Federal Loan Consolidation

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Federal Direct Loans are just one type of federal loan that can qualify for a Direct Loan Consolidation. Some other loans that qualify are listed below but before you consolidate any loan you may want to check this site out first Here.  Its a free sign up and well worth the effort, as it is money you never have to pay back.

Federal Perkins Loan:

Federal Perkins Loans provide loans with a small interest rate in order to assist low income students with covering the costs associated with higher education. Borrowers are allowed to be the recipient of a Federal Perkins Loan as a result of attending any of the around 1,800 colleges participating in the program. Students who take part in some civic, military or education jobs are also allowed to have the entire (or a portion of their) Federal Perkins Loan considered paid.  

If you are looking to consolidate a Federal Perkins Loan (for the purpose of, essentially, creating a Direct Loan Consolidation), any borrower must be responsible for a minimum of a single Direct Loan or Federal Family Education Loan (also referred to as FFEL) and mark this loan on their application. Perkins Loans are not eligible for Direct Loan Consolidation without another type of loan. In addition, any Perkins Loans that are subject to consolidation are subject to inclusion as part of the un-subsidized Direct Loan Consolidation.

Anyone borrowing loan funds should cautiously consider the positives and negatives associated with using a Federal Perkins Loan as part of a loan consolidation. Although the person paying the loan is subject to the advantages of a Direct Loan Consolidation, they also are not subject to the benefits of Federal Perkins Loan Programs.

Please take the following in account before including a Perkins Loan in a Direct Loan Consolidation:

A Federal Perkins Loan will qualify you for more benefits of cancellation like taking part in several types of services to the public. You, however, will not qualify for this special benefit if you include a Perkins Loan as part of a Direct Loan Consolidation.

A Federal Perkins Loan has a grace period of six to nine months. With a Direct loan Consolidation, the remainder of your grace period is no longer applicable.

Once a Perkins Loan is subject to deferment, there is no interest that accrues. However, once such a loan is added to any un-subsidized part of a Direct Loan Consolidation, the borrower is required to pay any interest that is added to the loan during the normally interest free period of deferment.

A Federal Perkins Loan typically has much lower interest rates. However, it also comes with a much less flexible period of pay back. In fact, this period is often ten years.

Federal Health Professions Loan:

Federal Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL), Federal Health Professions Student Loans (HPSL), Loans for Disadvantaged Students (LDS) and Federal Nursing Student Loans (NSL) are all eligible for Direct Loan Consolidation.

A Direct Loan Consolidation may also be used with some medical profession loans financed through the United States Health and Human Services Department along with additional Federal loans in their Direct Loan Consolidation. Students are required to include a minimum of a single Direct Loan or Federal Family Education Loan in the Direct Loan Consolidation. 

Direct Loan Consolidation offers a large amount of benefits to students with a federal health professions loan. Some of these benefits are:

Increased period of repayment
Lowered payment every month
Individual payment every month (rather than multiple payments)

Some other points to consider with a Federal Health Profession Loan:

Students who previously defaulted while repaying a HEAL are allowed to also list the fees and collection cost associated with late payment when using a Direct Loan Consolidation. However, these charges cannot be a part of a HEAL refinance.

With the Direct Loan Consolidation Program, HEAL students are permitted to repay this loan subject to the Income Contingent Repayment Plan for the entire term of their loan. A HEAL lender is solely responsible for offering an ICR Plan during the first 5 years of repayment.

To be eligible for a deferment while still attending school, Direct Loan Consolidation recipients are required to be enrolled a minimum of half time. However, full time school enrollment is required for students repaying LDS, HPSL and HEAL borrowers.

PLUS Loans are available to parents of dependents and to students enrolled in graduate and professional programs. PLUS loans are unsubsidized loans that accrue interest from the date of disbursement.  A PLUS loan can be included into a Direct Loan Consolidation.

The other Federal loans that qualify under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) are Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans.