To find all of your student loans and grants, whether they are Pell Grants or student loans that you've consolidated after leaving college, start by going online to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) for Students. You can find that website by copying and pasting the following URL (minus the period at the end of the sentence) into your browser: https://www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA.
If you call a loan holder directly before accessing this database that if fine, however many times he or she will give you this website as your resource because this is their source of information that they access while talking to you about what student loans are held in your name.
At the top left of the home page there is a tab that says "Financial Aid Review" or you should see it in the middle of the page. Click on the tab. The next page is a privacy confirmation telling you what kind of data will be needed. If you agree then click the accept button. The next page is about your browser's security and encryption. If you agree click the accept button.
Sift through the information that you are seeing on the student loan database page. Be prepared to enter your information because this page is going to ask for it in order to pull up your loans. This website does not track personal loans done through a private lender. The NSDLS is for student financial aid that includes information on Title IV loans and grants. This information has been gathered from colleges, loan guarantors, the Direct Loan program, and other Department of Education services. So, there is a lot of information available.
Input the requested information. You must have your student pin. The pin is the number that you received when you applied for the free student loans application called the FAFSA. You cannot retrieve any information from this loan database without your pin.
Once you input your information and click submit you will be taken to a page that lists all your college loans. They will be listed as numbers, so you'll need to click on the actual number to the left of the loan to be taken to the information you're seeking. Within the student loan database you are able to find the current holder, what has been paid off and how such as "paid off by consolidation" or whether you have loans that are defaulted. Utilize this database to extract all the information you can so you known where your loans are and the repayment status on each of them.
Print out the information if you can. Call your student loan holders. Remember this can be a long process depending on the status of your loans and how many you have, but it will be worth your time to find out where your student loans are at and get organized. You don't want to go into default.
Make sure to go through each number on this loan database. Being behind on student loan payments subjects you to garnishment and wrecks credit, but most importantly sometimes the site is also wrong. When you call a creditor that person will refer to this website to tell you about your loans, so it's important that you go through the loans, calling each one to make sure the status is exactly what it says. If there is a discrepancy make sure to document and ask the person on the telephone who to call. Always take notes when dealing with these places and write down names, times, dates, and as much information as possible.