Student loan consolidation hacks?

[leo187um]

I have several student loans reporting on my credit (unsubsidized and direct plus grad loans).

if I do a federal consolidation (so two tradelines down from six now) there are two offsetting impacts: I would have less accounts with a balance (positive) but my AAoA will decline (negative). Net-net would consolidation lower or increase my credit score initially?

Also for those who've done a consolidation, is there any time lag between when the legacy accounts get paid off and when the new bigger loan appears? If there is, it would be an opportune time to apply for other credit products. 

[RSX]

is the consolidation to drop the Interest rate?  or to lower the overall payment?

i am thinking it would be easier for you to pay down 6 separate loans, since you could pay minimums on all, then extra to the smallest one - knock that out, then move on to extra payments for the next smallest loan

you might see some better paydown progress that way. -otherwise it is 1 big payment that will take longer to knock out

[MeredithLepore]

Your credit report will continue to show closed loan accounts, so consolidating will have no effect on your AAoA in the next several years. Before making this choice based on your credit score impact, though, I'd echo the questions by @RSX @ - If you're struggling to pay back the loans and consolidating will make repayment easier to manage and/or reduce your monthly payment/interest rate, then it's probably a smart move. But if you aren't seeing better rates, you'd probably be better off tackling these debts one at a time.

[BuckyB]

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@leo187um wrote:

I have several student loans reporting on my credit (unsubsidized and direct plus grad loans).

if I do a federal consolidation (so two tradelines down from six now) there are two offsetting impacts: I would have less accounts with a balance (positive) but my AAoA will decline (negative). Net-net would consolidation lower or increase my credit score initially?

Also for those who've done a consolidation, is there any time lag between when the legacy accounts get paid off and when the new bigger loan appears? If there is, it would be an opportune time to apply for other credit products. 

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I understand your questions and I have the same ones.  Did you ever find out about this?  I just did a consolidation to take advantage of the SAVE IDR changes and am wondering how this will show up on my CRs.  I had 4 student loan tradelines that will now presumably be closed and a single one will be added.  The new account will bring down my scores but the 4 PIF tradelines might bring it up?  Dunno.