<prompt> Human: tldr; I owe 100mo on student loans, but Ive been paying 250mo for a couple years now. Would a mortgage provider see Im making 250mo payments and count that towards outstanding debts, or only that I owe 100 a month? Should Ican I reduce my payments to the 100 or would they look down on that?A second question that occurred to me as I write this up: The online mortgage calculators to determine if we qualify for a loan all determine the PI part of PITI as a percentage of income. What if we find a house for significantly less than that? Can we use a lower PITI, or do banks only look at the max because they want to encourage you to spend?Long version: Recently, my wife and I moved because she got a new job. While I was looking for jobs, we thought we were going to end up in the city and rent for a while, so she bought and financed a car.As it turns out, I got a job in a much cheaper part of the state and closer to her job! that puts us juuust on the cusp of being able to buy a house.Looking at some online mortgage calculators to see if you will qualify, they determined the PITI as a percentage of income, and then compared outstanding debts plus PITI to a different percent of income. Because of those car payments were very close to over that limit. If we add the monthly 250, were too high to qualify. If we add the monthly 100 that I actually owe, were ok.1 Can we ask for consideration on a smaller loan or do banks only lend based on the max? 2 Would the banks put more importance on the 250 or the 100?3 Will the look down on me if I change my regular 250 down the required 100?Let me know if theres any other info I should provide. Thanks for the help, reddit!  <response>: In general, the bank will tell you the maximum you qualify for. You can borrow less. Your credit score looks at what you owe per month minimum payment, how much you owe utilization, and whether you pay on time. 