Hi, I have an IBR.  After submitting my renewal info NelNet set me at a $0 per month repayment plan for the year.  I have 2 credit cards with zero balances and a small personal loan at $297 per month.  That’s it.  No collections, no judgments, no bankruptcies.  Everything is pays as agreed for the past 2 years.  My IBR plan will likely be the same come June, I make a little more money but moved my family and kids halfway across the country so I have loads of moving of expenses to deduct.  My wife and I file MFS.  My problem is that every lender where I am now has no idea how to treat my IBR on loan applications for a car or a home (my wife and I do not co-sign on loans together - community property states stink).  And I work for a lender.  Only the CFO knew how to properly treat the IBR on my personal loan application.  So what to do when applying for a mortgage or car?  I can’t run to every CFO and have them underwrite my loan.  I have been denied an auto loan from 5 lenders because they don’t know how to treat the IBR.  On a loan application underwriters are trained to include deferred student loans in the debt to income ration by multiplying 1% by the total outstanding loan amount.  That is how they speculate your monthly debt service on a student loan.  1% can be $1,000/month on $100,000 obligation which puts your DTI well passed underwriting limits.  This is how my IBR is being treated.  But my monthly payment has never been more than 0.25% of my total obligation.  My question to you Heather is: how do I complete or supplement my home or auto application so that the IBR is less of an obstacle?

Thanks.