Federal loan consolidation provides an individual the opportunity to consolidate all outstanding loans held by various lenders into a single new loan that can be recovered in single monthly payments. This loan also helps a person to extend the repayment period thereby making monthly payment obligation more manageable. It improves your credit situation by showing that you are taking steps to improve yourself.

Federal loan consolidation brings in a positive payment history thereby improving your credit score. The loans that can be included in a federal consolidation process are the Stafford loans, subsidized and unsubsidized (also called guaranteed student loans), Perkins loans, PLUS Loans, federal insured student loans, supplemental loans for students, health education assistance loans (HEAL), nursing student loans (NSL, and health professions student loans.

There are certain benefits in consolidating a loan. It reduces the monthly payment up to 60%. Federal consolidation allows borrowers to lock in current low rates thus protecting from future rate increases. Other benefits include an improvement in credit rating.

There are many loan counselors available to assist you with the application process when you are applying for a federal loan consolidation. The three easy ways to apply are online, phone or mail. The consolidation process takes anywhere from 30 to 90 days.

Even though the federal loan consolidation releases a customer from a burdensome situation, especially when the borrowed amount is large, there are certain disadvantages of consolidating your loans. On account of longer repayment periods, the individual will have to pay more by way of interest.