Student Loan Consolidation: Eligibility

You are eligible if you meet all the following requirements:
You have graduated, left school, or are currently attending school either full-time or less than half time, and your loans are in repayment, deferment/forbearance or in grace.
You can certify that you do not have a Federal Consolidation Loan application pending with another lender.
You have at least $10,000 in eligible student loans you wish to consolidate.
You must have a minimum balance to apply for a student loan consolidation option through some providers and agents. For example, you may be required to have an outstanding balance of $10,000 in eligible student loans to consolidate them under some programs.
You can consolidate the following student loans with most providers:
SLS (Supplementary Loans for Students)
Federal Perkins
Federal Nursing Student Loans (NSL)
Federal Health Education Assistance Loan (HEAL)
Federal Health Professional Student Loans (HPSL)
Health Professions Student Loans (HPSL)
Federal and Federal Direct Stafford (subsidized and unsubsidized)
Federal and Federal Direct PLUS
Loans for Disadvantaged Students (LDS)
Federal Insured Students Loans (FISL)
Federal Consolidation Loans
Federal Direct Consolidation Loans
You may consolidate defaulted loans as long as you make three consecutive monthly payments to your guarantor prior to applying for loan consolidation. If you have several student loans, but also have bad credit, you can usually still consolidate your student loans. In general, there are no credit checks and no co-signers required for student loan consolidation. Most companies work solely with the student loans you own, and nothing else.
I you have already consolidated your student loans, the Department of Education has ruled that you cannot reconsolidate. There is a lawsuit filed requesting a temporary injunction against the DOE's ruling, to enable more borrowers to reconsolidate, but no judgement has yet been issued. You can also re-consolidate your student loans, if you either received a new eligible student loan since the consolidation or have left an eligible loan out of the original consolidation.
Lowest Student Loan Payments
Making your required number of scheduled payments within the first 15 days of the due date each month on your new consolidation loan, may helpyou automatically reduce your student loan interest rate with some companies, by one full percentage point and leave it there as long as you continue to make on-time payments. Also, you can pay electronically (direct debit payments from your checking or savings account) and you can reduce your interest rate by an additional percentage point, as long as you continue to make your payments electronically. When you qualify for both benefits, you can reduce your interest rate and save hundreds, even thousands of dollars on your total loan costs.