Bank Statement Loans on Hilton Head Island, SC: A Busy July and a Quiet January in Your Deposits, the Town Business License and Tip Income

Hilton Head Island's cleaners and rental managers turned over Airbnb rentals that were about 60% occupied from May through July of 2024 and about 26% occupied that November through January, in a report the data firm AirROI updated in January 2025.

On a Hilton Head Island bank statement loan, 12 months of deposits can make the island's winter look like a decline, depending on the month you apply, and 24 months compare each season with the one a year earlier. I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943. I'm a mortgage broker licensed in South Carolina through C2 Financial Corporation, I've been in the mortgage business since 1996, and I work from Bluffton, across the bridges from the island.

My page on Hilton Head Island covers the island itself, from the bridges to the flood map, and the Hilton Head-Bluffton area page covers the region around it. My page on bank statement loans explains how the loan works anywhere. This page stays with the parts that change on the island: the season in your deposits, the Town's business license, the route for tipped restaurant and resort staff, and the island trades on the lender's low-expense list. Every lender term below comes from Luxury Mortgage Corp.'s Simple Access guidelines, version 9.2, dated July 8, 2026 and revised July 31, 2026. Luxury is one of the wholesale lenders I work with.

The island's two seasons in twelve months of statements

Eligible deposits are the deposits that come from your income, with transfers between your own accounts left out. Luxury's guidelines add up 12 months of them and divide by 12, so a July on the island and a January count the same in your average. Then the lender looks at the trend. The guidelines want deposits that are stable or rising, and with 12 months of statements they allow a decline of up to 35% from one six-month stretch to the next. Past 35%, the lender asks for an additional 12 months of statements.

The lender generally wants the most recent 12 months available when you apply, so the month you apply in decides where the six-month split falls. Statements that end in January put November through January in the recent half, and May through July in the half before it. A business that follows the island's season can show a drop there that comes from the calendar. Statements that end in July turn it around, with the busy months in the recent half. The underwriter decides how a particular file reads.

As a round-figure illustration, say your deposits from August through January came to 40% less than your deposits from February through July. That is past the 35% allowance, and the file would need the additional 12 months. My article on how a bank statement loan counts twelve months of deposits walks through the arithmetic on a personal account.

Twenty-four months and the year-over-year comparison

The guidelines also accept 24 months of statements, and then the trend is measured year over year. The lender compares the most recent 12 months with the 12 before them, so each island summer is measured against the summer before it, and each winter against the winter before.

Eligible deposits, most recent 12 months compared with the 12 before	What Luxury's guidelines do
Stable or rising	No additional review
Down 15% or less	Use the 24-month average
Down more than 15%, up to 35%	Use a 12-month average of the most recent year
Down more than 35%	The account cannot be used for income

A decline of more than 5% from one year to the next also needs a short written explanation from you, covering the reason and whether it will continue. Island hotels, homes and villas were 58% occupied from July through September of 2025, about 5% below 2024, in the Chamber visitor bureau figures that the Island Packet reported. A companion report said Bluffton hotel occupancy in each month from April through June of 2025 was lower than a year earlier, which the bureau put down to economic uncertainty. If your own deposits moved with a year like that, your explanation can say so in your own words. On a business that swings with the island's season, we can work out both the 12-month and the 24-month versions from your statements before choosing one.

Your Town business license and the lender's proof of the business

The Town's business license page says "all businesses conducting business within the Town of Hilton Head Island, including home based businesses, are required to obtain a business license." The Town's renewals page runs the license year from May 1 to April 30, with renewals due by April 30. The license tax is figured on gross revenue from the prior year's federal return.

Luxury's guidelines ask for a letter from a CPA, an enrolled agent or a licensed tax preparer, or an equivalent document, and the letter is good for 120 days. It confirms the name of your business, your ownership share, how long you have been self-employed, and that the business is active or in good standing. For an LLC, the guidelines give an operating agreement plus a Secretary of State printout as an example of an equivalent. Luxury's underwriting team also checks on its own that the business exists.

The guidelines do not ask for the Town license, but the Town requires one of every business operating in the Town, and a copy in the file shows the business holds it. If you close in late April or early May, the license year is turning over, and I will ask for the license for the year you close in. A construction contractor needs both a Town business license and a state license from the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, and the Town's contractor page says the business names have to match.

Tips from the island's restaurants and resorts

Restaurants and resorts are among the island's biggest employers. WSAV called the restaurant group SERG "the largest employer on Hilton Head Island" and counted 16 restaurants and, "this summer alone," 1,400 people employed. The Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber's list of top employers names island resorts too, including The Sea Pines Resort and The Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa.

For a server at one of those restaurants or a resort employee paid in tips, Luxury's guidelines have a separate route for the service and tip industry, because of the industry's cash nature, as the guidelines put it. The lender verifies your job the usual way, and your base pay with pay stubs and W-2s. Your tips are worked out from your bank deposits, averaged over 12 or 24 months, and the file needs at least two reference letters, which the guidelines call corporate reference letters. I will tell you who those letters need to come from and what they need to say. The guidelines say neither a profit and loss statement nor a business license is required on this route. The lender confirms you are still receiving tips before closing.

An average over a full year or two takes in the island's quiet months along with the busy ones. If your tip job on the island is newer than that, it is a conversation to have with me before you count on the tips.

