Do you know what extension he's on? dog bad credit but need a loan warning Typically, lenders will let you take out a loan with payments that equal up to 28 percent of your total monthly income (though in some cases this ratio can be a bit higher). For example, if you make $6,000 a month, you could qualify for a mortgage with a monthly payment of up to $1,680 ($6,000 x 28 percent), inclusive of principal, interest, taxes and insurance (PITI). (There are other factors that go into qualifying for a mortgage, of course, but for our purposes we will focus just on this ratio.)