No income verification mortgages for your primary residence

• Anyone who can’t show income through deposits. Cash-heavy businesses, income that lands in an entity account first, lumpy or seasonal deposits — you want the P&L-only lane, where no bank statements are requested.
• Self-employed borrowers whose write-offs worked. A profit & loss statement shows the business as it runs, not as it files.
• People who haven’t filed yet. On extension, mid-year, a new entity — a current-period P&L stands in for returns that don’t exist yet.
• People denied for income elsewhere. Especially if you owe less than half of what your home is worth.

Since 2014, every first mortgage on a home you live in has to satisfy the federal ability-to-repay rule: the lender must verify, somehow, that you can make the payment. So a literal no-doc first mortgage on a primary residence doesn’t exist from a licensed lender — anyone advertising one is relabeling a bank statement program or isn’t someone you want holding your deed.

What does exist is alternative documentation: non-QM lenders satisfy the rule with a different kind of proof than tax returns and pay stubs — a CPA-prepared profit & loss, or bank deposits. It’s a compliant, mainstream corner of lending with 100+ lenders behind it. On a home you already own there’s one more door: a home equity line of credit sits outside the ability-to-repay rule, which is why a true no-income-documentation HELOC is possible when a no-doc first mortgage is not.

A P&L-only mortgage — what non-QM lenders also market as a No-Ratio or No-Income-Verification loan; same program, same terms — takes one document as the income file: a profit & loss statement prepared by a CPA (unaudited is fine; self-prepared works on some programs). No bank statements are requested, so a cash business, an entity account, or a messy year never enters underwriting.

The plain numbers: minimum loan $150,000, credit from 640 in first position. Purchases need 20% down with 680+, 25% with 660–679, or 30% with 640–659. Refinances — cash-out or rate-and-term — go to 75% LTV at 660+ and 70% at 640–659. The full guide is on the P&L loan page.

When 12 or 24 months of statements show steady deposits, a bank statement mortgage is often the better fit — it reaches down to 620 credit in first position and works at loan sizes P&L-only won’t touch. Qualifying income comes from your deposits instead of tax returns, W-2s, or pay stubs. Primary residence and investment property (not second homes). Reserves, the expense factor on business deposits, and loan limits are set per file.

If the goal is cash rather than a new first mortgage, the no income verification HELOC is the purest documentation-light option: no tax returns, W-2s, pay stubs, or bank statements. Your 680+ credit and your equity carry the underwrite; lines start at $150,000, there’s no title seasoning, and your first mortgage and its rate stay untouched.

The three lanes above stop at 620. Below that, the honest routes are equity-based. A Home Equity Agreement takes credit from the 500s with no monthly payments, refinance-only, in 11 states (AZ, CA, CO, FL, OH, OR, PA, TN, UT, VA and WA). In Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, an owner-occupied cash-out refinance on a home owned free and clear — over $200,000 and at 50% loan-to-value or lower — can proceed at any credit score. And an FHA loan at 500–579 exists with 10% down — but FHA is full-documentation, so it’s a fit for low credit, not for missing income docs.

• P&L-only: the CPA-prepared profit & loss, government ID, and your current mortgage statement on a refinance.
• Bank statement: 12 or 24 months of statements, ID, and mortgage statement.
• No-income HELOC: ID, mortgage statement, and proof of homeowners insurance.