Is there a company that will consolidate personal loans with student loans?

Who would be the best company to consolidate my student loans?

• I only have $20,500 in student loans. I've heard some bad things about interest rates with Sallie Mae, while Nellnet will only consolidate if you have at lease $30K in loans. Any suggestions. I do believe that I only have 2 lenders. I was reading that if you consolidate you might lose out on the borrower benefits that the lenders offer, i.e., lower interest rates if the rates should drop. Please offer good advice. thanks.

• Answer:

  You should go with the federal government. I believe you can find information about their loan consolidation on the department of education website or you can just google "federal loan consolidation." I'm not sure if you can consolidate private loans, but you should take a look. They have the lowest rates (soon to be 3% in 2009 due to a new law!) and forgiveness programs where after 10 years your federal loans are forgiven if you work in certain jobs (also starts in 2009 due to new legislation). Check it out.