Requestion Lower Monthly Payment

I have a private student loan of which I have paid ~12k extra towards the principal over the past year. I am looking into the possibility of buying a house over the next 6 months and am trying to increase my chances of securing a mortgage (and for the highest amount possible). My limiting factor right now is the debt-income ratio requirements. I am currently on the edge of the typical limits set by banks and FHA loans. I was wondering if I could get my monthly payment recalculated on my private loan to a lower amount (based on the original length of the loan) since I have significantly decreased the balance.

Using my logic, I would think that banks would not protest doing this since I would be more inclined to pay the new lowered minimum. In this way I would not be "forced" to pay $100+ extra each month towards the principal, in turn they would earn more interest off me in the long run.

Has anyone had experience with this on any student loans (or any other loans for that matter)? If so, were there any penalties or fees involved? Is this an unreasonable request? Any advice or suggestions on how to go about this?

Along the same lines, is it reasonable to request a recalculated payment if the interest rate drops significantly on a variable rate loan. With recent markets my APR has dropped from 7.81% to 5.5%.

Sorry about the double post! My browser was messed up so I thought it was lost.

hm ... all advices in my signature .

I would think if you went to them and presented that case to them (less money upfront, more interest in the long run), they shouldn't have too much of an issue with agreeing the new terms with you.