The Quick Read: The cost is the new loan’s closing costs plus any prepayment penalty on the loan you are paying off, set against what the refinance saves or frees up over twenty-four months. Closing costs scale with the loan balance, so the dollars are large even when the percentages look ordinary. The old loan’s penalty schedule often matters more than any fee on the new one.
- Fees are charged mostly as a share of the balance, so a bigger loan means a bigger bill. Your itemized closing statement shows the exact amounts.
- A prepayment penalty on the loan you are leaving is paid as part of closing, and it can erase a short-hold refinance.
- Bank statement income changes how you qualify. It does not change the cost structure.
- The break-even test is total costs divided by monthly savings. If you may sell or refinance again before that month arrives, the refinance loses money.
- Above $4,000,000, every file is reviewed case by case before submission, so costs and leverage are confirmed per file.
What You Actually Pay When You Refinance a Super Jumbo Loan
The title bundles three separate costs, and you should price each one on its own. The first is closing cost on the new loan. The second is any penalty on the loan being paid off. The third is the cost of waiting if the new loan has its own penalty window.
Closing costs on the new loan cover lender charges, the appraisal, title, recording, and prepaid taxes and insurance. Most are priced as a percentage of the balance. That is why a super jumbo file costs more in absolute dollars than a standard jumbo. The percentages are not unusual, but they apply to a very large number.
The penalty on the old loan is the one people forget. Bankrate explains that penalties come in soft and hard forms. A soft penalty applies only when you refinance, while a hard penalty also applies when you sell. Either kind is due as a lump sum, and on a refinance it is paid as part of closing costs. The penalty is also disclosed with the quote and written into the loan documents, so you can look it up before you apply.
The third cost is a repeat of the second. If the new loan carries its own penalty schedule and you refinance again inside that window, you pay a penalty again. Two refinances in two years can mean two sets of closing costs and possibly two penalties.
Costs that move the dollar outcome:
- Loan size, because most fees scale with it.
- Where you sit in the old loan’s penalty schedule.
- Title-insurance reissue discounts for recent refinances. These vary by state, so ask your title company.
- Optional pricing buy-downs, which move cost to the front of the loan.
- Whether costs can be rolled into the new balance. That depends on the leverage ceiling for your loan size, which is covered below.
How Underwriting Treats Bank Statement Income, Step by Step
Bank statement underwriting turns deposits into qualifying income. It does not skip documentation. The file is fully documented, and credit, assets and the appraisal are all reviewed. Here is how most programs in Lendmire’s wholesale network handle it, through select wholesale programs and subject to full underwriting.
1. Pick the window. The lender takes 12 or 24 consecutive months of personal or business statements. The bank portfolio program uses 12. Transaction histories do not substitute for statements.
2. Strip out what is not income. Transfers between your own accounts, loan proceeds and one-time windfalls come out. Transfers from your own business into your personal account count in full.
3. Apply the expense ratio on business statements. The lender treats part of business deposits as costs. Across the network the fixed ratios are 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. An accountant-provided ratio is another path. A profit-and-loss method capped at 80% also exists. Business statements require at least 25% ownership.
4. Divide by the months. Eligible deposits after the expense ratio, divided by the statement months, give qualifying monthly income.
5. Test the file. The underwriter checks debt-to-income (up to 50%), credit, reserves and the appraised value. Reserves run 3 months to $500,000, 6 months to $1,500,000 and 9 months above that, with extra months for additional financed properties.
The expense ratio is a documented underwriting lever, not a number you choose. A securitization filing on SEC EDGAR shows one 50% standard factor for service businesses, with room to use a different ratio when the statements support it. Programs differ, so the ratio on your file depends on the program and your business type.
Why does this matter for cost? A heavy expense ratio lowers qualifying income. That can cap the loan you can refinance into, and a smaller loan changes your leverage and your break-even math. Run the income test before you spend money on an appraisal.
If you want the paper trail in detail, Lendmire’s piece How to Document Two Years of Deposits for a Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loan walks through it.
Key Terms Defined
Super jumbo loan: a mortgage far above the conforming limit. Here that means balances running from the low millions to $30,000,000 through select wholesale programs.
Bank statement refinance: a refinance qualified on deposits in your personal or business accounts instead of traditional personal-income documentation.
Expense ratio: the share of business deposits the lender treats as operating costs before counting income.
Prepayment penalty: a charge for paying off a loan early. A soft penalty applies on a refinance, and a hard penalty applies on a sale too.
Break-even: total refinance costs divided by monthly savings, which gives the month when the refinance pays for itself.
Rate-and-term refinance: a refinance that replaces the loan without taking extra cash out.
Cash-out refinance: a refinance that borrows more than you owe and hands you the difference.
LTV: loan-to-value, the loan amount as a percentage of the property’s value.
