Debt-to-Income Ratio Calculator
Front-end and back-end DTI scored against the real conventional, FHA and VA underwriting limits, with the debt to clear to reach your target ratio.
Debt-to-Income Ratio Calculator: with the default inputs, back-end dti (all debts) is 40.3%.
Before tax, including reliable bonus and overtime a lender would count.
Proposed principal, interest, taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance and HOA — or your rent if you are not buying.
Use the payment on your credit report. Deferred loans still count under most programmes.
The minimum due, not what you usually pay.
Housing plus every other monthly debt, over gross monthly income. This is the ratio lenders mean by 'DTI'.
- Front-end DTI (housing only)
- 30%
- Conventional (Fannie Mae)
- Possible manually — above 36%, so it needs the credit score and reserves Fannie Mae requires to stretch to 45%.
- FHA
- Inside the base 31/43 ratios — no compensating factors required.
- VA
- Inside VA's 41% guideline. The residual-income test still applies and is the one that fails more files.
- Total monthly debt payments
- $3,220
- Non-housing debt payments
- $820
- Monthly debt to clear to hit your target
- $0
- …or extra gross monthly income instead
- $0
- Housing payment your target allows
- $2,620At your current non-housing debts.
Assumptions
- Conventional thresholds are Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-6-02 (topic last updated 2 April 2025): 36% manual, 45% manual with credit score and reserves, 50% through Desktop Underwriter. Freddie Mac's limits are similar but not identical.
- FHA thresholds are HUD Handbook 4000.1, II.A.5, Approvable Ratio Requirements (Manual): 31/43 base, 37/47 with one compensating factor, 40/40 with no discretionary debt, 40/50 with two.
- The VA figure is the 41% debt-to-income standard in 38 CFR 36.4340(c); VA's regional residual-income test is not modelled and often binds first.
- The Qualified Mortgage rule no longer imposes a 43% DTI cap — 12 CFR 1026.43(e)(2) is price-based.
- Income is gross, before tax. Lenders may count documented bonus, overtime and self-employment income differently and apply their own overlays.
- Student-loan payments are taken as entered; programmes differ on how to treat deferred or income-driven payments.
- Housing (PITI + HOA)$2,40075%
- Car loans and leases$45014%
- Student loans$2508%
- Credit card minimums$1204%
| Obligation | Monthly | % of gross income |
|---|---|---|
| Housing (PITI + HOA) | $2,400 | 30% |
| Car loans and leases | $450 | 5.6% |
| Student loans | $250 | 3.1% |
| Credit card minimums | $120 | 1.5% |
| Programme | Limit | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Conventional, manually underwritten | 36% total DTI, up to 45% with credit score and reserves | Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-6-02 |
| Conventional, Desktop Underwriter | 50% total DTI | Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-6-02 |
| FHA, manually underwritten | 31/43; 37/47 with one compensating factor; 40/40 with no discretionary debt; 40/50 with two | HUD Handbook 4000.1, II.A.5 |
| VA | 41% plus a regional residual-income test | 38 CFR 36.4340(c) |
| Qualified Mortgage (Reg Z) | No DTI cap — the general QM definition is price-based | 12 CFR 1026.43(e)(2) |
How this is worked out
The formula
Front-end DTI = housing payment ÷ gross monthly income Back-end DTI = (housing payment + all other monthly debt payments) ÷ gross monthly income Debt to clear for a target = total debt − gross income × target Extra income for a target = total debt ÷ target − gross income
Open How it’s calculated above to see this worked through with your own numbers.
What you enter
- Gross monthly income
- Before tax, including reliable bonus and overtime a lender would count.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 8000
- Housing payment
- Proposed principal, interest, taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance and HOA — or your rent if you are not buying.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 2400
- Car loans and leases
- A number.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 450
- Student loans
- Use the payment on your credit report. Deferred loans still count under most programmes.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 250
- Credit card minimum payments
- The minimum due, not what you usually pay.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 120
- Personal and other instalment loans
- A number.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 0
- Alimony and child support(under More options)
- A number.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 0
- Other monthly obligations(under More options)
- Court-ordered judgments, co-signed loans you are liable for.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 0
- Target back-end DTI(under More options)
- The calculator works out the debt to clear or the income to add to reach it.a percentage · from 1 to 100 · defaults to 43
What you get back
- Back-end DTI (all debts)main answer
- Housing plus every other monthly debt, over gross monthly income. This is the ratio lenders mean by 'DTI'.
- Front-end DTI (housing only)
- Conventional (Fannie Mae)
- FHA
- VA
- Total monthly debt payments
- Non-housing debt payments
- Monthly debt to clear to hit your target
- …or extra gross monthly income instead
- Housing payment your target allows
- At your current non-housing debts.
