If you have federal student loans, the date July 1 should be in flashing red lights. That's the deadline to consolidate loans at the lowest interest rate ever. Instead of making multiple payments to different lenders at variable interest rates, you'd have one monthly payment at a rate that, crucially, will stick in the same low place throughout the life of the loan. Recent grads, still in their six-month grace period, can lock in a rate as low as 2.77 percent, and borrowers already paying can go as low... More >>>