Back end ratio

Back end ratio

A ratio that indicates what portion of a person's monthly income goes toward paying debts—mortgage, credit cards, car payments, student loan. Traditionally, lenders were loath to extend borrowers' back-end ratios past 36 percent, but they often do now. Lenders use this ratio in tandem with the front end ratio to approve mortgages. This is also known as a debt to income ratio.

Back-end ratio

The back-end ratio is the percentage of an individual's (or household's) pre-tax, monthly income that's used to pay monthly debt obligations. Debt obligations include the mortgage payment, real estate taxes, mortgage insurance, and all credit account payments, including credit cards and car loans. The ratio is calculated by adding up the debt obligations and dividing the sum by the pre-tax monthly income.