In May, 2017, Fannie Mae announced that it will allow mortgage borrowers to take on a little more debt, increasing the debt-to-income (DTI) cap from 45 to 50 percent. This brief estimates that this change will allow around 95,000 new mortgages to be approved annually, a disproportionate percent of which should go to black and Latino families. The brief also determines that this expansion comes with very little risk and cost to taxpayers. The move to a 50 percent DTI is, thus, an important step to opening the credit box without appreciably increasing costs or risks for Fannie Mae.