President Biden's student loan forgiveness program was welcome news for millions of Americans saddled with this debt. But there's already a lot of misinformation circling about how to take advantage of the program. And a Google search isn't necessarily going to direct you to the right answer.

Your loans need to be held by the U.S. Department of Education to be eligible for most kinds of loan relief. Loans held by private banks or financial institutions do not qualify for debt cancellation—and this includes if you had federal loans and you consolidated them with a private lender.

But a Google search of "direct loan consolidation" and "student loan consolidation" on Tuesday populated first with ads from private companies including SoFi and Credible, as Bryce McKibben, senior director of policy and advocacy at The Hope Center, which researches student loans, first reported on Twitter. The Federal Student Aid website is the fourth or fifth result.

That can be confusing for borrowers who do not know better. If they were to consolidate with a private lender right now, they would lose their forgiveness eligibility.

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After McKibben tweeted about the results, the Federal Student Aid site became the first Google search result for "direct loan consolidation" as of Wednesday. Still, other related search terms populate non-government websites first.

Here's what borrowers need to know about consolidating their loans so they don't miss out on any federal forgiveness programs.

Consolidated loans can still be forgiven—if they are federal loans

There are many reasons someone might consolidate their student loans, including to bring all of your loans under one servicer so your monthly payments are streamlined into a single bill.

And some of the Department of Education forgiveness programs require borrowers consolidate their loans to be eligible. One example is cancellation via the limited Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) waiver.

The waiver allows public servants on the PSLF track to receive credit for partial or late payments they've already made, or for payments made on the wrong repayment plan. To use it, applicants need to first consolidate all of their loans into a Direct Loan.

Borrowers also need to do this to be eligible for income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. These plans can lower a borrower's monthly payment and are eligible for forgiveness after 20 to 25 years.

Additionally, borrowers with loans made under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program can be eligible for forgiveness if they consolidate into a Direct Loan. Plus, consolidating commercial FFEL and Perkins loans into a Direct Loan makes them eligible for the current pause on federal student loan payments and interest accrual, McKibben told Fortune in an email.