The No Doc Streamline program requires a 700 minimum FICO, caps leverage at 75% loan-to-value on a purchase and 70% on any refinance or cash-out, and needs the property to cover 1.00x debt service on the rents the appraiser used to derive value. It is available on both investor and owner-occupied properties, it does not require personal or business tax returns, and market rents are used for qualification in every case.
That is the whole trade: you give up leverage and bring a stronger credit profile, and the file stops depending on tax returns, operating statements, and leases. What follows is the parameter set from our small balance commercial guidelines, effective 8/3/2026 — including the pieces that actually decide files: the second score requirement, the overlays that cut below 75%, and the conversion path that lets a file which missed coverage elsewhere land here instead of dying.
The parameters
| Parameter | No Doc Streamline — investor and owner-occupied |
|---|---|
| Loan size | $100,000 – $2,500,000 |
| Minimum FICO | 700 |
| Optic Score | 600 |
| Max LTV — purchase | 75% |
| Max LTV — rate-and-term refinance | 70% |
| Max LTV — cash-out refinance | 70% |
| DSCR | 1.00x, based on the rents the appraiser used to derive the property value |
| Minimum occupancy | 75% |
| Stabilization | 75% occupancy across a 90-day trailing underwriting period |
| Underwriting method | Property DSCR |
| Rent basis | Market rents, in all cases |
Two rows are easy to skim past.
The underwriting method is Property DSCR — on owner-occupied files too. Under our complete and bank statement programs an owner-occupied property is underwritten on Global DSC, which folds in the guarantor's personal and business debt. No Doc Streamline does not. The property stands on its own — which is why the program works for a self-employed owner whose global picture is messy, and why the property has to be genuinely occupied and leased.
The Optic Score at 600 sits alongside FICO as a separate pass/fail. It is not a rounding detail.
The FICO bar is 700, and it is program-specific
Our small balance commercial floor across programs is a 650 minimum FICO for the primary guarantor and 640 for every other guarantor. No Doc Streamline sits above that floor: 700. A primary guarantor at 672 is eligible for our complete, lite, or bank statement programs and is not eligible for No Doc Streamline. There is no version of this program that starts at 650.
The Optic Score, and how it interacts with multiple guarantors
The program requires a 600 Optic Score in addition to the 700 FICO. Where there is more than one guarantor, the rule catches people: the guarantor with the passing FICO score must also have the passing Optic Score. At least one guarantor has to clear both bars on their own — you cannot take the FICO from one person and the Optic Score from another. Pricing then follows that same guarantor.
The guideline works this through with three examples.
The guideline sets the 600 threshold but does not define the Optic Score's source or methodology, so we will not characterize it beyond the number and the rule that governs it.
Leverage: 75% on purchase, 70% on everything else
The purchase and refinance numbers are not the same, and the gap is where most No Doc plans break.
A rate-and-term refinance gets the same 70% cap as a cash-out. A No Doc borrower refinancing a maturing note with zero dollars in their pocket is held to the same leverage as one pulling equity out. Size the payoff against 70% of value before you do anything else.
Here is how No Doc sits against the programs it is most often converted from:
| O/O Complete or Bank Statement | Investor Complete or Lite | No Doc Streamline | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage test | 1.20x Global DSC | 1.15x DSCR | 1.00x DSCR |
| Underwriting method | Global DSC | Property DSCR | Property DSCR |
| Max LTV, purchase | 80% for loans with FICO ≥725 | 80% for loans with FICO ≥725 | 75% |
| Max LTV, cash-out or refinance | 75% | 75% | 70% |
| Minimum FICO | 650 primary / 640 others | 650 primary / 640 others | 700 |
| Personal and business tax returns | Required (complete) | Required (complete) | Not required |
The 80% tier on the other programs is conditioned on a FICO of 725 or higher. No Doc has no equivalent step-up — 75% on purchase is the ceiling no matter how strong the credit is.
The overlays that cut below 75% and 70%
The matrix number is a maximum, not a starting point. Several rules elsewhere reduce it, and they apply on top of the No Doc caps rather than instead of them.
