Methodology
How we document your income
SoloSteady builds an income summary from real deposit activity in your bank statements, not from self-reported numbers. This page explains exactly how that happens: the steps the pipeline runs, what counts toward the monthly figure, what does not, how quiet months are handled, and what ends up in the document you download.
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The 5-stage pipeline
Every income summary is produced by the same deterministic pipeline. The monthly income figure is computed by plain arithmetic — AI writes the explanation sentences, never the numbers.
- 01
Connect your bank
You connect a checking or savings account through Plaid. The connection is read-only, your bank login never reaches our servers, and access tokens are revoked within 24 hours.
- 02
Reading each account
For each PDF or account, we confirm the bank, account holder, and statement period. This is a consistency check — the summary should never contradict the source document.
- 03
Transaction extraction
Only deposit rows are extracted — account numbers, balances, and withdrawals are deliberately left out. Descriptions are truncated so a single runaway row can never dominate downstream steps.
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Rule-based classification
Each deposit is tagged as earned income, transfer, refund, loan proceed, one-off credit, or unknown. Classification runs on deterministic rules you can reproduce — not on AI guesses.
- 05
Fixed-rule calculation
The calculator sums classified income, buckets it by month, and applies the averaging rule. A narrator then writes the plain-English confidence note around those numbers. The narrator never changes a number the calculator produced.
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What counts as income
Only deposits the pipeline can identify as earned or recurring income count toward the monthly figure. The classifier looks for the patterns an underwriter expects to see: a steady employer, a regular gig platform, a recurring client.
- 01W-2 payroll deposits
- 02Gig-platform payouts (Uber, DoorDash, Stripe, Upwork, etc.)
- 03Recurring client ACH transfers
- 04Recurring P2P income (Venmo, Zelle, Cash App) from the same payer
- 05Rental income and benefits deposits
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What we exclude
Only earned income belongs in the monthly figure. Everything else is noise that would overstate what you actually earn — and overstating is the dangerous direction of error when the number goes on a loan application. When a deposit is excluded, the pipeline records why, and the exclusion count appears in your summary.
- 01Transfers between your own accounts
- 02Refunds and reversed charges
- 03Credit-card payments and loan proceeds
- 04One-off credits (gifts, rebates, settlements)
- 05Crypto or brokerage transfers
- 06Gambling or lottery credits
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Every month in your data counts
Months must be consecutive — a gap in what your bank returns is flagged rather than glossed over. Every month inside that consecutive range counts in the monthly figure. If one month was quiet (between contracts, unpaid leave, seasonal work) and had no qualifying deposits, it enters the average as $0 and the number is dragged down in proportion. Nothing is smoothed over: your summary prints the full month-by-month ledger and marks the lowest qualifying month, so the floor is visible line by line.
What pay stub generators let people do
Type any monthly figure into a template and print a PDF. A quiet month can be hidden by picking any number you like; nothing ties the figure to real deposit activity, and nothing in the file contradicts it.
What SoloSteady does
January ($5,000), February ($0 — no deposits), March ($5,000). Result: ($5,000 + $0 + $5,000) ÷ 3 = $3,333/mo February counts as $0 and the average reflects that. Your summary prints the per-month ledger and marks your lowest month. Nothing is hidden; nothing is padded.
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The month-by-month ledger
Your summary prints a month-by-month ledger: which months counted, which were missing, and the total for each. Nobody reading it has to guess where the number came from — the inputs are there line by line, with the lowest qualifying month marked and the analyzed period stated on the page.
That is how the twelve months are read and totalled. The rest of this page covers what the document contains and what happens to your data.
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What the document contains
Six pages, in a fixed structure. Page count does not vary with how many months your bank returns — the layout is the same every time, so the document reads the same way for whoever opens it.
Summary and integrity checks
Page 1- Average monthly income across twelve consecutive months, with the period it covers and the deposit count it was drawn from.
- Coverage disclosure naming which months counted and which were missing, plus the observed historical range.
- Statement integrity block with the document hash, and the date your government ID was verified.
