# Rate Piggy
# https://blog.ratepiggy.com/

- [$150K income in San Diego: what sets your payment](https://blog.ratepiggy.com/blog/150k-income-in-san-diego-what-sets-your-payment): What sets the payment on a $150K income in Chula Vista, Escondido and Clairemont, plus 2026 San Diego County loan limits and self-employed income.
- [About Sophia Warner](https://blog.ratepiggy.com/blog/author)
- [Bank-statement loans: how self-employed buyers qualify when their tax returns show less than they make](https://blog.ratepiggy.com/blog/bank-statement-loans-how-self-employed-buyers-qualify-when-their-tax-returns-show-less-than-they-make): Your tax returns aren't the only way to prove what you earn. Here's how lenders use your deposits instead, what it costs, and what to do before you look at a house.
- [Bonus, overtime and commission: how lenders average two years of pay](https://blog.ratepiggy.com/blog/bonus-overtime-and-commission-how-lenders-average-two-years): How lenders average bonus, overtime and commission over two years, a worked example of why a raise counts less, and what 1099 earners should compare.
- [Divorced and self-employed: what a lender reads before you buy](https://blog.ratepiggy.com/blog/divorced-and-self-employed-what-a-lender-reads-before-you): One San Diego file from decree to underwriting: what the lender read first, when support counted as income, and what self-employed buyers should ask.
- [Do lenders re-check self-employed income before closing?](https://blog.ratepiggy.com/blog/do-lenders-re-check-self-employed-income-before-closing): Lenders re-check your job or business before closing. What self-employed buyers in escrow should hold steady, what can stop a loan, and who to ask first.
- [FHA vs conventional at a 680–740 score: the five-year cost](https://blog.ratepiggy.com/blog/fha-vs-conventional-at-a-680-740-score-the-five-year-cost): With a small down payment and a 680–740 score, compare FHA's HUD premiums on a $400,000 example with a written conventional insurance quote over five years.
- [Gift Money for a Down Payment: The Paper Trail Lenders Want](https://blog.ratepiggy.com/blog/gift-money-for-a-down-payment-the-paper-trail-lenders-want): A four-step checklist for using family gift money on a down payment: gift letter rules, matching transfers, a clean deposit trail and the 2026 IRS gift figures.
- [Rate Piggy](https://blog.ratepiggy.com/)
- [Removing PMI from a conventional loan: a step checklist](https://blog.ratepiggy.com/blog/removing-pmi-from-a-conventional-loan-a-step-checklist): A five-step checklist for dropping PMI on a conventional loan: find your CFPB 80% and 78% marks, ask in writing, weigh an appraisal and confirm it stopped.
- [San Diego's 2026 conforming limit: size the loan, not the house](https://blog.ratepiggy.com/blog/san-diego-s-2026-conforming-limit-size-the-loan-not-the): In California, San Diego County's 2026 one-unit conforming limit is $1,104,000. How that loan-size line sorts conforming, jumbo, government-backed and bank-statement options for self-employed buyers.
- [Student loans in your DTI: each loan type has its own rule](https://blog.ratepiggy.com/blog/student-loans-in-your-dti-each-loan-type-has-its-own-rule): FHA, VA, conventional and USDA loans can count an income-driven student loan payment differently. See what goes into DTI and what to ask each lender.