Hi Heather,

Your site is very informative and you are providing a great service for those of us burdened with student loans.

I have two FFEL Consolidated loans totalling $86K at 7.25% fixed currently being serviced by American Education Services.  Is it possible for me to consolidate these loans with the government to get a better rate?
My private loans are at 3.61% so the 7.25% is really killing me.

Thanks,

Richard

Hey, Richard.  Glad to help where I can and thanks for the compliment.

A FFEL consolidation loan can be re-consolidated into a federal Direct Consolidation loan in limited circumstances, but it doesn’t really help on the interest rate.  There is more detail about consolidation loan interest rates on my blog FYI.  SOME borrowers with really awesome credit MIGHT find private consolidation products at better rates, but borrowers should be cautious about consolidating federal loans into private loans since they then loose the borrower benefits and flexible repayment terms federal loans have.

Dude, be sure to read all my disclaimer stuff about how I’m not your lawyer and this is just general legal info.

Have you checked into the ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.org website? There may be some options available through that website worth checking into.