I consolidated my federal loans with Suntrust quite some time ago. They offered benefits that seem common to many firms, such as interest rate reduction awards if you set up direct payment from your bank account, make 24 on-time payments in a row from the start, etc. I've been getting consolidation offers in the form of warnings from other banks since then, talking about a huge federal interest rate increase that supposedly went into effect July 1st...don't really know what that's all about.