I feel so hopeless right now. It taken me over 3.5 years to rebuild my credit from 400 something scores up to low 600s. My scores are 638 TU, 622 Ex and 626 Eq. I was finally able to get a care credit card and a second Capital One Card but any card I get is a rediculous low limit. I had one cap 1 card that started at $300 then $750 then $1000. My care credit that I just got in March has a sl of only $1500 ( I needed $2100). Anyway, I am pretty sure the fact that I have $32k in student loan debt is the reason I can't get anymore credit than I get. While I am sitting here upset a little over the low care credit limit not being enough for the procedure I need, I can't help but to get even more depressed thinking am I ever going to be able to buy a home? I only earn $31k a year right now and having $32k in student loans makes me feel I will never have anything 
I was so happy when I found out that my income based repayment plan meant $0 payments but now I can't help but think it's a bad idea being on this plan because whenever I look at my credit now it says I have paid -2 % on my loan. Doesn't that look worse than even high utilization? Anytime I am denied anything one thing is always listed on the stupid denial letter which is my loan balances are too high. Then when I do TRY and qualify for a home loan they are going to count around $320 towards my dti ratio over this. The saddest thing ever and I am ashamed to say it is that I have all this sl debt and I didn't even finish school and get my degree I have thought about going back but the thought of possibly having to take out another loan terrifies me and I just don't know if it's worth it or not or if I can even get through another 2 years or so of school without taking out a loan. Sorry if I am all over the place with this post. My emotions are all over the place to be honest. I just feel helpless and defeated and ashamed that when I asked for a $600 more cl while at the doctor I was declined and I feel humilated and depressed ugh. If this post even makes sense to anyone I could use some advice!
I can definitely understand how you feel but my student loans are double and I was able to get approved for high limits before my bankruptcy. I believe Care Credit was one of my first cards and I had a $5000.00 limit. My limits were between $2500-$7000. My credit score went from high 500s to 701 in a matter of months and I got a little carried away hence the bankruptcy. But I can say from my experience a higher credit score equals a higher credit limit. If you can get your score up to around 680 you should be able to get a higher limit without a problem.
Even after my bankruptcy for example: I applied for Victoria Secret & NY and Company store cards in December and my credit scores were high 500s to low 600s and I was only able to get approved for a $250.00 limit with Comenity Bank. Fast forward to now I was just approved for a Williams-Sonoma store card with a $1000.00 limit with a 653 credit score and it's with the same bank.
Unfortunately, the DTI is a problem too but I know conventional loans uses the payment amount that is reported on your credit report. So if you are a income based repayment plan and your payment is low then you might be able to qualify. Google mortgages and school loans to get more information on this.
My student loans (~$55k) are also on a $0/month IBR plan. What I plan to do sometime this month is setting up a nominal payment of $10-20/month. My loan servicer (don't know if this is universal) offers a .25% interest rate discount if you pay via auto-pay and you have to make some kind of payment (I think it's a $5/mo minimum) in order to get the discount. So this will mean the loan balance in relation to the original balance will grow at a slower rate. My scores are terrible for other reasons but I'm hoping this will help things.
I know the feeling OP, my student loans are about the same as my income and they are killer plus they kill your DTI ratios. I dropped out of college, well actually I failed out of college like ten years ago and had to work my from the brink.
You will be able to get more credit as you work to improve your scores and use the cards you do have. Those scores are scores that you can work with to build up. Keep your balances low and keep using those credit cards. Try to get at least 3 bank cards and those limits will also go up with responsible use.
I'm back in school again and all of my student loan balances are at 115% ish. You can still get approved for many things with high student loan balances. People used to say they're good debt, thats a load of crap, but they are workable even when over the max.
You could see what a mortgage broker has to say and where you should focus. I used a ton of calculators and DTI mortgage calculators, even the ones that said they calculated what you could afford. They were all way off, depending on my loan type (VA, FHA, Conventional) I could afford 3-5 times that.
You might be surprised with what you could afford. Keep those hopes up and keep working to improve yourself and you will eventually get there.
Worst case, if you're bored or need a little time away, we are always recruiting lol. We have tons of different jobs, pay for school, pay back federal loans and build a great resume, plus a ton of other benefits and we even offer part time like the National Guard. I'm an instructor now but I'm also a medic and it really helped with a ton of different aspects of life. Honestly, I would just do it for Navy Federal Credit Union and USAA, but mostly NFCU.
@Anonymous wrote:
beutiful5678 : You said you are on an IBR plan. Do you qualify for the loan forgiveness program?
I am not in a job where I qualify for PSLF and my career plans do not include a PSLF-eligible job. Thanks though!