Student Loan Consolidation: Why to Consolidate

Both federal student loan consolidation and private student loan consolidation offer the benefit of a significantly lower monthly payment and simplified finances. If you want to consolidate student loans, begin with your federal Stafford, Parent PLUS, Perkins, and all Federal FFELP and Federal Direct Loans that were taken out for your education. Private student loan consolidation is a separate program that allows you to refinance all non-federal, education related, debt.

	Federal Student Loan Consolidation	Private Student Loan Consolidation
Cut existing monthly payment in half
No application fees
No prepayment penalty
Interest only (lower) payments available
Simplified monthly finances
Improved credit rating
0.6% discount during grace period
Fixed interest rate
.25% rate reduction for auto debit
Origination fee rebate
	Apply Online	Apply Online

Even if you can make the monthly payments from your original school loans, you may still want to consider consolidating to lower your payments and free up money for bills with higher interest rates. These include credit cards and personal loans, neither of which have tax-deductible interest.

Check out the links below for additional information on how to consolidate student loans, specifically federal loans, private loans, and frequently asked questions.

Student Loan Consolidation Programs:

• Frequently asked questions about student loan consolidation
• More information on federal student loan consolidation
• Details about Federal Direct Loan consolidation
• Cconsolidate PLUS loans
• Consolidate private student loans after federal student loans
• Apply now for federal student loan consolidation
• Apply now for private student loan consolidation
• Apply now for PLUS loan consolidation
• Common typos for consolidation