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posted Mar 27, 2019 7:33:45 PM

Which to pay off first car or CC

Which should I pay off first goal is to be debt free ASAP. A credit card with a $6000 balance with 16% APR or the car loan I just got $10,000 balance with 12% interest. Thanks.

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2 Replies
Level 15
Apr 28, 2019 5:49:01 PM

Ignore the interest rate. In the short term (as opposed to the long term of not getting out of debt) you don't care about interest rates. List your debts smallest to largest and throw every penny at the smallest debt while making minimum payments on all the others. Before you know it, your "new" smallest debt is the 2nd one on the list, and the money  you're not paying to the "old" smallest debt now gets added to the "new" smallest debt. 

Doing it this way not only allows you to see progress faster, it also allows you to "feel" that progress as the number of bills that come out of the mailbox each month start dropping. 

Now if CC and car payments are your only debt, then you should be debt free in 12 months quite easy. The trick is, after you pay off your debt, keep paying it. Yes, you heard right. "keep paying your debt". The only difference is, you're paying it to "YOU" for your own future. Just think of how much cash you'll have a year later. Then, when you see that brand new 2020 Chevy that you just "gotta have", you can pay cash for it and drive off the lot remaining debt free. 

Level 15
May 8, 2019 5:59:26 AM

pay off the credit card first.... because the interest rate is higher

 

you want to pay off the ,most expensive debts first.  

 

yes, if you do it the other way around, it's a 'feel good' but it won't feel good in the end when you spent money on the 'feel good'