 TITLE: Can Debt Consolidation Affect Your Credit Score? CONTENT: Private Student Loans\n---------------------\nThe process for consolidating private loans is slightly different than with government-backed ones. To do this, you will essentially be rolling all of your existing private student loans into a single new account and will pay that new account moving forward.\nDepending on your creditworthiness, this account will have a lower interest rate which will help you save money over the life of your loan. You will also be able to make a single payment each month, taking away the hassle of worrying about late payments.\nYou can also roll public student loans into this new loan, however, you can not consolidate private loans with a Federal consolidation program. If you have a good credit score, you may be able to consolidate your existing student debt into a new loan with a lower interest rate. By rolling your public loans into this new account you would pay the same lower interest rate across all of your student debt.\nWhile paying lower interest might be appealing, consolidating federal student debt into a private loan has drawbacks. Federal student loans come with certain protections—like forbearance and deferral—that you can use to pause payment of your loan if for some reason you are unable to pay. In addition to those advantages, certain federal loans are eligible for income-based repayment and loan forgiveness. Private student loans often do not have the same protections, and once a federal loan is consolidated into a private loan there features will no longer be available.\nConsolidating private student loans also will require that a lender checks your credit history. Not only will this incur a hard inquiry on your credit file, but in order to get approved and get a good interest rate on your new loan, you will want to have a decent credit score. END