It depends on where you live. In community-property states like California, FHA requires the non-borrowing spouse's credit to be pulled and their debts counted. In those states, the spouse's monthly obligations count against your qualifying ratios even though the spouse is not on the loan, and their score is never used to price it. Rough credit on their side does not sink your rate; their debts do reduce how much you can qualify for. The part that surprises people is collections. When the collection balances on the file total more than $2,000 (and a non-borrowing spouse's collections count toward that total in community-property states), FHA has the underwriter charge 5% of those balances as a hypothetical monthly payment against your debt ratio, unless there is a documented payment plan or the accounts get paid off. Charge-offs are excluded from that math. Outside community-property states, FHA does not require the spouse's credit to be pulled, and their individual debts are not counted (debts you are jointly obligated on still count). VA and USDA treat community property the same way; conventional loans do not count a non-borrowing spouse's debts at all. These rules change, so confirm current guidelines for your state and loan type. Because this can swing your qualifying number meaningfully, pull the spouse's report early. The free Roadmap conversation is where we sort out exactly how it affects your file.