Find a payment that fits your month
Start from your take-home pay and regular costs to see what room is left for a new payment, without any one-size debt-to-income rule.
How this planner works
It starts where a budget actually starts: your take-home pay, minus your essential costs, your current debt payments, and a cushion you choose to keep. What’s left is the room you have for a new payment. From that room and a rate and term, it shows roughly how large a loan would fit.
No single “approval” rule
Lenders use a debt-to-income ratio, but there’s no universal cutoff, and a ratio a lender accepts can still be more than your month can handle. This tool is about what’s comfortable for you, not what a lender would allow.
The cushion
The cushion is deliberate. Borrowing right up to the edge of your budget leaves nothing for the surprise that often prompted the loan in the first place. Keeping a buffer is part of affording a payment, not separate from it.
What it can’t tell you
- Whether a lender will approve you — that depends on your credit, income and the loan.
- Your real expenses if the figures you enter are rough; it’s only as good as the inputs.
- Future changes in income or costs. Leave margin for them.