If part of your paycheck arrives as company stock, your refinance is going to be handled differently from the one your neighbor with a flat salary gets. In Scottsdale and across Metro Phoenix, a lot of tech, healthcare, and corporate workers get restricted stock units (RSUs) on top of base pay. Lenders can count that money, but only under rules that trip up a surprising number of applicants. With the 30 year fixed near 7.3%, a refinance has to be worth the cost, and the difference between counting your RSUs and ignoring them can decide whether you qualify at all.

What lenders need before they count RSU income

They need three things: a two year history, a continuing schedule, and paper that matches. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines generally treat vested RSUs as stable income only when you have received them for at least two years and the award schedule shows they will keep coming for at least three more.

The underwriter will ask for your last two years of W-2s, your most recent paystubs, the grant or vesting schedule from your employer, and often a brokerage statement showing the shares were delivered. The value is averaged over the two years, not taken from your best year. If your vests dropped from one year to the next, the lender will use the lower, more recent figure.

RSUs are taxed as ordinary wages when they vest, which is why your W-2 is the proof. You can read how the IRS treats stock compensation if you want the tax side of the story.

A real example with real numbers

Say you earn $9,500 a month in base salary, and your RSUs vested at $48,000 in 2024 and $60,000 in 2025. A lender averages those two years to $54,000, or $4,500 a month. Your qualifying income becomes $14,000 instead of $9,500.

Now take a refinance of a $400,000 balance from 7.80% to 7.30%. Principal and interest drops from $2,879 to $2,742, a savings of $137 a month. Add $650 for taxes, $350 for insurance, and $600 in other monthly debts, and your total monthly obligations come to roughly $4,342.

The same borrower can be a decline or an easy approval depending on whether the stock counts.

That swing is why we get your documents early. A debt to income ratio near 46% leaves almost no room for error, while 31% opens up better pricing and more loan options.

Should you keep the shares or sell them

For income purposes, the lender cares that the shares vested and were delivered to you. Whether you held them or sold them the next day does not change the income calculation. It does change your assets. Vested shares you still hold can count toward reserves, usually at a discount to market value because the price can move. If you plan to use the shares to cover closing costs, sell them well before application so the cash is seasoned and the paper trail is clean.

One practical tip for Valley homeowners with concentrated stock: do not move large amounts between accounts in the weeks before you apply. Every transfer needs an explanation, and every explanation takes time you could spend closing.

Run your own numbers

Where RSU income fails

The most common failure is a short history. If your first grant vested 14 months ago, most lenders will not count it yet, and you qualify on salary alone. The second failure is a grant that is about to run out. If your schedule shows the final vest next spring, the three year continuance test fails even with a long history.

A third trap is a job change. Stock from a previous employer does not carry over to a new one, so a fresh start resets the clock. We walked through that problem in our guide to changing jobs during a refinance. Other variable pay has its own rules, covered in our post on refinancing with commission income.

What to do if the stock does not count yet

You still have options. First, qualify on base salary alone and see whether the refinance works at that number. Many do, especially when the new payment is lower than the old one. Second, wait for the next W-2 season. Each January another year of vesting history lands in your file, and a borrower who is short today may qualify cleanly in six months.

Third, consider an alternative documentation loan if your pay mixes salary with other income. Our programs page lists what we offer beyond standard conventional loans. The right move depends on your rate, your balance, and how long you plan to stay in the house, which is why we run the numbers before you pay for an appraisal.

Timing matters too. If a large vest lands next month, it may be worth waiting for the paystub that shows it, because the extra documentation can strengthen the file. If a vest is about to drop sharply, apply sooner while the older, higher figures still sit in the two year average. Tell your loan officer about both situations up front so they can plan the application date around your calendar instead of the other way around.

Do the break even before you chase the paperwork

Qualifying is half of the decision. Cost is the other half. If closing costs run $6,500 and you save $137 a month, you break even in about 47 months. If you may sell or move before then, the refinance loses money even if it closes. Our refinance break even guide shows how to run it for your own loan. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also publishes a free checklist for comparing loan offers, and conforming loan limits are posted on the Federal Housing Finance Agency site.

If you are weighing a move instead of a refinance, you can browse homes on Arizona Luxury Property Search while you sort out your income paperwork.

Where we fit in

We work with homeowners in Scottsdale, Phoenix, and across the Valley who earn part of their pay in equity, and we shop several wholesale lenders because they do not all read stock income the same way. See the loan programs we offer, how our process works, and who we are on the about page. You can also start at pillarmortgagegroup.com.

Bring your last two W-2s, the most recent paystub that shows year to date stock vesting, and the grant schedule. If your equity is held at a brokerage, the latest statement helps. With those four documents in hand, most RSU files move through underwriting without a surprise, and we can usually tell you within one business day whether your stock income will count.

Frequently asked questions