If you're house hunting this spring, the number that decides whether you get a mortgage may not be your credit score.
It's your debt-to-income ratio, and lenders have quietly gotten pickier about it.
Take all your monthly debt payments — car loans, student loans, minimum credit card payments, plus the estimated new mortgage payment.
Divide that by your gross monthly income.
Conventional wisdom says keep it under 43%.
In practice, many lenders now want to see 36% to 41% for the best odds.
The squeeze is real, and it's arithmetic.
Mortgage rates near 7% mean the same house costs hundreds more per month than it did three years ago.
That higher payment inflates your DTI even if your debts haven't changed.
A buyer who qualified easily in 2021 can get rejected today for the exact same loan amount.
FHA loans technically allow DTIs up to 50% with compensating factors, and some conventional programs stretch to 45% or 50% with strong credit and cash reserves.
But "allowed" and "approved" are different words.
Automated underwriting systems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac weigh the whole file, and a 49% DTI with a thin credit history is a coin flip at best.
Credit card minimums are weighted heavily because they can balloon.
Paying off a $4,000 balance with a $100 minimum payment can free up more DTI room than paying down a bigger installment loan.
The lenders and the secondary market, mostly.
Tight DTI caps reduce their default risk, which is genuinely their business.
But it also means fewer buyers competing, which is cold comfort if you're the one getting the rejection letter.
Get pre-approved, not pre-qualified — the difference matters.
Ask the loan officer what DTI they need, not what's theoretically allowed.
Don't open a new credit card or finance furniture while you're under contract.
And if you're close to the line, a slightly smaller house or a bigger down payment can be the difference between a yes and a maybe.
One more thing worth knowing: DTI isn't the only gate.
Lenders also look at reserves — months of payments in savings — and your credit score tiers.
A 740 score with 40% DTI usually beats a 680 with 36%.
The rules interact, and no single number tells the whole story.
The honest take: DTI limits are a blunt tool that punishes buyers in expensive markets and anyone carrying student loans, regardless of whether they actually pay their bills on time.
The system isn't rigged, exactly, but it isn't neutral either.
Final Thoughts
Know your number before a lender runs it for you.