Consolidate
Student Loans

You can get a Direct Consolidation Loan, available from ED, or a Federal (FFEL) Consolidation Loan, available from participating FFEL lenders. Under either program, the loan holder pays off the existing loans and makes one Consolidation Loan to replace them. If you have subsidized and unsubsidized loans, they’ll be grouped accordingly when you consolidate so you won’t lose your interest subsidy on the subsidized loans.

There are three categories of Direct Consolidation Loans:
• Direct Subsidized Consolidation Loans
• Direct Unsubsidized Consolidation Loans
• Direct PLUS Consolidation Loans

If you have loans from more than one category, you can still have only one Direct Consolidation Loan and make only one monthly payment.

You can have a longer period of time to repay your consolidation loan than you do for the individual student loans you’re repaying, but this means you’ll also pay more interest over time. In fact, consolidation can double total interest expense. If you don’t need monthly payment relief, you should compare the cost of repaying your unconsolidated loans against the cost of repaying a consolidation loan.

Financial contracts are very confusing. Before signing yourself to a major long term commitment, have an attorney familiar with financing and taxes examine the documents and explain the details.

A good tax finance attorney can save you many times his fee over the years, not to mention possible legal problems.

Whether buying a new car, or a used car, or selling a vehicle; first check KBB (Kelley Blue Book), Black Book, Red Book, or the NADA Used Vehicle Guide.

For complete information on all your financial needs, turn from consolidate student loans to the Loan homepage.

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