- Inexperienced investor — 70% LTV. A borrower or primary guarantor who has owned at least one property (primary residence or investment) for at least 12 months but does not meet the experienced-investor definition is capped at 70%, which erases the purchase advantage entirely. To be experienced you need 12 consecutive months owning and managing commercial or non-owner-occupied residential real estate within the most recent three years, or three or more investment properties each held at least 12 months during the previous 24 months. Owning your house does not count.
- Inexperienced owner-occupied business — 70% LTV. Less than three years in the business or industry caps you at 70%. Restaurant, bar, and daycare businesses require three years of continuous operating history at the subject or another location, and are not eligible below that.
- Rural — 60% LTV. A property that meets our MSA requirements but is deemed rural by the appraiser is capped at 60%.
- Special use permit in a residential zoning district — 50% LTV. A commercial use in a residential zoning district operating under a special use permit, or as defined by the municipality, is capped at 50%.
The DSCR standard: 1.00x on appraiser-derived rents
The coverage test is 1.00x, based on the rents utilized by the appraiser to derive the property value. That phrasing has been in our guidelines since 2022 and has not moved. Two consequences follow.
The appraisal is the income document. On a complete-doc file you argue income from operating statements, leases, and tax returns. On No Doc you have none of those, so the rent schedule inside the appraisal qualifies the loan. Appraisals must be ordered through an approved Appraisal Management Company — orders placed directly by the broker or borrower are not acceptable — so you cannot shop this.
1.00x is a break-even test, not a cushion. The property covers its own debt service and nothing more, which leaves essentially no room for the payment to drift upward between application and closing.
Market rents are used for qualification in all cases
As of a July 2026 change, our guidelines state plainly: market rents will be used for qualification purposes in all cases on No Doc Streamline. "In all cases" cuts both directions.
If your in-place rents are above market — a legacy tenant paying over the going rate, a related-party lease written generously — you get no credit for the excess. If they are below market, the market rent qualifies the file, which can help. That is a real difference from the documented programs, where in-place contract rent and lease terms drive the analysis. Either way the number comes from the appraisal, not your rent roll.
Two related restrictions sit next to it:
Economic occupancy is not permitted on No Doc Streamline — and specifically not on transactions converted to No Doc during the underwriting process. Economic occupancy is the mechanism that lets a lease count before the tenant is physically in and paying, available under our other programs when a fully executed lease has been in place at least 90 days, the lease states the tenant is responsible for completing required improvements, and acceptable evidence of rent payments exists. On No Doc, none of that applies. The space has to be actually occupied.
Not every dollar of property income counts. The cash flow analysis includes only rental income that contributes directly to value or is stable and typical in the marketplace. The full exclusion list is covered in [what income a commercial lender excludes from NOI](/blog/what-income-a-commercial-lender-excludes-from-noi).
Occupancy and stabilization
The property needs 75% occupancy, sustained across a 90-day trailing underwriting period before application. Two carve-outs exist:
- If the 75% threshold was met for the preceding 90 days, new leases commencing after the application date do not need their own 90-day seasoning.
- If a detailed capital expenditure schedule of qualified improvements — confirmed by the appraisal — shows the property was renovated or rehabbed within the last 30 to 60 days, the 90-day stabilization requirement does not apply.
The second is the useful one for a recently repositioned building, and it requires the capex schedule and appraisal confirmation, not just an assertion that work was done.
The conversion path into No Doc
This is the part of the program that gets used most and is written about least.
A file does not have to be submitted as No Doc from the start. A loan that fails coverage under a documented program may be moved into No Doc Streamline and re-underwritten to No Doc parameters:
- Owner-occupied. If, under the complete or bank statement program, the loan does not meet the required 1.20x Global DSC, it may be converted to No Doc Streamline and adjusted to those guidelines.
- Investor. If, under the complete or lite program, the loan does not meet the required 1.15x DSCR, it may be converted to No Doc Streamline.
In both cases the guideline is explicit: No Doc Streamline requirements must be met. Conversion is not a waiver. You do not keep the 80% purchase LTV or the 650 FICO floor and simply lower the coverage test — the entire No Doc parameter set attaches: 700 FICO, 600 Optic, 75%/70% leverage, market rents, no economic occupancy.
