The first thing you need to do is educate yourself about debt and credit. Check out this link: https://studentloanhero.com/featured/do-student-loans-affect-credit/

1) Find out what the interest rate(s) is(are) for your student loans. You MUST know what it is in order to make better choices about repaying your debt.

2) Loans can hurt OR help your credit score. Any kind of loan (debt) affects your credit report. If you don't pay the required minimum monthly payment on your loan(s), your credit score will be hurt. If you do pay the required minimum monthly payment on your loan(s), your credit score will be helped.

3) In my opinion (take it for what you paid for it, as Steven424 would say), forget about the house until you pay down a large chunk of your student loan(s). I doubt if you can even get a mortgage if you have a sizeable outstanding student loan.

4) Use your future income to repay as much of your loan(s) as possible as soon as possible. By doing this, you'll reduce your debt, improve your credit score, build positive financial habits, and reach your goal of buying a home as fast as possible.

This won't be easy. As Dave Ramsey likes to say, you may not be able to see the inside of a restaurant for 2 years. But, you have lots of debt and have to make the needed sacrifices. That's life.

One thing that might help if you find that you can't afford the agreed upon monthly loan repayment amount is to renegotiate with the lender. Remember that all the lender wants is to be repaid.

For example, if you're supposed to repay a loan at $400/month, but you find that's too much to afford, call the lender, explain the situation, and tell them how much you can afford to repay each month ($100, 150, 200, etc).

Believe me, the lender will appreciate that you didn't renege, and that you were honest and are making an effort to repay. Of course, you'll have to repay the loan for a longer period of time than the original agreement since you're now paying less than the original agreed amount, but this may be a better fit for your life.

Good luck to you and educate yourself as much as possible. Your financial life depends on it.

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