Bank Statement Loans in Pennsylvania

Why Bank Statement Loans Matter in Pennsylvania’s Market

Pennsylvania home prices run below the national average overall, but the range is wide, from some of the most affordable metros in the Northeast to premium markets in the Philadelphia suburbs and college towns. For self-employed borrowers, qualifying for a mortgage loan can still be an added challenge because conventional loans traditionally serve W-2 employees, penalizing business owners and contractors who write off expenses on their tax returns. 

Here’s why bank statement loans make sense for self-employed borrowers in Pennsylvania:

• Pennsylvania has a deep self-employed and small-business base. The state is home to roughly 1.2 million small businesses, which represent about 99.6% of all businesses in Pennsylvania. Self-employed workers and contractors make up a meaningful share of the workforce, especially across healthcare, advanced manufacturing, logistics and warehousing, higher education, and agriculture.
• Write-offs make qualifying harder than it should be. The same deductions that keep a machine shop, trucking outfit, or farm stand profitable at tax time shrink the taxable income a conventional underwriter sees. IRS data shows that, nationally, sole proprietors report net income at roughly 20-23% of business receipts on average — well below the 50% of deposits Griffin Funding counts toward qualifying income by default. A profitable contractor or shop owner can look underqualified on paper even when the deposits hitting their account each month tell a different story. A bank statement loan looks at real deposits instead of an adjusted tax figure.
• Affordable prices keep loan amounts accessible. With the average Pennsylvania home value around $290,552, meaningfully below the national figure of roughly $371,774, self-employed buyers often need smaller loans to compete than they would in pricier neighboring markets. A smaller loan means a smaller monthly payment relative to income, which makes it easier for a bank statement loan’s calculated income to clear the bar.

Sources: Zillow home value data (July 2026), U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, and IRS Statistics of Income (Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships, 2008-2015; SOI Bulletin, Spring 2025).

How Pennsylvania Bank Statement Loans Work

Pennsylvania business owners and contractors who write off expenses often show a taxable income far below what they actually earn. This tends to leave them underqualified on paper for conventional loans, even when their cash flow tells a different story.

Bank statement loans qualify you based on cash flow shown in bank statements, rather than traditional tax-return income.

Griffin Funding reviews 12 to 24 months of bank statements and calculates income from actual deposit history. The percentage of deposits that count toward your income depends on whether you use personal or business bank statements. Personal statements count 100% of deposits; business statements typically apply a 50% expense factor, which can go as low as 10% depending on your business type.

To qualify for a bank statement loan, you’ll need:

• Credit score: 620 minimum
• Self-employment history: 2 years minimum (or 1 year if you’ve stayed in the same industry)
• Down payment: 10% with a 680+ credit score; 20% minimum with a 620-679 score
• Bank statements: 12 or 24 months of personal or business statements showing consistent deposits
• Property types: Single-family homes, multi-family homes, townhomes, condos, manufactured homes, and rural properties are all eligible
• LLC ownership: Properties can be held in an LLC

Prior bankruptcy requires a two-year waiting period before applying.

View Bank Statement Loan Requirements

Today’s Bank Statement Mortgage Loan Rates in Pennsylvania

As a national direct-to-consumer lender, Griffin Funding cuts out the broker markup and keeps non-QM (non-qualified mortgage) rates competitive. Your specific rate depends on your credit score, down payment, loan amount, and buydown points.

Pennsylvania Housing Markets for Self-Employed Buyers

From the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Lehigh Valley metros with the deepest client bases to lower-cost markets in Erie, Scranton, and the Alleghenies, and premium college and historic towns, Pennsylvania has real options for self-employed buyers at every price point. Here’s where borrowers are buying across the state.

Major Metros

• Philadelphia: Greater Philadelphia’s economy runs on life sciences and biotech, home to roughly 1,200 life sciences companies, including major biopharmaceutical leaders including GSK, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck. The city earned its nickname, “Cellicon Valley,” for its high concentration of cell and gene therapy research, and that density of research contracts, lab consulting, and specialty vendor work produces the kind of steady, invoice-based deposits that carry the most weight on a bank statement loan. That steady deposit history is what makes the region’s higher price point reachable for the self-employed professionals it draws. 
• Pittsburgh: Built around Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Innovation Center and a steady stream of CMU spinoff companies, Pittsburgh’s tech and robotics sector runs on contract engineering and specialized fabrication work rather than one-off gigs. UPMC’s dominant local healthcare footprint adds another layer of recurring institutional work for contractors and specialty trades, which is what keeps deposits landing month after month. 
• Allentown: Amazon and a growing roster of third-party logistics operators have turned the Lehigh Valley into one of the East Coast’s fastest-growing logistics corridors, supporting a dense network of trucking, maintenance, and facilities contractors who bill on standing service agreements. Lehigh Valley also sits close enough to New York and Philadelphia that you can bill big-city rates while buying on the Pennsylvania side of the map, stretching deposits further than the sticker price suggests.

