Yes, having a cosigner in most situations does help you qualify for a mortgage as long as the cosigner has additional income used to offset the new housing payment liability.

Consumers seeking to qualify for mortgage loan financing can use the benefit of someone else’s income to help them purchase a home or refinance a mortgage.  95% of the time it’s used on purchase money financing, but definitely can be used on refinance scenarios as well.

Cosigning allows a consumer increase the amount of debt they’re looking to apply for because larger income from the cosigning party is used to help qualify the primary borrower. A lender will look at a full credit application of the primary borrower and a full credit application on the cosigner, secondary borrower.

 How A Mortgage Lender Breaks Down Income & Liabilities On Co-Signor Transaction

Total current income, less minimum monthly liabilities =  total new housing payment allowance.

More specifically, a lender will typically take 45% of the gross monthly income, less monthly liabilities, and the net amount of these figures will provide the total new house payment amounts. Same exact situation on a cosigning situation.

A cosigner is:

• permanently on the application with the primary borrower
• cannot get off the obligation unless the debt is paid of via a refinance, or selling of the property or assumption of the loan if the loan is assumable
• is someone on the application, not someone simply gifting money
• can tremendously increase the amount of funds sought or rather substantially increase  purchasing power

If you have a difficult or complex mortgage scenario, we can help start today by getting a complementary mortgage rate quote for your home.