What a Super Jumbo Bank Statement Refinance Costs Within Two Years
The two-year cost is total cash out of pocket, plus any penalty, minus what you save by month twenty-four. If the result is negative, your savings exceeded your costs and the refinance paid back inside your window. If positive, it has not yet paid back.
Use plain arithmetic. Add the new loan’s closing costs to the old loan’s penalty. Divide by the monthly savings. The answer is your break-even month.
Run the numbers on a modeled case. Say total costs equal 20 months of savings. You break even in month 20. A sale in month 18 loses money, and a sale in month 30 comes out ahead. Now add a penalty that equals another 6 months of savings. Break-even moves to month 26, past your two-year window.
Size magnifies every one of these inputs. A small difference in fee percentage is a large dollar amount at a super jumbo balance, so compare full itemized costs, not headline percentages. Any single percentage you see quoted for jumbo refinance costs is only a rough guide until your own file is itemized.
Pay in cash or roll costs in?
Rolling costs into the new loan saves cash today. It costs you interest on a larger balance for every month you hold it. It also needs room under the leverage ceiling for your loan size.
That ceiling steps down as balances rise. Through select wholesale programs, subject to full underwriting, a rate-and-term refinance on a primary residence reaches 90% LTV on loans to $1,000,000. It runs 85% from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000, 80% from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000, 75% from $3,000,000 to $3,500,000, and 70% from $3,500,000 to $4,000,000. Those ceilings come from the portfolio non-QM program, which stops at $6,000,000. On a cash-out refinance on a primary residence, the best figure is 80% to $1,500,000, falling to 65% from $3,000,000 to $3,500,000. Final terms depend on the lender’s guidelines, the property type, and the borrower’s complete credit picture.
If your current balance already sits near the ceiling for the new loan’s band, there is no room to roll in costs. You pay cash at the table. Lendmire’s piece How Two Appraisals Work on a Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loan covers another cost line that can appear at the top sizes.
The bank portfolio program takes over above $4,000,000. On a primary residence, it offers 65% on a rate-and-term refinance and 60% on a cash-out refinance from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000. Those figures are reviewed case by case before submission, never a flat “up to.” Second homes and investment properties follow their own ladders, so read the figure for your occupancy, not the primary-residence one.
Structures That Change the Cost
The same refinance can look very different depending on the structure. Here are the variations that matter.
Rate-and-term versus cash-out. A rate-and-term file usually allows higher leverage and lighter reserves than a cash-out file. 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 portfolio program publishes no such cap. Above $3,500,000 on a primary residence, cash-out proceeds cannot be used to satisfy reserves.
Interest-only. The portfolio program offers a 40-year term with a 10-year interest-only period, to 85% LTV with a 700 credit floor, on purchase and rate-and-term files only. The bank program offers 5- and 7-year fixed-period adjustables at up to 60% LTV for interest-only. This structure never raises a cash-out ceiling. It lowers the monthly carry, which helps break-even, but it builds no principal. Each figure is subject to lender guidelines and a complete review of property type, leverage, and credit.
Twelve versus twenty-four months of statements. Choose the window that shows the stronger income. A twelve-month file can win if the business grew recently. A twenty-four-month file can win if the last year dipped.
Asset-based paths. Some programs review the file on liquid assets instead of deposits. An asset allowance divides liquid assets by 36, 60 or 84 months. Assets-only qualifies with 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. This changes the income side only. Costs are the same.
Rental income instead of personal income. If the property is a rental, there is another route. DSCR loans are designed for non-owner-occupied investment properties. Because they are business-purpose investor loans, they are reviewed differently from a standard owner-occupied mortgage. A DSCR loan is reviewed primarily on property-level rental income covering the payment, subject to lender guidelines. For investors whose personal deposits are messy but whose rents are clean, Lendmire’s complete DSCR loans guide explains how that path works.
Where the General Rule Breaks
The break-even test works for most files. It fails in a few named cases.
The penalty is contractual. It can be a flat percentage, a step-down schedule, or a number of months of interest. Bankrate gives the months-of-interest form as an example. A schedule that steps down means waiting a few months can cut the cost sharply. Check the date the penalty drops, not just the percentage.
Principal allowances. Some loans let you pay down a share of principal each year without penalty. Bankrate’s page refers to a 20% threshold. Documents differ, so read yours before assuming the allowance applies.
Do not assume a federal cap protects you. The two-year and three-year penalty caps reported for qualified consumer mortgages are consumer-loan rules. Do not assume they cap a business-purpose investor loan or a non-QM file. Your own note is the authority.
Consumer-purpose files still get an ability-to-repay review. On a primary residence or second home, the lender must make a reasonable, good-faith determination of repayment ability. The CFPB’s ability-to-repay compliance guide says that duty is not limited to first liens or primary residences. Bank statement underwriting is how that analysis gets done for self-employed borrowers. It is not an exception from it.
