I have 6 Stafford loans totaling about 12,000. All of them are through Wells Fargo. My monthly payments are very reasonable due to being on an income sensitive payment plan, and my current interest rate is 6.05. I am wondering if it is still a good idea to go ahead and consolidate anyway, or just leave them as is. Is there a significant benefit in this situation?



Hoping for some good advice!

bump

I am actually in a similar boat. I have 4 different student loans (two lines are through CitiStudent Loans - private) and two lines are through EdFinancial.

I have been paying for about 10 years (yikes!) and am down to about $8K total. Does it help me now to consolidate or have I paid most of the interest? I'm seeing the principal drop a lot more significantly now lately...

I have 5 years left to go. Citi always paid on time, every single time, a few lates on the EdFinancial.

Your interest rate will never improve with consolidation, at least not in the short term.

It will also never drop.

If student loan interest rates never change over the life of your loan, you will pay more if you consolidate because the rates are rounded up.

That said, it can be harder to pay down one loan and overall reduce your payments if you consolidate. (This is why I have two consolidations rather than one.)