The size of the collection matters far more than its age. Small, aged collections are rarely a qualifying problem. One point that surprises people: a debt moved to charge-off status is often good news for qualifying, because the creditor has formally written it off as bad debt and stopped pursuing it, which lowers the odds of a future lawsuit or judgment attached to you or your home. Treatment varies by program: - FHA: if all your non-medical collections add up to $2,000 or more, the lender must either pay them off, put a payment plan in place and count that payment in your debt-to-income ratio, or count 5 percent of the total balance as a monthly debt. Under $2,000, they do not need to be addressed at all, and medical collections are excluded entirely. They can still weigh on your score either way. - Conventional: on a one-unit home you will live in, collections and charge-offs do not need to be paid and are not added to your ratios. On a 2-to-4 unit property, second home, or investment property, they must be paid off once they total $5,000 or more. Where you want a professional read is the large, unresolved stuff. An auto repossession that started at $14,000 or $15,000 can balloon past $20,000 with interest and penalties, and at that size a lender may reasonably worry the creditor could still pursue a judgment tied to the property. A lender can run a what-if analysis and show you exactly how your accounts affect your score and pricing.