Affordable Markets

• Erie: Manufacturing at the Wabtec locomotive plant anchors Erie’s economy, alongside growing cybersecurity, plastics innovation, biomedical research, advanced manufacturing, green technology, and food processing sectors. Presque Isle State Park draws an average of 4 million seasonal visits to Presque Isle and Erie Bluffs, supporting tourism and hospitality-adjacent trades. That combination of steady industrial subcontracting, specialized technical work across Erie’s emerging sectors, and predictable seasonal tourism demand puts Erie’s qualifying deposit requirement among the lowest of any market on this list.
• Scranton: Sitting on the I-81 logistics corridor, the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre area has become one of the most strategically positioned warehouse and distribution hubs in Northeast Pennsylvania, generating steady contract work in trucking, maintenance, and facilities services alongside a growing Geisinger healthcare presence that adds its own stream of institutional vendor work. That combination keeps deposit requirements well below the Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley corridor, within easier reach for a business still building its deposit history.
• Altoona: Built around the Horseshoe Curve rail landmark and still home to a working Norfolk Southern yard, Altoona’s largest economic drivers are trade, transport, and logistics, healthcare, as well as education, with UPMC Altoona and Penn State Altoona among the region’s largest employers, generating steady contract work for self-employed truckers, maintenance contractors, and facilities vendors. It carries one of the lowest deposit requirements in the state, which makes it a practical entry point if your business’s deposit history is still building.

Lifestyle Markets

• Lancaster: Known as the heart of Amish Country and Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Lancaster draws a steady stream of tourists year-round, and its downtown storefront economy, centered on fixtures like the Lancaster Central Market, a market tradition dating to the 1730s, gives independent furniture makers, food vendors, and specialty retailers a direct-to-consumer customer base rather than institutional contract work. That storefront and craft economy is a natural fit for a one-person business, though Lancaster’s charm has pushed its price point above most of the state’s affordable markets.
• State College: Penn State’s $15.8 billion annual economic footprint makes the university itself the region’s dominant client, supporting a dense web of contractors, consultants, and service businesses tied to campus operations, game days, and a population that swells past 100,000 on football Saturdays. It carries one of the higher deposit requirements on this list, but the demand behind it is remarkably steady.
• Gettysburg: Gettysburg National Military Park draws over 730,000 visitors each year, and generates over $60 million in local spending, supporting a hospitality and retail economy built around small, independently owned hotels, shops, and tour operations. It’s a distinctive lifestyle draw for buyers who want small-town character over metro proximity, though the tourism-driven pricing puts it above Pennsylvania’s affordable tier.

Free Tools for Self-Employed Borrowers in Pennsylvania

Run the numbers before you commit. These free tools give you an instant read on your buying power and the Pennsylvania market.

• Bank Statement Loan Calculator: Quickly estimate how much home you could afford with a Pennsylvania bank statement loan.
• Bank Statement Loan Refinance Calculator: See how much you could potentially save using a bank statement refinance loan in Pennsylvania.
• Home Affordability Calculator: Get a better idea of how much home you may be able to afford based on your financial profile and mortgage details.
• Housing Market Insights: Explore estimated values, transaction history, and appreciation trends for properties across the state of Pennsylvania.

Apply for a Bank Statement Home Loan in Pennsylvania

Self-employed borrowers with non-traditional income still have options to purchase property in Pennsylvania. With a bank statement home loan, you can qualify for up to $4.5 million in financing, no tax returns or pay stubs required. Down payments start at 10% for qualified borrowers.

Griffin Funding has helped self-employed borrowers, small business owners, freelancers, tradespeople, and independent contractors qualify for bank statement mortgage loans across Pennsylvania. We lend throughout the entire state, from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Allentown to Lancaster, State College, and Gettysburg, and the affordable markets of Erie, Scranton, and Altoona.

Reach out today to learn more about how to qualify for a mortgage in Pennsylvania if you’re self-employed. If you’re ready to get pre-approved and lock in your rate, get started online.

• Justin Guthrie, Griffin Funding Pennsylvania Loan Officer | NMLS# 2328091
• Malcolm Cameron, Griffin Funding Pennsylvania Loan Officer | NMLS# 1460681
• Ryne Sweeney, Griffin Funding Pennsylvania Loan Officer | NMLS# 2415016
• PJ Vinal, Griffin Funding Pennsylvania Loan Officer | NMLS# 2283532

Griffin Funding is a Pennsylvania-licensed Mortgage Lender No. 106255.