Bank Statement Loan Calculator: Qualify for Self-Employed Mortgages (2025)
If you're self-employed, a business owner, or 1099 contractor, bank statement loans let you qualify for a mortgage using actual deposits instead of tax returns. Here's how to calculate your qualifying income, understand the requirements, and extract accurate data from your statements.
What is a bank statement loan?
A bank statement loan (also called a bank statement mortgage) is a non-QM mortgage program that uses your actual bank deposits to calculate qualifying income instead of tax returns or W-2s.
Traditional mortgages require W-2 income or tax returns showing consistent taxable income. But if you're self-employed, you likely write off business expenses, depreciation, and deductions that reduce your taxable income—making it harder to qualify for a conventional loan.
Bank statement loans solve this problem by looking at your gross deposits (actual money coming in) instead of your net taxable income (after deductions).
The core difference
Traditional mortgage
- Uses tax returns (2 years)
- Net income after deductions
- Lower rates (3-7%)
Bank statement loan
- Uses bank statements (12-24 months)
- Gross deposits (before deductions)
- Higher rates (4-9%)
How the bank statement loan calculation works
Bank statement loan calculators use a simple formula to determine your qualifying income based on actual deposits in your bank accounts over 12-24 months.
The basic formula
Qualifying Income = (Total Deposits ÷ Number of Months) × Percentage
The percentage depends on whether you use personal bank statements (100%) or business bank statements (typically 50%).
Personal Bank Statement Method
Calculation
Total deposits ÷ Number of months × 100%
Expense deduction
None (uses 100% of deposits)
Best for
Sole proprietors, gig workers, independent contractors
Example
All deposits count toward qualifying income
Business Bank Statement Method
Calculation
Total deposits ÷ Number of months × 50%
Expense deduction
50% assumed business expenses
Best for
Business owners, S-corps, LLCs
Example
50% expense deduction assumes operating costs
Key insight: The personal bank statement method at 100% is better for most borrowers because it counts all deposits as income. Use business statements only if required by your lender or if your business has very low operating expenses (less than 30% of revenue).
Who qualifies for bank statement loans?
Bank statement loans are designed for borrowers who have strong income but cannot prove it through traditional W-2s or tax returns.
Self-Employed Professionals
Examples
Challenge
Income varies month-to-month, tax returns show deductions that reduce qualifying income
Solution
Bank statement loans use actual deposits to prove income capacity
Business Owners
Examples
Challenge
Business expenses and depreciation reduce taxable income on returns
Solution
Gross deposits demonstrate actual cash flow before deductions
1099 Contractors
Examples
Challenge
Irregular payment schedules, commission-based income hard to document
Solution
Average monthly deposits over 12-24 months show consistent earning capacity
Cash-Heavy Businesses
Examples
Challenge
Cash deposits not fully reflected in tax returns
Solution
Bank statements prove actual revenue through deposit history
Income calculation methods (step-by-step)
Method 1: Personal Bank Statements (100%)
12-month deposit history
Method 2: Business Bank Statements (50%)
12-month deposit history
DTI ratio calculation (with real examples)
Once you know your qualifying income from bank statements, you need to calculate your Debt-to-Income (DTI) ratio to determine if you'll qualify for the loan amount you want.
The DTI formula
DTI = (Total Monthly Debt ÷ Qualifying Income) × 100
Include all monthly debt payments: proposed mortgage (PITI), auto loans, student loans, credit cards, and any other obligations. Most bank statement loan programs allow DTI up to 43-50%.
Example: Personal statements (100%)
Qualifying income
$12,092
Monthly debts
DTI Ratio
22.0%
Excellent - well below 43% threshold
Example: Business statements (50%)
Qualifying income
$12,546
Monthly debts
DTI Ratio
21.2%
Excellent - well below 43% threshold
DTI thresholds for bank statement loans
Strong approval likelihood
May require compensating factors
High denial risk
Bank statement loan document requirements
Bank statement loan programs typically require either 12 or 24 months of statements. Here's what you'll need for each program type.
12 months
Standard Program
Bank statements
12 consecutive months of bank statements (personal or business)
Additional documents
- Tax returns (2 years)
- Profit & loss statement (current)
- Credit score 620+
Interest rates
Most competitive rates
24 months
Preferred Program
Bank statements
24 consecutive months of bank statements
Additional documents
- Lower rates than 12-month programs
- Higher approval rates
- Credit score 680+
Interest rates
Best rates available
Statement requirements
- Must be consecutive months with no gaps
- All pages required (even blank pages)
- Must be from the same account(s) throughout
- Official bank statements only (not printouts or screenshots)
Step-by-step qualification process
Follow these steps to calculate your bank statement loan qualification and prepare your application.
Gather your bank statements
30 minutesCollect 12-24 months of consecutive bank statements (personal or business account). Ensure you have complete statements for every month with no gaps.
Extract transaction data to Excel
45 minutesConvert your PDF bank statements to Excel to identify all deposits. You need accurate totals for each month to calculate qualifying income.
Separate income from transfers
30 minutesRemove transfers between your own accounts, returns, and non-income deposits. Only actual income deposits count toward qualifying income.
Calculate average monthly income
15 minutesAdd all qualifying deposits and divide by the number of months. Apply the appropriate percentage (100% for personal, 50% for business).
Calculate your DTI ratio
20 minutesAdd all monthly debt obligations (current mortgage/rent, auto loans, credit cards, student loans) and divide by your qualifying income. Target below 43%.
Determine maximum loan amount
10 minutesUse a mortgage calculator with your qualifying income and desired DTI ratio to estimate the maximum loan amount you can afford.
Extracting accurate data from bank statements
The accuracy of your bank statement loan calculation depends entirely on the accuracy of your deposit data. Manual extraction is error-prone and time-consuming—especially when dealing with 12-24 months of statements.
Why accurate data extraction matters
Identify all income deposits
Miss a deposit and you understate your qualifying income
Remove transfers
Transfers between your own accounts inflate income artificially
Calculate monthly averages
Accurate totals for each month ensure correct qualification
Document sources
Lenders verify deposit sources—categorized data speeds approval
How Zera Books helps
Zera OCR for any format
Handles thousands of bank statement formats—scanned, photographed, or digital PDFs. No manual retyping required.
AI categorization
Zera AI automatically categorizes transactions as income, transfers, or expenses—making it easy to separate qualifying deposits.
Multi-account detection
Automatically splits combined statements when multiple accounts appear in a single PDF—no manual separation needed.
Export to Excel
Get clean, structured Excel files with all transactions organized by date, amount, and category—ready for income calculation.
Time savings: What takes 3-5 hours manually (extracting 12 months of statements, removing transfers, calculating totals) takes 5 minutes with Zera Books. Plus, AI categorization reduces errors that could cost you thousands in lost qualifying income.
Multi-client bank statement processing at scale
When preparing bank statement loan documentation for multiple clients, accuracy and efficiency are critical.
“My clients send me all kinds of messy PDFs from different banks. This tool handles them all and saves me probably 10 hours a week that I used to spend on manual entry.”
Ashish Josan
Manager, CPA at Manning Elliott
Saved per week
Format compatibility
Clients per month
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about bank statement loan calculators and qualifying for self-employed mortgages.
Ready to calculate your bank statement loan qualification?
Zera Books extracts accurate deposit data from your bank statements in minutes—no manual entry, no errors. Get the precise numbers you need for your mortgage application.
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