Upwork Certificate of Earnings and proof of income

[jackiepeeler]

I'm needing proof of income documents for a mortgage refi. Does anyone know if Upwork's Certificate of Earnings is acceptable as proof of income for that?  

[lysis10]

Nope. You'll have to give them your tax documents and I think bank statements IIRC. If you talk to the people doing the refi, they will discuss what they will take. Tell them you're self employed, which will label you as a loser, but if you can show statements that you have money in the bank and tax documents that back up your income, then they will be ok with it.

If you are just kinda thinking about it, go to the bank that has your current mortgage, because a lot of the process can be skipped using the same bank.

[jackiepeeler]

Thanks so much Jennifer!

What are bank statements IIRC -- a particular kind of official statement the bank prepares for you? Different from what they send in the mail or you can download and print out?

The Statement of Earnings says "has been paid" I'm sure that is after their cut comes out. Could the 20% Upwork cut be viewed as a business expense and be in the loss column on a Profit & Loss statement? 

[lysis10]

IIRC = "if I recall correctly."

The amount earned for me was wrong when I last looked at the statement of earnings, but the bank didn't even want to see it and didn't feel that was proof enough. I am sure the total earned is gross, not net. 

Did you ask them if they'll accept it? I don't think they will. Mine wouldn't. They just wanted tax returns and bank statements. And, a quirky weird thing they asked was to put my company name (I'm not incorporated so this was weird to me) in the yellow pages. Don't ask me why this helped, but they specifically had me add my unincorporated company name and phone number in the yellow pages. I used a throwaway phone number and went online and added it on their site, and that was the last step before being approved. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[jackiepeeler]

I'm getting together with a friend tomorrow who is helping me sort this out. I'm wanting to be clear on my end before we talk, as much as possible. Especially the Upwork part.

Then the Statement of Earnings is not correctly worded, where it says "has been paid" that definitely implies I got the amount they say. "Contracted for" or something would be good for gross income. 

[lysis10]

I don't think the bank will take it as earnings proof, but the bank will tell you when you talk to them. I don't know if it's gross or net, but I'm assuming it's gross.

Since you haven't actually talked to banks yet, I would definitely call the bank that has your mortgage currently. You can skip a bunch of stuff like the appraisal if it's the same bank.

[tlbp]

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Jacqueline P wrote:

I'm getting together with a friend tomorrow who is helping me sort this out. I'm wanting to be clear on my end before we talk, as much as possible. Especially the Upwork part.

Then the Statement of Earnings is not correctly worded, where it says "has been paid" that definitely implies I got the amount they say. "Contracted for" or something would be good for gross income. 

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If you think about it though, your gross income doesn't help the bank make a decision. If I gross $100k but have $80k in expenses, I only have $20k to pay my bills. The bank will be most interested in your tax returns. They are going to assume that you aren't going to lie to the IRS about how much money you have. There's no reason not to print your earnings statement from Upwork and have it on hand. But the mortgage company will want to see tax statements and bank statements.