A change in the law in 2006 means that borrowers in the USA are no longer obliged to stick with their original lender when theyre consolidating student loans. The single holder rule gave students no choice but to stay with the lender that their existing student loans were obtained from. The good news is that you can now apply for consolidating student loans from any approved lender. The bad news is that the information and products they offer can be overwhelming!
The Federal Consolidation Loan program.
Federal student loans include:
Stafford (subsidized and unsubsidized)
Federal Perkins loans
HPSL (health professions),
HEAL (health education)
LDS (loans for disadvantaged students)
PLUS loans (graduate and parent loans)
When youre considering consolidating student loans, note that private loans cannot be considered under federal consolidation loan program. One of the main advantages of consolidating student loans is that the interest rate is fixed and the repayment period is longer, making your monthly payments lower than the amount of your existing combined student loans. This is great if you have variable interest loans...