What changed in July 2026
There used to be a gate on the bank statement side: a bank statement file had to reach a 1.00x Global DSC before it could be switched into the No Doc program. A change dated 07/10/2026 removed that requirement.
The practical effect: a bank statement file whose global coverage lands below 1.00x is no longer automatically shut out of conversion. It is evaluated against the No Doc parameters on their own terms — the property's own 1.00x Property DSCR, not the global figure that failed.
Note the word the guideline uses throughout: the loan may be converted. Conversion is available, not owed. The change log entry that introduced the path in December 2025 says the same thing, and it applied immediately to loans then in the pipeline.
What "no doc" does not mean
The name oversells it. What is removed is the income documentation.
| Not required on No Doc Streamline | Still required |
|---|---|
| Two years of personal federal tax returns or transcripts | Signed loan application or executed Letter of Intent |
| Two years of business federal tax returns or transcripts | Tri-merged credit reports on all guarantors and principals with 25% or greater ownership, dated within 120 days of the note date |
| Two years of property operating statements or Schedule E plus YTD | Appraisal ordered through an approved AMC |
| Business profit and loss statements, CPA-prepared statements, or six months of business bank statements | Two months of bank statements evidencing business and personal assets |
| Executed commercial leases with addenda | Six months of post-closing liquid reserves, measured in months of the qualifying P&I payment |
| Identity and residency documentation, background checks, and entity legal documents | |
| Property, liability, and other insurance with annual premium | |
| Personal financial statements and net worth at least equal to the loan amount, for loans of $1MM or more |
No tax returns, no operating statements, no leases — but a full credit file, full asset and reserve verification, a full entity package, and a full appraisal.
Reserves are six months on purchases, rate-and-term refinances, and cash-out refinances alike. Cash-out proceeds may count toward reserves where the FICO is above 700, provided they equal or exceed the required six months — worth checking against the exact score, since the program minimum is 700 and that provision is written as greater than 700.
Cash-out specifics
Cash-out proceeds may only be used for business purposes: capital expenditures on the property, business or property-related debt, and normal business expenses. A borrower receiving more than 10% cash out has the loan purpose defined as refinance/cash-out — which is what puts them at the 70% cap.
If you have owned the property under 12 months, seasoning constrains LTV separately from that cap. You will need the acquisition settlement statement and evidence of 15–20% capital investment at acquisition, plus satisfactory evidence of capital expenditure supporting the value increase — that expenditure cannot itself have been financed and is subject to review of paid invoices. Where those are supplied, the appraised value may be used to determine LTV. Even then, we may limit cash-out to the initial capital expenditure plus closing costs case-by-case.
What this page does not do
This page states the No Doc Streamline parameters as our small balance commercial guidelines set them out, effective 8/3/2026. It is not an approval, a pre-qualification, a rate quote, or a commitment to lend. Specifically not covered:
- Pricing. Rate, margin, floor, points, and any credit-score or LTV adjustments are set by the current Pricing Matrix, which is not part of the guideline text and can change. Nothing here implies a rate.
- Property-type eligibility and per-type LTV caps, which are governed separately. A property can meet every No Doc parameter on this page and still be capped lower or be ineligible on type.
- Fees, costs, and timelines. The guideline does not set closing costs, appraisal cost, or a time to close, so we supply no numbers for them. Prepayment structure is likewise not addressed here.
- How the Optic Score is produced. The guideline sets the 600 minimum and the multi-guarantor rule; it does not define the score's source, and we will not guess.
- NOI construction and income exclusions, and bank statement income calculation — both covered on the linked pages.
- Legal, tax, zoning, and permitting questions. Whether a special use permit can be modified, how an entity should be structured, or what a cash-out does to your tax position are questions for your attorney, accountant, or municipality.
If you want to know whether a specific property and guarantor clear these parameters, the answer comes from the actual scores, the actual payoff or purchase price, and the appraiser's rent conclusions.
Guideline SBC 08/03/2026 · Reviewed August 31, 2026
Published September 1, 2026 · Updated September 1, 2026
How to use this guide
This article is educational guidance, not an offer or commitment to lend. Rules, property facts, credit, leverage, documentation, and full underwriting still control any actual scenario.