Super-jumbo overlays. Above $3,500,000 on a primary residence, and above $3,000,000 on a second home or investment property, the portfolio program applies tighter rules. These include a 700 credit floor, a 0x30x24 housing history, 48-month seasoning on any credit event, and a bar on non-occupant co-borrowers. They also require U.S. citizens or permanent residents. A refinance that works at $2,500,000 can fail on those terms at $3,600,000, so check the overlay before you budget costs.
Non-QM is not a low-credit product. The 660 floor on the portfolio program, 680 on the bank program, and 700 above the super-jumbo line are floors. The top leverage cell in each band needs a higher score. A lower score takes a lower leverage cell, which changes how much you can roll in.
Should You Refinance Inside Two Years?
Use this list. Each “no” is a stop sign.
1. Do you know the old loan’s penalty and the date it drops? If not, find out before anything else.
2. Is your expected hold longer than the break-even month, with a cushion? A cushion matters because appraisals and income calculations can shift the result.
3. Does the new loan have its own penalty, and could you exit inside it? If yes, add that cost to the ledger.
4. Is there room under the leverage ceiling to roll costs in, or can you pay cash without hurting reserves? Reserves matter at these sizes, and cash-out proceeds may not count toward them.
5. Is the goal savings, or something else? Non-savings goals include moving from an adjustable to a fixed loan, rolling off an interest-only period, pulling cash out, or consolidating debt. For those, break-even is not the right test. Compare the cost to the value of the outcome.
6. Does your qualifying income survive the expense ratio? If it does not, the loan amount shrinks and the plan changes.
A lower monthly payment does not automatically mean a better loan. A penalty can outweigh a short stretch of savings, especially on a loan you plan to leave soon. For a rental, the honest question is how long you will hold. The hold period should drive the decision, not the headline monthly saving.
Tax treatment varies; consult a qualified professional before relying on any deduction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I roll closing costs into a super jumbo bank statement refinance?
Sometimes, but only if the new loan stays under the leverage ceiling for its size band. Through select wholesale programs, subject to full underwriting, a rate-and-term refinance on a primary residence tops out at 90% LTV to $1,000,000 and steps down from there. If your balance already sits near the ceiling, you pay costs in cash. Leverage, reserves, and pricing vary by lender and program; the final terms follow the full file review.
What if I sell within two years of refinancing?
A sale inside your break-even month means the refinance cost more than it saved. A hard prepayment penalty on the new loan would add to that, while a soft one would not apply on a sale. Check which kind your loan documents describe before you commit.
Do I need two appraisals?
At the top loan sizes, a second appraisal may be required, which adds cost and review time. Whether it applies depends on the program, loan size and property.
How often can I refinance a super jumbo loan?
Nothing in the program parameters sets a fixed limit. Each refinance repeats closing costs, and a new prepayment schedule can restart the clock. In practice, the penalty on the existing loan and your break-even month decide how often a refinance makes sense.
Does bank statement income raise my costs?
The documentation path does not add a separate fee structure on its own. It affects how much income you can show, which affects loan size, leverage and reserves. Those, in turn, decide the dollar cost.
Next Step
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 is a mortgage broker that arranges these loans through select lenders in its wholesale network, and its consumer mortgage lending is licensed in 16 states. Reach the team at 828-256-2183.
Before you sign anything, ask for the old loan’s penalty date and every cost on the new one in writing, then run the break-even month against the day you honestly expect to sell.
Lendmire’s self-employed mortgages page presents both super jumbo programs, bank statement and DSCR, side by side.
About Lendmire
Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a mortgage broker licensed for consumer lending in 16 states. Scotsman Guide named Lendmire a Top Mortgage Workplace in both 2025 and 2026.
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References
1. Bankrate: Prepayment Penalty
2. SEC EDGAR: Morgan Stanley Capital I due diligence exhibit
3. CFPB: Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage Small Entity Compliance Guide
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 Document a 40-Year Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loan · How to Pick Business Bank Statement Months on a Super Jumbo Loan · How to Get a Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loan as a Physician or Realtor
Brandon Miller
Founder & CEO, Mortgage Loan Originator, Lendmire LLC
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Compliance and disclosures. Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a licensed mortgage broker and is not a direct lender, depository institution, financial advisor, or tax professional. Content in this article is general market analysis and educational information — not financial, legal, or tax advice for any specific situation. Lendmire does not guarantee loan approval; every transaction is subject to underwriting by the funding lender. Mortgage pricing and loan program guidelines are subject to change at any time without notice and vary by borrower characteristics, property type, and state regulations. Lendmire complies with Equal Housing Opportunity. Licensure verification: NMLS Consumer Access.