A student has the option to combine several federal loans into a single loan. This is called as consolidation of the loans. Consolidated loans have lower interest rates and higher repayment periods.

There are several finance organizations and banks that come forward to consolidate existing loans. The particular company which consolidates the loans first pays off the existing loans to their respective lenders. Then all those loans are merged into one, taking the average of their rates of interest as the applicable rate of interest on the consolidated loan. Thus the borrower finds a reduction in the interest rate. It is then this company alone to which the borrower must repay the loan.

The consolidation process is a fairly easy process. There are several companies (mostly online) who are only too willing to examine the existing loans of the student and consolidate the loan with them. Students can approach these companies via the internet. An ordinary consolidation procedure takes about 30-45 days. There are no prepayment penalties on consolidated loans.

The rates of interest on educational loans increase on the 1st of July each year. But when a loan is consolidated, then the rate of interest in the year of consolidation becomes constant for the remaining period of the loan. This is called as locking the rate of interest of the loan. Locking a loan by consolidating it is a suitable option if the borrower wishes to be precluded from the rising rates of interest each year. Certain finance lenders online provide locking of consolidated loans for as low rates as 3.5%.

Consolidation of loans is a prudent option as the borrower has to think about repayment of a single loan instead of several. When several loans are consolidated into one, the interest payable also reduces drastically. By consolidation, the borrower can save hundreds of dollars per annum in the amount that would have been paid as interest. Another advantage is that in the situation of deferment in repayment the borrower has to negotiate with only one lender.