What this assumes
- Conventional thresholds are Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-6-02 (topic last updated 2 April 2025): 36% manual, 45% manual with credit score and reserves, 50% through Desktop Underwriter. Freddie Mac's limits are similar but not identical.
- FHA thresholds are HUD Handbook 4000.1, II.A.5, Approvable Ratio Requirements (Manual): 31/43 base, 37/47 with one compensating factor, 40/40 with no discretionary debt, 40/50 with two.
- The VA figure is the 41% debt-to-income standard in 38 CFR 36.4340(c); VA's regional residual-income test is not modelled and often binds first.
- The Qualified Mortgage rule no longer imposes a 43% DTI cap — 12 CFR 1026.43(e)(2) is price-based.
- Income is gross, before tax. Lenders may count documented bonus, overtime and self-employment income differently and apply their own overlays.
- Student-loan payments are taken as entered; programmes differ on how to treat deferred or income-driven payments.
About this calculator
Debt-to-income is the ratio that decides mortgage applications. Not your credit score, not your savings — the share of your gross monthly income already committed to debt payments. Lenders compute two of them: the front-end ratio, which is just the housing payment, and the back-end ratio, which adds every other debt. When someone says "your DTI", they mean the back-end.
The thresholds, from the actual rulebooks
Conventional. Fannie Mae's manual-underwriting maximum is 36% of stable monthly income, extendable to 45% for borrowers who meet its credit-score and reserve requirements. Loans run through Desktop Underwriter can go to 50%. Those figures are from Selling Guide B3-6-02, not folklore.
FHA. HUD publishes a matrix, not a single number: 31/43 with no compensating factors; 37/47 with one (documented reserves, a minimal increase in housing payment, or residual income); 40/40 with no discretionary debt; and 40/50 with two compensating factors. Borrowers below a 580 credit score cannot exceed 31/43 at all.
VA. 41%, from 38 CFR 36.4340 — but VA is the one programme that also runs a residual income test, a regional dollar figure of what must be left over after all obligations. Files fail that test more often than the ratio, and a strong residual income can justify a DTI well above 41%.
One widely repeated claim is now wrong: there is no 43% cap in the Qualified Mortgage rule. The general QM definition at 12 CFR 1026.43(e)(2) has been price-based since the GSE patch expired; the 43% figure survives as a rule of thumb, not a regulation.
How to use it
Enter your gross monthly income and each debt separately — use the minimum due on cards, not what you normally pay, because that is what the credit report shows. For a purchase, put the proposed payment including taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance and HOA in the housing field, not your current rent. Set a target under More options and the calculator reports both routes to it: the monthly debt to clear, and the additional income that would do the same job.
Reading the results
- Debt to clear is per month of payment, not per dollar of balance. Paying off a $4,000 card with a $120 minimum removes $120 from the numerator; paying $4,000 off a $30,000 car loan may remove nothing, because the payment does not change. Retire whole accounts, smallest payment first, when you are ratio-shopping.
- Housing payment your target allows is what to hand your agent as a ceiling.
What this does not model
Lenders count some income you might not (documented bonus, overtime and self-employment averaged over two years) and exclude some you would (income you cannot document for 24 months). Student loans are treated differently across programmes — some use 0.5% or 1% of the balance when the payment is $0 or income-driven. Accounts with fewer than ten payments left are often excluded conventionally. And every one of these figures is an agency guideline; individual lenders layer stricter overlays on top and are entitled to.
Frequently asked questions
▸What is a good debt-to-income ratio?
Under 36% passes everywhere and leaves room to live. Between 36% and 43% is normal and financeable. Above 43% you are relying on automated underwriting, compensating factors or VA residual income, and above 50% no mainstream conventional loan is available.
▸What is the difference between front-end and back-end DTI?
Front-end counts only the housing payment — principal, interest, taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance and HOA. Back-end adds car loans, student loans, credit-card minimums, alimony and child support. FHA tests both; conventional underwriting mostly cares about the back-end.
▸Is 43% still the maximum DTI for a mortgage?
No. That number came from the old Qualified Mortgage rule, which has been price-based rather than DTI-based since the GSE patch expired. Fannie Mae allows up to 50% through Desktop Underwriter and FHA's matrix reaches 40/50 with two compensating factors.
▸What counts as debt in the calculation?
Anything that appears as a recurring payment obligation: mortgage or rent, car loans and leases, student loans, credit-card minimums, personal loans, court-ordered alimony and child support. Utilities, groceries, insurance premiums, phone bills and taxes are not counted.
▸How do I lower my DTI quickly?
Eliminate whole payments rather than shaving balances — paying off the smallest-payment account removes the most ratio per dollar. Paying down a card to reduce its minimum helps a little; refinancing a car to a longer term lowers the payment and the ratio, at the cost of more interest.
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