Locum physician · 18 mo · 760 · 1099 program
| Borrower | Locum tenens hospitalist (agency 1099) |
| Self-employed | 18 months (post-residency) |
| Credit | 760 |
| Program | 1099 income program (90% of 1099 totals) |
| Price | $525,000 (illustrative) |
| Down payment | 15% |
| State | NC |
| Outcome | Approved |
The scenario
Eighteen months after residency, this hospitalist was earning roughly $310,000 a year in day rates across two staffing agencies — and showing about $198,000 on Schedule C after travel, lodging, malpractice, licensing, and a solo-401(k) deduction. A conventional lender wanted the two-year average anyway, which one strong year and one partial year couldn't produce.
A 1099 program solved both problems at once: it credited 90% of the trailing twelve months of agency 1099 totals and accepted residency as prior same-field history, so the 18-month track record read as continuation of a medical career rather than a brand-new business. A signed forward assignment covering the six months past closing answered the continuity question, and the file approved at 15% down.
What made it work
- Residency counted as same-field history — the 12-month self-employment exception applied
- Clean agency 1099s from two payers made the 90%-of-1099 math simple
- A signed future assignment contract extended past the closing date
- 760 score and six months of reserves carried the pricing tier
Lessons you can use
The same-field exception is the locum's lever
Lenders care about continuity of the work, not the payer. Medical residency followed by locum practice in the same specialty is one career, and documenting it (CV, license, board status) is what turns an 18-month 1099 history into an approvable file instead of a two-year wait.
1099 programs sidestep the deduction fight
Travel, lodging, and malpractice write-offs are real and large for locums — and every dollar of them shrinks conventional qualifying income. A program that reads 1099 totals at a fixed haircut prices the income the agencies actually reported, no line-by-line deduction argument required.
Scheduled gaps need scheduled answers
The calendar had deliberate gaps between assignments — normal for locum work, alarming to an underwriter reading it cold. The signed next contract plus a one-paragraph agency letter reframed the gaps as scheduling, not unemployment, before anyone had to ask.
Your next step
If this scenario rhymes with your situation, start with Mortgages for locum tenens physicians for the full picture, then run your own numbers with the DTI calculator. Every real application is different — use these scenarios to learn the patterns, then confirm specifics with a licensed loan officer.
This profile is a composite educational scenario created by Mortgage Merlin editorial staff — not a real person, transaction, or testimonial. Figures are illustrative and not a quote, pre-approval, or offer of credit. Mortgage Merlin is a publisher, not a lender or broker.