Debt-to-income ratio

DTI asks how much of a household’s pretax monthly income is already spoken for by debt payments, including the proposed housing payment when that is how the lender is running the ratio. A lower ratio means a smaller share of income is going to listed debts. A higher ratio means a larger share. Neither result, on this page, means a person should or should not get a loan. Front-end DTI—housing cost alone over income—is a related but separate idea. This canary is the broader “all listed monthly debts” sense used on the CFPB “debt ratio” entry.

Different investors may count debts differently. This page does not publish those overlays. It only fixes the consumer arithmetic: monthly debts over gross monthly income.

Underwriting narratives and some public-data conversations use DTI as shorthand for capacity. A glossary that smuggles in a cutoff would turn a ratio into fake advice.

Suppose listed monthly debts are $2,000 and gross monthly income is $6,000. DTI is 2,000 ÷ 6,000, or about 33%. The example does not say whether that ratio is acceptable to any lender.

• Borrower
• Credit score
• Loan-to-value ratio

NONE REQUIRED