If you plan to apply for a Direct consolidation loan through the Direct Loan Program, using the online or paper application methods, you will need to provide your loan information on the application. If you apply over the phone you do not need to provide any information other than the personal data you will be asked over the phone.

You will be asked to provide the following information about your federal loans on a consolidation application:

Loan holder: If your loan is a Direct loan, your loan holder is the Direct Loan Program, use your loan servicer's mailing address and phone number; if you have other federal loans, refer to the correspondence you receive from each lender for the loan holder information.

Loan type: On the online and paper versions, use code ‘D’ for subsidized Direct loans; use code ‘L’ for unsubsidized Direct loans; for other types of loans, refer to the charts provided on the Web site or enclosed with the paper application.

Account number: Your social security number is your loan account number.

Current balance: Use the original loan amounts for subsidized loans; do the same for unsubsidized but if you have not been paying the interest, call your loan servicer to get an accurate balance. You may simply list the total of subsidized and the total of unsubsidized loans instead of listing numerous separate loans. For example, if you have five separate loans totaling $16,000 ($8,000 in subsidized loans and $8,000 in unsubsidized loans), you may list just two loans (subsidized and unsubsidized of $8,000 each) instead of the five. If you need to determine the types and amounts of your loans, call your loan servicer.

Loans to be consolidated: List all loans and indicate which are to be consolidated. Include all loans, even if not to be consolidated. This will help in determining repayment loan terms. For example, if you have $31,000 in total loans ($16,000 in Direct and $15,000 in a private loan) and if you list both loans on the application, your repayment term on the $16,000 consolidation loan would be 20 years. If you list only the $16,000 Direct loan, your repayment term would be 15 years. Your monthly payments would be smaller if you include the private education loan on your consolidation application. Note that the private loan is not being consolidated. The private loan amount is being used only to determine the length of the loan. You will need to make separate payments for the private loan.

Call the Direct Loan Consolidation Center at 800.557.7392 with questions regarding loan consolidation.