Keep Track of Student Loans in One Place

Have a lot of student loans but not sure exactly how much you owe or who to pay? Join the club. Student loans are frustratingly complicated; it's not easy to keep track of how much you owe and to whom.

Enter the National Student Loan Data System, a website with real information you can use. The federal government tracks every federal student loan you ever borrowed and lists it there.

Think it might be scary to see all your loans in one place? Well, yeah, but you gotta know. My loans span a 10-year period of higher education, from community college, to performing arts school, and through (expensive) law school. It's not a short list— but it's better to know.

[Follow 11 steps to relief from federal student loans.]

First, get your Personal Identification Number at the PIN site and then look up your loans in the National Student Loan Data System.

Next, be somewhat annoyed that private loans are not included in the system. To inventory your private loans, pull your free credit report and contact your lenders.

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