Restarting payments matters, mostly for tighter budgets. Interest rates swing affordability far more than a student loan payment does. An extra one or two hundred dollars a month moves the needle for a lower-budget buyer; for the market as a whole it's a secondary factor. The mechanics are more reassuring than the headlines: - A required student loan payment counts in your debt-to-income ratio, and the payment on your credit report is generally what gets used. - On an income-driven repayment plan, conventional financing through Fannie Mae can qualify you at your documented actual payment, even when that payment is $0. FHA and Freddie Mac won't use a true zero; they floor the figure at 0.5% of the balance instead. - When a Fannie file shows no payment at all (deferred, or $0 on the credit report without income-driven documentation), the lender uses 1% of the balance or a documented fully amortizing payment. On a large balance, an assumed 1% figure can run far above your real bill, and the payment that actually restarts is often lower than what was used to qualify you in the first place. An approved buyer is usually fine even if the restart stings. As for the delinquency headlines: the people currently struggling to make student loan payments are largely not the same people trying to buy a home. In our experience, borrowers who planned intelligently around their degree cost and repayment, including doctors and lawyers carrying six-figure balances headed for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, tend to be the same folks who plan carefully for a home. The impact on the actual buyer pool is real but limited. If your student debt is what's making you unsure, that's worth a free Roadmap conversation so you can see your real qualifying numbers.