Your bank shows you one number.We'll show youwhich debt to kill first.
DTI is the stealth gatekeeper on every mortgage application. People work on credit scores for months and get denied on DTI in five minutes. This tool flips that. Enter your debts, check the ones you could realistically attack, and watch your ratio drop into qualifying territory — with the program it unlocks.
Check a debt. Watch the gate open.
With compensating factors, some go to 56.9%
- 01Card B$2,200 · $75/mo−1.3%DTI relief
- 02Auto loan$14,000 · $420/mo−7.0%DTI relief
- 03Card A (high balance)$6,500 · $185/mo−3.1%DTI relief
- 04Student loans$22,000 · $215/mo−3.6%DTI relief
Estimates only · Real underwriting includes reserves, residual income, and comp factors · Not a loan approval
Every DTI number opens a different door.
Front-end ratio — housing only. Most comfortable zone.
Sweet spot for conventional pricing. Best rates live here.
Standard conventional ceiling. Above this = compensating factors or different program.
FHA standard. Some FHA loans go to 56.9% with strong comp factors.
VA with residual income. Non-QM above this.
The difference between qualified and not is usually one of these.
DTI is a monthly-payment metric, not a balance metric. A $400/mo car payment destroys your DTI harder than a $22,000 student loan at $215/mo. Pay off the thing with the worst payment-to-balance ratio first.
Paying a credit card below 30% utilization hits your DTI AND your credit score in the same month. Two birds. Closing the card after is how you lose the gains. Keep it open, put a Netflix subscription on autopay.
Installment debts with 10 or fewer payments remaining can sometimes be excluded from DTI on conventional loans. If you're close to paying something off, one lump-sum payment might drop you from 45% to 41% overnight.
A new personal loan = new inquiry + new account = 5–15 point credit ding + 6 months of unseasoned credit. Consolidation is great 12 months out. Terrible 60 days out. Timing matters.
Paying down revolving debt hits both scores.
Your credit card payment is in your DTI. Your credit card balance is in your utilization ratio. Pay it down once, improve both — the only move in mortgage qualification that compounds.
→ Credit coaching playbookYou've got a plan. Now let's price it.
Run the five-minute readiness check and we'll pair your DTI plan with the exact programs you unlock at each step — with real dollar amounts, not estimates.