Home-based island businesses and the lower expense ratio

The Town's business license applies to home-based businesses too, and Luxury's lowest expense method is for a business run from home. The guidelines give six ways to work out income from business statements, and Method One takes half of your eligible business deposits off for expenses. Method Six takes off 25%, for a business on the lender's list of trades that usually run with lower expenses, if you own all of the business, have no employees and run it from your home. You or your company's CPA completes the lender's Low Expense Ratio questionnaire to confirm those three things.

The list includes cleaning services, house managers and house sitters, pet groomers, trainers and walkers, fitness instructors, athletic coaches, event planners and photographers, tutors and music teachers, mobile car detailing, and Uber or Lyft drivers. A business like one of these, run from a home inside the Town, needs a Town business license, and that gives the file one more record of the business.

Illustration, round figures, 100% owner	Eligible deposits over 12 months	Monthly income counted
Method One, half off for expenses	$120,000	$5,000
Method Six, 25% off for expenses	$120,000	$7,500

These round figures show the arithmetic only and are not island incomes. The other four methods include a profit and loss statement from a CPA, an enrolled agent or a licensed tax preparer, and a CPA letter that sets your expense ratio from your most recent tax return. I pick the method with you once I have seen your statements.

Things to have ready for an island file

These are the pieces that let me read your file the way the lender will, with the island's season and the Town's license in view.

1. Please provide your complete bank statements for the most recent 12 months, or 24 if we choose that route, all pages, even if the last page is intentionally left blank. If the income runs through a personal account, please also provide your business account statements for the most recent 3 months, all pages.
2. Please provide a letter from your CPA, enrolled agent or licensed tax preparer confirming your business name, your ownership share, how long you have been self-employed, and that the business is active or in good standing. The lender treats the letter as good for 120 days, so if the file runs long, we may need a new one before you sign your loan papers at closing.
3. Please provide a copy of your Town of Hilton Head Island business license for the current May-to-April year. For a contractor, please also provide a copy of your state license from the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.
4. The newest statement in the file can be no more than 120 days old on the day you sign your loan papers at closing, so a file that runs long may need fresh statements.
5. If a deposit is more than half of your average monthly eligible deposits and out of the ordinary, please be ready to tell me where it came from. Transfers between your own accounts are left out of the income. My article on which bank deposits an underwriter asks about covers the paper trail.
6. For tip income, please provide your pay stubs covering your most recent 30 days and your W-2s for the last two years, which is what the lender's guidelines ask for on a salaried job. Please also provide your complete bank statements for the 12 or 24 months that hold your tip deposits, all pages. I will tell you who the two reference letters need to come from and what they need to say.

Self-employed in South Carolina covers how your tax election in the state decides the paperwork. If you are buying an island investment property and would rather qualify it on its rent, my page on DSCR loans on Hilton Head Island covers that loan.

Calling me about an island bank statement loan

The next step on this loan is a phone call with me. You are welcome to call me at (843) 765-0000 about your own statements, your season and your license, and you do not need to fill out an application or use a tool first. Twelve months or twenty-four, I would rather look at the trend with you before you choose.

Nothing on this page is a loan approval, a denial or a commitment to lend, and it is not tax or legal advice. These are one lender's guidelines, dated July 2026, and they change. Your statements, your credit and the home decide where a file lands under them.

Common questions

Can I get a bank statement loan on Hilton Head Island if my business is seasonal?

Yes, a seasonal business on Hilton Head Island can use a bank statement loan under Luxury Mortgage's Simple Access guidelines, and the lender's trend check is where the season shows up. With 12 months of statements, deposits can fall up to 35% from one six-month stretch to the next, and past that the lender asks for 12 more months. With 24 months, the lender compares year over year.

Do tips from a Hilton Head Island restaurant or resort job count for a bank statement loan?

They can. Luxury Mortgage's Simple Access guidelines have a route for the service and tip industry. Base pay is verified with pay stubs and W-2s, tips are averaged from 12 or 24 months of bank deposits, and the file needs at least two corporate reference letters. Neither a profit and loss statement nor a business license is required on that route, and the lender confirms the tips are still coming in before closing.

Does the lender need my Town of Hilton Head Island business license?

Not by name. Luxury Mortgage's guidelines ask for a letter from a CPA, an enrolled agent or a licensed tax preparer, or an equivalent document, confirming the business name, ownership share, length of self-employment and good standing. The Town of Hilton Head Island requires a business license for businesses operating in the Town, including home-based ones, and I ask for a copy of it to go in the file.

Should I use 12 or 24 months of bank statements on Hilton Head Island?

It depends on how your deposits moved. Twelve months compares one six-month stretch with the other, so the month you apply in decides whether the island's busy summer or quiet winter lands in the recent half. Twenty-four months compares the most recent year with the year before. A year-over-year decline of 15 percent or less uses the 24-month average, and more than 35 percent makes the account ineligible.

How long do I need to be self-employed for a bank statement loan?

Luxury Mortgage's Simple Access guidelines ask for two years self-employed with the same business, with an ownership share of 25 percent or more. One to two years can work if you were in the same line of work for the two years before, with 6 more months of reserves (the savings you still have after closing) and a rising income trend. That applies on Hilton Head Island the same as anywhere the lender lends.

Which island businesses get the lower expense ratio on a bank statement loan?

Luxury Mortgage's Method Six takes 25 percent off deposits for expenses, against half under Method One, for trades on its low-expense list. The list includes cleaning services, house managers and house sitters, pet care, fitness instructors, athletic coaches, event planners and photographers, tutors and music teachers. On Hilton Head Island or anywhere else, the business has to be fully yours, with no employees, and run from your home.