<prompt> Human: Hey guys,I got married about a year and a half ago. My wife has been paying on her student loans, and I have been putting mine off. They were deferred for a while, but Im pretty sure they havent been for a good bit of time. Any mail has been going to my parents house, and they didnt tell me about it untill a few weeks ago when they mentioned, Hey, we keep getting these letters from the Department of Education. I lied to myself for a while saying Surely if Im not getting letters, its still deferred. But now its time to face the music.My question is as follows: My wife has to re-do her paperwork to keep payments low, but they are asking for her taxes from last year, which we filed together. Is there a way to consolidate our loans into one to pay off all at the same time? How can I find out how much my late fees have stacked up? What do I do next?Im sure this doesnt make much sense, my mind is kind of all over the place with this. Im scared to call and see how much I owe now that im behind. What advice can I be offered?Thanks in advance guys.  <response>: Absolutely do not consolidate it all into one. Heres why: if anything ever happens to either one of you, or if you should ever split, they cant be separated and youre on the hook for all of it. Whereas if you keep them separate, if one of you dies, the survivor is only responsible for their own loans. I dont even know if its possible to consolidate them together, and if not, its for good reason. As for checking on yours, log into NSLDS. It should show current balances, though I dont know if it will actually show late fees.You definitely need to bite the bullet and get payment arrangements started asap, or it will only get worse. 