Guides

Everything the calculators assume, written out. Three on mortgage qualification, four on the routes out of card debt, one on the tax that arrives afterwards. No offers, no applications, nothing to sign up for.

How lenders actually calculate DTI Front-end against back-end, which obligations count, which are excluded, how income is treated, and why balances never appear in the ratio at all. Mortgage
What counts as a minimum payment The figure underwriting uses is not the figure you pay. How card minimums are built, why instalment loans behave differently, and how to lower one deliberately. Mortgage
What cash reserves underwriting requires The second test, measured in months of housing payment left after closing. Which assets count, and why clearing a card to fix your ratio can cost you the approval. Mortgage
Snowball vs avalanche, honestly How large the gap between them actually is, the behavioural research that favours snowball, and the four situations where neither ordering applies. Payoff routes
Why consolidation lowers your payment and raises your cost The term extension nobody prices, the origination fee taken off the top rather than billed, and how to read an offer letter. Payoff routes
The balance transfer cliff A 0% offer is a deadline with a fee attached. The payment that actually clears it, what happens at the end, and why deferred interest is a different and worse thing. Payoff routes
Issuer hardship programmes The free route that pays no commission to anybody, which is exactly why no comparison site mentions it. What to ask for, and what it costs your credit file. Payoff routes
The 1099-C on forgiven debt Settled debt can come back as taxable income. The insolvency test that cancels the bill for many households, and the form that claims it. Tax

How to use these

They are written to be read on their own, but they answer two different questions and it is worth knowing which one you are asking.

If you are trying to qualify for a mortgage, the objective is removing monthly payments, not interest. Start with how the ratio is built, then what a minimum payment is, then the reserves test — because the most common way to lose an approval is to fix the first test by failing the third.

If you are trying to clear the debt for the least money, the objective is total cost with every fee included. Start with the ordering question, then price consolidation and a transfer against simply continuing, and check the free option before either.

Each guide names its basis at the foot of the page, and every one of them ends in the same place: your own figures, in a calculator that shows its method.

Educational guides on United States consumer credit and residential mortgage practice. Terms, thresholds and programme rules vary by lender, issuer, investor and state and change over time; each guide states its own basis. Not financial, credit, lending, tax or investment advice.