By consolidating your education loan(s), your interest rate will be fixed and determined by the weighted average of the interest rates on the loan(s) being consolidated, rounded to the nearest higher one-eighth of one percent.

Use the Direct consolidation loan calculator to determine the weighted average interest rate and to see what your monthly payments would be under the four repayment plans. The calculator will also determine the maximum term length.

If you are eligible to keep the up-front rebate on your Direct loans, the rebate will continue to be part of your Direct consolidation loan. Realize that if you are making payments on your Direct loans but you consolidate them before you make the initial 12 on-time payments to keep the rebate, you will need to make another 12 initial on-time consecutive monthly payments on the consolidation loan to keep the rebate. Remember that the consolidation loan is a new loan.

Student borrowers may be able to reduce their federal consolidation loan interest rate by an extra 0.25 percent by electing to make their monthly payments through an automatic electronic debit from a bank account. This means that you authorize the payments to be made from your checking or savings account. Using automatic payment ensures that on-time payments will be made; this option should be considered by every borrower entering loan repayment. If you are interested in an automatic payment process, contact your consolidation loan servicer.