Borrower Financial Worksheet
Enter your income and expenses. See your front-end and back-end DTI, how they compare to loan program thresholds, and whether you may qualify for modification. No data collected.
What is your total household monthly income?
Enter gross (before-tax) monthly amounts. Include all borrowers on the mortgage.
What are your monthly housing costs?
These make up your front-end DTI (housing-only ratio).
What other monthly debt payments do you make?
Include minimum required payments only. Do not include utilities, groceries, or other living expenses.
Why DTI Matters
Your debt-to-income ratio is the single most important number in a loss mitigation application. It tells your servicer two things: whether your current payment is genuinely unaffordable, and whether a modified payment would be sustainable.
Lenders look at two DTI ratios. Your front-end DTI (housing costs divided by gross income) shows how much of your paycheck goes to keeping a roof over your head. Your back-end DTI (all debts divided by gross income) shows total debt burden.
The national mortgage debt service ratio is currently 5.9% — this is the aggregate figure tracked by the American Distress Index. If your personal front-end DTI is significantly higher, you're carrying more housing cost burden than the typical American household.
DTI Thresholds by Loan Program
Different loan programs have different maximum DTI ratios for origination. These same thresholds often guide modification decisions:
| Program | Max Front-End | Max Back-End | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conventional (QM) | 28% | 43-45% | Qualified Mortgage rule; some exceptions up to 50% |
| FHA | 31% | 43-57% | Up to 57% with compensating factors (credit score, reserves) |
| VA | — | 41%* | No hard cap; uses residual income test instead |
| USDA | 29% | 41% | Manual underwriting allows exceptions with compensating factors |