Ledger and payer detail
Page 2- Month-by-month ledger of all twelve months, with the lowest qualifying month marked.
- Each quarter totalled, alongside the twelve-month average.
- Income by payer, with each source's share of the total.
Methodology appendix
Page 3- Sections I–III documenting how deposits were read, which were excluded and why, and how consistency and source concentration were measured.
- A scoped statement of what the document is and is not, so nothing about it has to be inferred.
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Privacy and data handling
Bank data is treated as sensitive PII. The pipeline only reads what it needs, keeps it briefly, and never sells or trains on it.
- 01Account numbers, routing numbers, and balances are never sent to the AI narrator — only deposit dates, amounts, and source labels.
- 02Anthropic (the AI provider) has a SOC 2 Type II report, does not train on API inputs, and retains data for up to 30 days for abuse detection only.
- 03Raw bank data is auto-deleted within 24 hours of processing; Plaid access tokens are revoked within 24 hours.
- 04Your income summary lives on your account; you can download it whenever you need it. SoloSteady does not send it to anyone.
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What's in your summary
The document you download carries the signals below. They are what an underwriter reads a bank statement package to establish, stated plainly rather than left to be inferred from raw statements. SoloSteady does not send the summary to anyone — you download it and submit it yourself.
- 01
Coverage block
Which months were analyzed and which were not. Gaps are disclosed explicitly — no silent averaging.
- 02
Month-to-month steadiness
How much your income moves between months. Bank statement underwriting turns on whether deposits are dependable, not just large. SoloSteady describes the variation; it does not score it.
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Income stream count
How many distinct qualifying income sources the pipeline detected. One employer is different from five gig platforms — both valid, and the document says which you are.
- 04
Document hash on every page
A hash derived from the document's own contents, printed on every page. Compare it across pages and copies; any edit changes it. SoloSteady keeps no lookup page — the check is against the file itself.
- 05
Reference number and issue date
Generation date plus a unique reference number, so you can identify a specific summary when you contact support about it.
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Lowest qualifying month
The worst single month in the analyzed period. Your real floor, stated rather than smoothed into the average.
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Longest continuous payer
The most tenured qualifying income source. A record of payer stability, without claiming anything about employment.
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Source diversity
What share of income comes from the top source. High concentration means one payer accounts for most of the total; diversified means it is spread across several.
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FAQ
How many months of deposit history do I need?
Twelve consecutive months. That is what bank statement mortgage programs typically ask for, and it is the window the summary documents. The months must be contiguous — if your bank returns a gap, the summary flags which month is missing rather than averaging around it.
What if I changed jobs during the period?
The pipeline tracks each income source separately, so a job change is visible as one stream ending and another beginning. The monthly figure reflects the full analyzed period, and the summary notes both streams so the transition is on the page rather than hidden in the average.
Why is my documented income different from my gross pay?
The figure is based on deposits that actually landed in your account. That is your take-home, not gross pay. Tax withholding, retirement contributions, and health-plan premiums all reduce the deposited amount. A bank statement program underwrites on deposits, which is what this documents.
What if one month inside my statements had no income?
That month counts as $0 in the average — not hidden, not padded. The month-by-month ledger shows it as a $0 month, the average includes it, and the lowest-month figure states your floor. Months still need to be consecutive; if your bank returns a gap, the summary flags which month is missing rather than averaging around it.
Will a lender accept this?
That is the lender's decision, and SoloSteady makes no claim about it. This is a compilation of your own bank deposit data, prepared for you to submit. It is not a consumer report, not a certified financial statement, not CPA-reviewed, and not an approval of any kind. Program requirements vary by lender and change without notice, so confirm what yours asks for.
That is the whole method. If it matches what you need documented, the next step is connecting the account your deposits land in.
Start your income summarySoloSteady is an informational tool operated by Culmination Digital LLC. Income summaries compile deposit activity from the bank account you connect; they are not certified financial statements, consumer reports, or legal instruments, and they are not tax advice. You are responsible for the accuracy of anything you submit to a lender. Consult a qualified professional for advice specific to your situation.