Your tax return says you're broke. Your bank says otherwise.
Your CPA spent years legally minimising your income. It worked — and it just cost you half a million dollars of borrowing power. We read your deposits instead.
A bank statement loan qualifies you on deposits, not tax returns. The tax code rewards business owners for writing income down; the mortgage system then treats that written-down number as the truth. A bank statement loan reads 12 or 24 months of actual deposits instead. Rates are higher than conventional — meaningfully — and for many self-employed Californians the alternative is qualifying for nothing at all.
Your CPA and your lender want opposite things.
Every deduction your accountant found saved you tax — and quietly destroyed your borrowing power. Both of them were doing their jobs. Nobody warned you they were pulling in opposite directions.
The share of revenue your tax return doesn't show as income.
Business statements ~50%. Personal statements ~100%.
Your write-offs are legal, sensible, and they cost you $498,310 of borrowing power. Your accountant did their job perfectly. So did the underwriter. Nobody told you the two jobs were in direct conflict. A bank statement loan reads the deposits instead — at a higher rate, which we will not pretend away.
Illustrative only. Assumes a 43% debt-to-income ceiling, $1,200/mo of taxes and insurance, 30-year term, and typical non-QM pricing above conventional. Expense factors, ratios and pricing vary by lender and by file. Not a commitment to lend. Equal Housing Opportunity.
What your deposits actually buy.
Change the account type and watch your purchasing power move by six figures.
$981,279 loan · 20% down · 24 months of statements
These are business statements, so we discount them 50%. If your income arrives as personal draws, the same money could support around $2,802,158 — a difference of $1,575,559. Which account you send us matters enormously. Ask us before you gather anything.
Estimates only, not a commitment to lend. Expense factors, DTI limits and pricing vary by lender and by file.
Is this actually your loan?
Four taps. Bank statement loans cost more. Sometimes you don't need one.
This is your loan.
Your returns understate you, you have the history, the trend is right, and you have a real down payment. This is exactly the borrower the product was built for. The rate will be higher than conventional — we will show you exactly how much, and we will build the plan to refinance out of it later.
Deposits, not returns. And a price for the difference.
The teal slab is what a conventional borrower pays in interest. The coral slab is what qualifying on deposits costs you on top.
We sell bank statement loans. We will still add up your tax returns first, free, and tell you if you don't need one.
Illustrative only. Expense factors vary by lender and by industry — a service business with low overhead may be assigned 20–30% while a lender's default is often 50%. A CPA letter stating your actual expense ratio can substantially raise your qualifying income and is one of the highest-return documents in this entire process. Rates shown are representative, not quotes. Many Non-QM loans carry prepayment penalties. Not a commitment to lend. Equal Housing Opportunity.
Would your tax returns have worked anyway?
Most people are never told that a conventional underwriter adds back the paper expenses that made their income look small. Depreciation. Amortisation. Business use of home. They are deducted on your return and added straight back by a lender.
Find these on Schedule C line 13, Form 4562, and Form 8829. They are real, and they are free money.
Even with $62,000 of add-backs, your documentable income comes to $172,000 — about $45,924 short of the $217,924 this loan needs.
So the premium of $239,560 is real and it is yours. Two things worth doing anyway:
1. Get a CPA letter stating your actual expense ratio. If your true overhead is 30% rather than the lender's default 50%, your qualifying income jumps and your rate can improve. It is one page, and it is worth tens of thousands.
2. Plan the refinance. Two years of returns that work, and you drop the premium. Check the prepayment penalty first.
From here to the keys — five steps.
No mystery, no call centre, no "we'll get back to you." Every step is exactly what happens inside it.
Four questions. No credit pull, no sign-up, no obligation.
~60 secondsWhat happensOne application goes to dozens of wholesale lenders. They compete for you.
Same dayWhat happensUnderwritten against real documents — not a soft letter any lender prints.
~24 hoursWhat happensListing agents call Adriana. She picks up. That is worth more than a bid.
Your timelineWhat happensConditions cleared, docs signed, funded. And she tells you when PMI ends.
To the dateWhat happensThree business owners. One didn't need us.
Real files, real numbers, and what we actually told them.
Two great years, aggressively written off. Three banks declined him. His deposits told a different story.
She sent business statements. Her income was mostly personal draws. Same money — double the loan.
He assumed self-employed meant bank statement. His returns qualified fine. We saved him 1.2% on the rate.
ADReal Estate & Mortgage Broker · GRI
Milpitas, California · Serving all 58 counties
English & Español
Don't take our word for it — click through and verify her licence yourself. We'd encourage it. Anyone who discourages you from checking is telling you something.
A licensed broker who answers her own phone.
"A broker who will tell you no is the only kind whose yes means anything."
The rest of the Non-QM family.
Eleven ways to prove income when a W-2 will not do it. Every one of them costs more than conventional — and we will always tell you if you can avoid them.
Everything self-employed buyers actually ask.
What is a bank statement loan?
A mortgage that qualifies you on the money actually landing in your bank account — typically 12 or 24 months of deposits — instead of the net income on your tax return. It exists because the tax code rewards business owners for showing less income, and the mortgage system then punishes them for it.
Who is it for?
Self-employed people, business owners, 1099 contractors, freelancers, real-estate agents, and anyone whose tax return is a poor description of what they actually earn. If your CPA is doing a good job, a conventional lender will think you are broke.
Do I really not need tax returns?
Correct. No 1040s, no W-2s, no P&L in most programs. We read your deposits. Some lenders will ask for a CPA letter confirming your business exists and your ownership percentage — that is not the same as underwriting your tax return.
What is an expense factor?
The share of your deposits the lender assumes went to running the business. Business account statements are commonly discounted around 50%, personal account statements often around 100% — meaning almost all of it counts. Which account you use can change your approval by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
How much can I borrow?
It depends on your average deposits, the expense factor applied, your credit, and your down payment. As a rough shape: $42,000 a month of business deposits at a 50% factor is about $21,000 of qualifying income, which can support well over a million dollars of loan in California.
Are the rates higher?
Yes, typically. This is a non-QM loan and it prices above conventional — often meaningfully. Anyone who tells you otherwise is misleading you. The honest question is not whether it costs more; it is whether the alternative is qualifying for nothing at all.
How much down payment do I need?
Usually 10% to 20%, sometimes more depending on credit and the program. Larger down payments improve pricing substantially on non-QM loans — more so than they do on conventional.
12 months or 24 months of statements?
24 months usually prices better and reads more convincingly. 12 months is faster and helps if your business is growing quickly and last year understates you. If your income is falling, 24 months will show that — and we will not pretend otherwise.
Can I refinance into a conventional loan later?
Often, yes — and it is frequently the right plan. Once you have two clean years of tax returns showing sufficient income, a conventional refinance may cut your rate substantially. We build that exit into the conversation on day one.
Is a bank statement loan risky?
The loan is not exotic — it is a standard mortgage with a different way of proving income. The risk is qualifying for more than you can comfortably carry, because deposits can flatter a business that is having a good year. We will tell you if we think the number is too big.
Stop estimating. Get the real number.
Four questions, no credit pull. You'll get your payment, your options, and an honest read on the best fit.