Currently, four types of federal student loans are available through the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (Direct Loans). Direct Consolidation Loans: These loans combine your eligible federal student loans into a single loan, so you have one payment to make and one single loan servicer to deal with. The caveat: borrowers who refinance federal student loans lose benefits provided by federal loans, including access to IDR plans that may qualify them for loan forgiveness after 10, 20 or 25 years of payments.