Thanks OP!

Here is my experience so far:

0) Called DL customer service and CSR said they will transfer a loan from another company even if it has been previously consolidated, but I won't get any incentives

1) August 10th: filled out Direct Loan consolidation application on-line: http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov

Important: For loan type of my current loan, I was told to choose option "Usnubsidized Federal Consolidation Loan". (Don't choose "other" or stuff like that)

Note: If you've used Direct Loans in the past, you can use your pin to electronically sign your application.
If you have not used your pin for a while, it may have been deactivated, to reactivate it go to: http://www.pin.ed.gov and select "reestablish my pin".

2) on August 19(Approximately) got a call from my current lender. They've asked why am I consolidating with DL and offered a bonus equal to 1% of principal balance if I stay with them. I've denied their offer. 1% extra for electronic debiting from UHEAA will allow me to save around $100 during the first year.
Note: CSR from my curent lender did not say anything about single lender rule, so I did not even have to refer to the quotes in OP. The CSR could not figure out why I was consolidating though(or pretended to). "Why are you consolidating with DL, they are not offering any incentives?".
Of course, I did not tell about UHEAA & my plans for another consolidation

3) August 29th: checked app status @ loanconsolidation.ed.gov:
Welcome, Foto Maniak. As of today, August 29, 2005, your combined app/P-note application is in cert status. Your loan consolidation application/promissory note was received on August 10, 2005. We sent a request to your current lenders on August 10, 2005 for the exact payoff amount of your loans. When we receive a response, we will mail you a loan statement indicating loans ready for payoff.

So... yeah.. I think I missed the deadline.. I blame it on the hangover left over from the 4 years of college.

Anyways, I got a job now, and the grace period is almost half way through, so I've started to worry about it. I've read some threads about this subject but I am still kind fo confused. So are perkin's loan NOT a type of lender to get you off the single lender rule?

Right now, I owe $ 750 in perkins loan, and 22k from sallie mae, at the new high rate of 4.5%. Does this mean I'll have to try to use Direct lOan then go to UHEAA? Or Can I just go to UHEAA to consolidate for the first time. Does that Perkin's loan count as a lender?

Or is there a better option right now.. I got this Education Direct thing that keeps calling to bother me.

Hey guys thanks for all the info about getting around the single lender rule. I was able to consolidate my sallie mae loan with the department of edu, so Sallie Mae did not give me any hassle whatsoever with it. The only thing is I got a letter from the Dept of Edu saying it went through, but now I don't have a grace period and I'm going to have to start making payments right away. When I consolidate with someone else will I get my grace period back? I just graduated 3 weeks ago, and I haven't found a full time job yet. Also who is the best company to reconsolidate with? Thanks.

April

One thing you need to look into before applying for a forebearance or deferment is whether or not it will impact the 1% reduction after 48 on time payments with UHEAA. I took a forebearance when I had my loans with my previous lender, and that made me ineligible for their similar benefit. That was one of the major reasons I was looking for a way to move my single lender loans to a different institution.

One way or another you can consolidate with another lender.

Since Direct Loans are not FFELP loans, Sallie Mae might say that you don't have diversity under the single lender rule. In that case, you can just consolidate your Sallie Mae loan with Direct, and then re-consolidate with another lender such as UHEAA. You may want to try calling UHEAA and see if they think that the loans can be consolidated right away without the intermediate step. The question though is whether you would want to consolidate while still in school, which would force you to go into repayment and forego your 6 month grace period.

Rath

I wanted to again thank the OP. I applied with UHEAA to consolidate my Federal Direct loan a little over a month ago. The consolidation loan finally showed up on UHEAA's website this past Friday. I mailed the Direct Debit paperwork in today.

The total process from:

PHEA --> Federal Direct --> UHEAA

started about June 25ish and ended Sept 2nd.

fotomaniak said:Thanks OP!

Here is my experience so far:

0) Called DL customer service and CSR said they will transfer a loan from another company even if it has been previously consolidated, but I won't get any incentives

1) August 10th: filled out Direct Loan consolidation application on-line: http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov

Important: For loan type of my current loan, I was told to choose option "Usnubsidized Federal Consolidation Loan". (Don't choose "other" or stuff like that)

Note: If you've used Direct Loans in the past, you can use your pin to electronically sign your application.
If you have not used your pin for a while, it may have been deactivated, to reactivate it go to: http://www.pin.ed.gov and select "reestablish my pin".

2) on August 19(Approximately) got a call from my current lender. They've asked why am I consolidating with DL and offered a bonus equal to 1% of principal balance if I stay with them. I've denied their offer. 1% extra for electronic debiting from UHEAA will allow me to save around $100 during the first year.
Note: CSR from my curent lender did not say anything about single lender rule, so I did not even have to refer to the quotes in OP. The CSR could not figure out why I was consolidating though(or pretended to). "Why are you consolidating with DL, they are not offering any incentives?".
Of course, I did not tell about UHEAA & my plans for another consolidation

3) August 29th: checked app status @ loanconsolidation.ed.gov:
Welcome, Foto Maniak. As of today, August 29, 2005, your combined app/P-note application is in cert status. Your loan consolidation application/promissory note was received on August 10, 2005. We sent a request to your current lenders on August 10, 2005 for the exact payoff amount of your loans. When we receive a response, we will mail you a loan statement indicating loans ready for payoff.

4) September 27th: Direct Loans sent payment to ACS(college loan).
First Payment to Direct is due Oct 21st.
Called UHEAA and confirmend that they'll let me consolidate my DL loan since "Direct Loans are the exception to single lender rule"(quote from UHEAA CSR)
Downloaded UHEAA Consolidation Application

I wonder how long should I wait before applying for UHEAA consolidation. Any suggestions?

Robdls: I doubt that you can consolidate Signature loans with Direct Loans, insofar as Signature loans are private.

Foto: I ended up consolidating with UHEAA within a couple of weeks after Direct Loans obtained my loans. I think you can pretty much start the process, if you want, as soon as your loans are with Direct.

So here is a hypothetical.

I consolidated with IDAPP about 3 years ago, back when they were the best deal around here on FW. Can i call up Utah now and automatically lower my percentage rate? I have 2.75% now. Would the rate begin from there or the new higher rate established 7/1 of this year? thanks for any help.

MillionairesNextDoor said:So here is a hypothetical.

I consolidated with IDAPP about 3 years ago, back when they were the best deal around here on FW. Can i call up Utah now and automatically lower my percentage rate? I have 2.75% now. Would the rate begin from there or the new higher rate established 7/1 of this year? thanks for any help.

You will keep the rate you consolidated at initially. However, you cannot call up UHEAA first. Because your loan is held by a single lender, you need to follow the instructions in the OP, by first moving your consolidation to Direct Loans, and then to UHEAA.

Rath