Two separate levers here: the job-history problem may really be a program problem, and paying off the cars helps only if it targets the ratio that is actually binding you. On the job history, FHA's rule is firm. A second job counts only if you have worked it uninterrupted for the past two years alongside your primary job and it is reasonably likely to continue. There is no shorter path written into the FHA handbook, so if the second job's income is what your qualification needs, do not plan around an FHA exception. Conventional is more flexible: Fannie Mae generally expects two years, but with at least a 12-month history the lender can use the income if the employment is stable and likely to continue. So before assuming you are locked out, have the file priced as conventional. On the auto loans, the programs split again: - Conventional: an installment loan with 10 or fewer monthly payments remaining can be excluded from your DTI, and you are allowed to pay a loan down to get there. We recently closed a file where a client paid an auto loan from fourteen months remaining down to ten, which pulled the DTI under the line and let the loan close. - FHA: stricter. Installment debts with fewer than 10 months left are excluded only if all of those payments combined are 5% or less of your gross monthly income, and FHA does not allow paying a balance down just to reach the 10-month mark. Paying a loan off entirely still removes the payment. So paying off both cars can help, but whether it lets you qualify for more depends on where your ratios sit and which program you land in. Before you spend the cash, let us run your actual numbers so the payoff goes where it moves the needle. That is what the free Roadmap conversation is for, about 20 minutes, where we run your real numbers.