What is meant by a debt-to-income ratio?
A debt-to-income ratio is important to your lender. To figure out where you stand on the ratio, you must first understand the meaning of the figure. Lenders use various ratios, but the most common is 28/36. The first number, (also known as the front-end-ratio) is the percentage of your gross monthly income that you could comfortably afford to spend on your housing payment. This figure includes escrow for taxes and insurance. The second number, (also known as the back-end-ratio) is the percentage of your gross monthly income that should be spent on all long-term monthly debts combined.