Self-employed? Your deposits — not your tax returns — decide what you qualify for. Here is exactly how a lender turns those deposits into qualifying income, and why the final number has to come from a human review.
A bank statement loan ignores your tax returns and qualifies you on cash flow. The lender averages 12–24 months of deposits, applies an expense factor to account for business costs, and uses the result as your qualifying income:
Your real expense factor is set by the lender’s underwriting guidelines — not by you and not by a calculator on a website. It depends on your industry and documentation: a low-overhead consultant may land at 10%–20%, while a product business may sit closer to 50%. That single number moves your budget more than anything else, which is why LiveLendLA reviews real statements instead of publishing a deposits-in, income-out estimate. See the full bank statement loan guide for details, or the Bank Statement Loans Los Angeles guide.
Already know your price range? The What Can I Afford? calculator works from an income figure you supply and today's published rates.
An estimate gets you in the ballpark. Send Derek your details and he'll request your statements through a secure portal — never an open form — and come back with the real qualifying income a lender will use.