Your Self-Employed Borrowers Aren't a Hard Pass. They're a Different Path.
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If you work with self-employed business owners, independent contractors, commission earners, or gig workers, you already know the problem. Their bank accounts tell one story. Their tax returns tell another. And when conventional underwriting only looks at the tax return, you end up with a qualified borrower who can't qualify on paper.
We built our Bank Statement and 1099 programs to close that gap.
The Numbers Behind the Opportunity
This isn't a small or shrinking part of your pipeline. Independent contractors, freelancers, and gig workers now represent a substantial and growing share of the U.S. workforce, and many of these earners are running profitable operations that simply don't show up the way a W-2 does.
At the same time, a growing number of independent workers are earning over $100,000 annually, proving that self-employment and strong income are far from mutually exclusive. The challenge has never been whether these borrowers can afford a home. It's whether the documentation they have matches the documentation conventional underwriting expects.
That mismatch is exactly where our Bank Statement and 1099 programs come in.
Bank Statement Program: Built for Business Owners
Self-employed business owners are experts at running their businesses, and most are also experts at minimizing taxable income through deductions. That's smart business. It's also the reason so many otherwise-strong borrowers get stuck when a lender qualifies them off net income from a tax return.
Our Bank Statement program qualifies borrowers using 12 or 24 months of personal or business bank statements, with income calculated from actual deposits minus an expense factor. No tax returns required. The focus stays on what the business actually generates, not what's left after deductions.
If your borrower's tax return doesn't reflect their true cash flow, that's not a reason to walk away from the file. It's a reason to look at it differently.
1099 Program: Built for Contractors, Commission Earners, and Gig Workers
Independent contractors, commission-based sales professionals, and gig economy workers face a different version of the same issue. Their income can be strong and consistent, but it doesn't arrive on a W-2, and it often doesn't match what a conventional file expects to see.
Our 1099 program qualifies these borrowers using their 1099 income directly, without requiring full tax returns. It's a documentation path built around how these borrowers actually get paid.
What This Means for Your Pipeline
Every broker has files that stall out the same way: strong borrower, steady income, tax return that doesn't tell the full story. Before, that often meant the deal was a deal left on the table.
With our Bank Statement and 1099 programs, that file has somewhere to go. Two flexible documentation paths. No tax returns required. A focus on what your borrower actually earns.
More flexibility. More solutions. More closed deals.
Contact your PwrTPO Account Executive or visit pwrtpo.com to learn how our Bank Statement and 1099 programs can help you serve your self-employed and 1099 clients.
