I am planning to buy a house later this year, and will be applying for a mortgage. I'm aware that part of the application will be reporting the amount I pay now for other outstanding loans (student loan, car payment, etc.). My understanding is that I don't need to report what I'm actually paying each month, just the minimum monthly payment for each loan.
However, I'm not sure how to report on my student loans. When they first went into repayment, my minimum payment was $360/month. I have been paying $400 every month since then. Because of that, each month my minimum payment has slowly gone down to $0.
So, am I able to claim $0 as my minimum payment, or is there another number I should be claiming. Obviously, if I stopped paying the loan, the minimum payment would go up again, but I don't know when that would happen or by how much. Occasionally, I will skip a payment (because I need some extra money for the month), and the minimum the next month is still $0. I've never done this more than one month in a row, though.
I assume that the less debt I claim the better it looks on the mortgage application, as it means I have more money free for paying the mortgage.