Life is bigger than FICO scores. I wouldn't have any problems transferring away from Sallie Mae if (after research) it made numerical sense.
Starting Score: 675
If you qualify you would have gotten an e-mail.
After talking to them about it I opted for the regular consolidation. I wanted them all as one loan and I needed the Income based repayment system and the Public Service Loan Forgivness Program...made more sense finicialy for me to go with the regular direct consolidation.
@Anonymous wrote:
Percentages spoke for themselves, so I withdrew my application for Special Direct Loan Consolidation and decided to stick with Sallie.
But I am curious to hear your stories. I tried researching the benefits of this "special" program, but to be quite honest - the only thing I'm finding is the governments website which tells you alot about how to apply and what happens after you do and who qualifies and bla bla bla. But no clear statements about the actual financial benefits (aside from the 0.5% percentage reduction). If this is the only benefit, than choosing Special Direct Loan Consolidation offers much less than other private lenders such as Sallie. What's the point? Did Obama administration just want to get rid of the FFELP loans altogether and hope people wouldn't do their math?
I'd recommend any opinions on this topic, because I'm somewhat confused.
I'd guess there's a benefit where private lenders are difficult to deal with and perhaps don't offer the same benefits that the federal government does.
But, honestly, I don't see that there's a huge benefit. You know what would really help? Allowing consolidation into a federal program for private loans (I mean private private, not privately-held federal loans). It would probably be a lot more helpful to the average Joe than bailing out another bank...
I did the Direct Loan Consolidation about 3 months ago. I am also making the Income Based payments and working towards the Public Service Loan Forgiveness now. The consolidation didn't affect my credit scores at all. If anything, it will be helping them as the Income Based payment is massively less than I would have been paying each month, freeing up more money for me to pay down balances on my CCs. At the 30 year rate, I would have been paying about $1,000/month on the loans, I am presently paying $94.00/month. That rate seemed very low to me, but I'll take it 
Horrible advise. There are many benefits to a consolidation, any person coming out of a professional program in school with a professional degree will tell you about all the loan counseling that takes place with an exit interview. Obama's consolidation is better than what was originally there. I can tell you first hand my score didn't drop from consolidation but rather increased.... My first years payments a whopping Zero because it's based on my residency income, and next years the same, I won't see significant student loan payments until 2 years into my first job
@llecs wrote:I don't know the specifics of the loan, but on a FICO standpoint, there might not be a gain. On the contrary, your FICO score would likely drop as the new loan is added, though that drop will fade away within a year or so. The old loans will still report and a new one will be added. And that's a good thing the old loans will still report because of their age. They'll continue to report and age well for the next 10 years. So, on a FICO standpoint, don't do it. But if there are other benefits like rate reduction or having less payments to worry about, then I'd consider it.
