Yes, your federal loan details can be accessed online through the Department of Education’s National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) database.

The NSLDS database holds all your federal loan details. If you’ve just applied for aid, don’t expect to find any information on NSLDS yet. NSLDS gets its information from schools guaranty agencies and U.S. Department of Education programs after your funds have been disbursed.

The loan details you can expect to find include Pell Grant amounts, Stafford loan, Perkins loan, and Plus loan disbursements. You can log on to www.nslds.com. You will need your four digit FAFSA pin number to access your details.

Given the interest rate drop which takes effect Wednesday, July 1 I’m expecting next week to be a busy consolidation week. Save yourself some frustration by having everything in front of you ahead of time. By the way, to find out if the rate drop impacts you or what the new rates are going down to you can read Consolidating After July 1 May Save You Thousands for more details.

Here is a punchlist of what you’ll want in front of you when you sit down to consolidate your federal loans, and what choices you will need to make.

1. 4-digit FAFSA pin number

2. Loan details such as servicer, disbursement date(s), and current amount owed

3. Know which loans you want to consolidate and which you don’t

4. You will have multiple repayment plans to select from which include standard, graduate, extended, income-contingent or income sensitive, and income-based

Keep in mind if you are enrolled in school half-time or greater as defined by the school you are not eligible for consolidation at this time. You will need to wait until you fall below half time status or graduate.

If you have other debt you need to consolidate such as credit cards, personal loans, utility bills, and cell phone bills get a free debt consultation quote today.

Re-aging is something more and more credit card companies are agreeing to do with their delinquent cardholders. It’s not something they broadcast, but if you ask they may hook you up.

Re-aging is a technique used to clean up your credit history, particularly if you had a brief problem and you’re back in control.

Here’s how it works. Say you’re behind or were behind in your payments by a few months, under the re-aging process the credit card company would agree to wipe away the late payments and fees if you agreed to a new payment amount or agreed to send in a large payment immediately.

Why is it useful? It helps to have those late marks removed from your record because they weigh down your overall FICO score.

You have absolutely nothing to lose by asking.