My husband and I have been working on lowering our bills. Mine got paid off but he still has about 6,000 left. We absolutely HAVE to get an apartment in June and we are afraid we could only get 2,000 or 3,000 paid off by then. Our credit scores are in the low 600's.

Does anyone know the criteria for getting approved for an apartment? My husband works in a town where the apartments are around 1,100 a month and the surrounding towns are about the same.

We are worried that we will still have debt on our credit reports (even if its paid off and they didn't take it off yet) when we apply. I can't apply alone because I won't have a job when we get home. (I'm military)

The amount of debt is important when a landlord determines risk but what's at least as important is making timely payments towards the debts you have. If you have judgements against you, not good. If you're in collections, not good. These types of things imply high risk to a landlord. A smart landlord looks for pattern behaviors on credit reports, both good and bad patterns. If people are living beyond their means, i.e. are in debt, then this really hurts your chances for that really nice apartment in the location that you want. One work around is to offer rent up front for a certain time along with a large security for potential damages. Often this can offset some of the negative things on your credit report. Essentially this partially transfers the risk from the landlord to you. Keep doing what you're doing, namely paying off your debt, and you'll do just fine.