Want To Buy A House, Pay Your Student Loan Bill

I received a call recently from a friend who was trying to get pre-approved on a mortgage to buy his first home. Problem was, my friend had his credit checked by his bank and it came back that he had a defaulted student loan. Bottom line, the bank would not extend him credit even if he went back and refinanced the student loans. For my friend, Defaulted Student Loan = No Mortgage On one hand I feel really bad for my friend, but I also want to hit him in the back of the head for being clueless. Student loans...