canadian-money-advisor.ca logo  
debt
What is a Debt Load? A Debt Load is the total sum of all the debt, either money or any other resource that a debtor has. It is a representation of your current financial situation that most creditors look for to asses your predicament. Mathematically it is not an absolute number. Rather it is represented as a fraction of your total income or as a percentage of your income. This means that it is a comparative value. This also means that for the same debt, a person with a higher income will have a lower debt load than a person with a lower income.

Most lenders including banks and other financial institutions calculate the debt load in order to predict the risk of lending you money or other resources. This calculation is almost always made irrespective of whether it is applicable to the particular loan or not. The actual value of the debt loan can be calculated by dividing the total amount of your loan that does not include your mortgages by your total income. This means that if you get a value of 15%, you are using up 15% of your total income on paying credits.

If you make your payments on time, your debt load will decrease automatically. This will give creditors a good impression and help you in securing a loan easily with lesser interest rates. While performing such calculations, it is to be noted that the total income not only includes your paycheck, but also any other bonuses, tips, alimony or child support, etc. Your monthly payments on the other hand will include care loans, installments on furniture or any other such appliances, medical fees, minimum payments on all your credit cards, etc. excluding your mortgages.

The higher your debt load is, the more difficult it becomes to get a loan. A value ranging between 0% and 20% is considered good to secure a loan. From 20% to 40% it becomes a little more difficult to get a loan and also the interest rates might be higher. Any value greater than 50% could spell out serious trouble for you and indicates that you need immediate counseling to get rid of your credit problems. However this varies from lender to lender and also depends on the situation.

While calculating this value, the housing debt is generally not included. Therefore even if this value is high, it could spell trouble for you if you spend too much on real estate. So you should set limits on your housing expenditure that does not depend on your debt load.

It is good practice to calculate your debt load regularly so that you have a clear picture of your financial situation. There are many online calculators that help you do that. So don’t wait for your bank or your creditor to make these calculations next time you apply for a loan. Calculate your debt load and be in control of your own debt situation by maintaining it at a comfortable number. What is a Debt Load?



Related Articles
  what is debt negotiation
  what is debt repayment
  what is debt consolidation
  what is a debt crisis
  what is debt management
  what is debt repayment capacity
  what is a borrower


Category
  debt



Canada British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island Canadian Provinces
HOME | Contact | Disclaimer | About Us | Faqs | Discussion |