How much of your take-home pay can safely go to debt before it starts to choke you. The banking rule of thumb is to stay under 40% of net income on monthly credit payments (after rent and utilities). If your payments already eat 35%, a new card with a revolving balance puts you in the danger zone.
It's how much of your free income you can put toward debt without drowning. The bank rule: don't go past 40% of net income on monthly credit payments, after rent and utilities. If your current payments already eat 35%, a new card with a revolving balance pushes you into the critical zone.
How the bank calculates it: it sums every installment reported in your Buró plus the new loan's, and divides by your provable income. That's why you sometimes get rejected even «earning well»: too many open installments. The fix before asking for something big is to consolidate or clear the small debts to free up capacity, not to raise your income.