Refinancing as a 1099 Earner in 2025: The Lenders That Get It
1099 income is treated like a contagion at most lenders. A handful of specialists have figured out how to underwrite it properly. We pulled their quotes.
What we liked
- ✓2-year 1099 history opens conventional pricing — If you have 2 years of stable 1099 income, you can usually qualify for conventional pricing. Don't default to non-QM unless you have to.
- ✓Specialist desks handle 1099 properly — NAF, Cardinal, and Carrington all have desks that don't treat 1099 income as exotic.
- ✓Bank-statement programs as backup — If 1099 docs don't work, 12-month bank statements at a 0.25–0.50 premium is a workable Plan B.
What could be better
- !Some lenders will reject 1099 outright — Better and most online disruptors don't underwrite 1099 income well. Skip them for this scenario.
- !1099 + multiple income streams = complexity — Multiple 1099s, side W-2, gig income — the underwriting calculus gets harder. Specialist desks handle it; generalists don't.
- !Year-end timing matters — Refinancing in Q1 of a new tax year means lenders want updated tax returns. Q3 refis are usually cleaner.
The setup
New American Funding keeps showing up in the top of our spreadsheet for 1099-income refi, and after pulling fresh quotes against the same control file three weeks running, the pattern is clear. If you've earned 1099 income for 2+ years, you have multiple legitimate paths to refinance — at standard rates. Most of those paths are buried inside specialist desks.
How we pulled the numbers
This is a controlled scenario: $410,000 1099-income refi on a single-family in California, owner-occupied, 72% LTV, 740 FICO. Quotes captured August 19–26, 2025. We requested formal Loan Estimates wherever a lender would issue one, and used published rate sheets where they would not.
Side-by-side rate comparison
| Lender | Rate | APR | 1099 Path | Doc Friction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New American Funding | 6.85% | 6.95% | Standard 2-yr 1099 | Low |
| AmeriSave | 6.95% | 7.05% | 2-yr 1099 + bank statements | Medium |
| Rocket Mortgage | 7.10% | 7.25% | 2-yr 1099, strict | High |
| Bank-statement non-QM | 7.30% | 7.45% | 12-mo bank statements | Low |
On this representative scenario, the spread between best and worst APR is 0.50 APR points — which compounds into roughly $36,800 over the life of a 30-year loan. Your numbers will not match ours exactly. The pattern, however, is what to watch.
Where New American Funding actually wins
2-year 1099 history opens conventional pricing — If you have 2 years of stable 1099 income, you can usually qualify for conventional pricing. Don't default to non-QM unless you have to.
Specialist desks handle 1099 properly — NAF, Cardinal, and Carrington all have desks that don't treat 1099 income as exotic.
Bank-statement programs as backup — If 1099 docs don't work, 12-month bank statements at a 0.25–0.50 premium is a workable Plan B.
Where it quietly costs you
Some lenders will reject 1099 outright — Better and most online disruptors don't underwrite 1099 income well. Skip them for this scenario.
1099 + multiple income streams = complexity — Multiple 1099s, side W-2, gig income — the underwriting calculus gets harder. Specialist desks handle it; generalists don't.
Year-end timing matters — Refinancing in Q1 of a new tax year means lenders want updated tax returns. Q3 refis are usually cleaner.
What we'd do
We'd anchor on New American Funding's Loan Estimate, then shop two more — one online disruptor, one local. The negotiation alone usually moves your final rate 0.125–0.25 percentage points. That's not table stakes; that's the entire reason to read articles like this one.
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