmire is a mortgage brokerage (NMLS# 2371349) licensed for consumer mortgage lending in 16 states, arranging FHA, VA, conventional and jumbo purchase and refinance loans through a wholesale lending network. Eligibility is determined by the lender on each file. Scotsman Guide named Lendmire a Top Mortgage Workplace in both 2025 and 2026.
Get Started
Ready to find the right loan for you?
See your offer in seconds. No credit pull, no obligation.
Informational only. Not a Loan Estimate, approval, or commitment to lend. Program availability and eligibility are subject to lender guidelines, credit approval, property review, and underwriting.
References
1. Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.3-07: Restricted Stock Units and Restricted Stock Employment Income
2. Fannie Mae Announcement SEL-2023-11
3. Freddie Mac Guide Bulletin 2024-16
4. CFPB, 12 CFR 1026.43 Minimum standards for transactions secured by a dwelling
This article is part of Lendmire’s jumbo cash-out refinance program — full qualification details, guidelines, and scenarios live on the program page.
Related reading: How a Jumbo Cash-Out Lender Treats a Private Note Payoff · How a Jumbo Cash-Out Lender Reads a Trust-Owned Home Buyout · How a Jumbo Cash-Out Lender Qualifies a Retiree Without Income
Brandon Miller
Founder & CEO, Mortgage Loan Originator, Lendmire LLC
- Mortgage Loan Originator · NMLS# 1129696 · Verify on NMLS Consumer Access
- North Carolina Real Estate Broker · License# 343312 · Verify on NCREC
- North Carolina Insurance Producer · License# 19053198 · Property, Casualty, Life, Health · Verify on NAIC SBS
- Lendmire LLC · Firm NMLS# 2371349 · Verify firm licensure
Legal disclosures. Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a state-licensed mortgage brokerage that arranges financing through wholesale lender relationships. Lendmire is not a direct lender, depository institution, or registered financial advisor. The discussion above is general informational content about real estate financing — it is not financial, legal, or tax advice, and readers should consult licensed professionals for guidance on their individual circumstances. Loan inquiries are subject to lender underwriting; this article does not represent a commitment to lend. Loan terms, rates, and qualification standards vary by borrower, property, and state, and are subject to change at any time. Equal Housing Opportunity. NMLS Consumer Access: nmlsconsumeraccess.org.