Can I Obtain a Mortgage Loan Without Income?
January 4, 1999
"I have a 9.5% fixed-rate mortgage on which I owe about $70k, my house
has a value of about $115k, and I have excellent credit. I want to
refinance while rates are low but I have problem. I am now self-employed
and for the past few years, my income has been derived largely from
stock market investments and this income does not show up on my W-2. All
the mortgage brokers I have spoken to want to put me into a
"no-income-verification loan", but this doesn’t help because I must
still state my income, which is too low to qualify, even though they
don't verify it…Is there a mortgage for me?"
When you don't declare all your income, you can be (deservedly) punished
when you try to borrow.
The mortgage brokers you spoke to should have realized that you need a
loan on which income is disclosed but not used in qualifying the
borrower. This is usually called a "no-ratio loan" because no check is
made to determine whether the ratio of applicant income to housing
expense meets conventional standards. This differs from a
no-income-verification loan on which income is used to qualify but the
amount of income reported by the borrower is not verified.
Your punishment will not be too severe because your credit is good and
your loan balance is only about 60% of the property value. These are the
major factors that lenders rely on when they agree to ignore the
borrower's stated income.