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To pay off or not to pay off

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    To pay off or not to pay off

    I was BK7 Discharged in Jan 2010 and have been meeting all remaining debt obligations since. I have opened 2 cards with Cap1 with $1250/$1000 limits. I don't want or need anymore than that. I have been using them and paying them off. My house is in FC and currently waiting (probably years) before that is finalized. Saving those payments into bank account. I have enough set aside to move and more set aside for a small reserve if something were to happen.

    My credit scores are all mid 600s which I don't really care about currently. What I do care about is getting debt free. I have 2 car loans that I owe on, although they were discharged and show a zero balance on the CRs. Other than that, we have 2 student loans that have a good amount left on them, about $36k. I am almost at the point where I could pay off one of the cars. That would clear up $300 a month. I would like to snowball this into my other car loan that has $9k left of it at $250 a month. Once that is paid off, put that full monthly payment towards the student loans.

    On the car I would pay off I have $3500 left on it. Since it is at the end of the loan period, the interest amount is very little and I would save about $300 in interest if I paid it off early. I would save about $1k with paying the other car off early with this model as well. Should I pay it off? Or just keep making payments.

    My goal is to get the student loans paid off before the whole FC thing finalizes as this would collectively save us $900 a month.

    What would be the smartest financial decision to make here?

    #2
    The smartest thing is usually paying off the loan with the highest interest-rate. If you want to pay off one of your cars first, pick the one with the higher interest.
    Filed CH7 9/24/2010, 341 on 10/28/2010, Disch.&Closed: 1/6/2011. FICO EX: 9/2: 672.
    FICO EQ: pre-filing: 573, After BK Public Record: 568, 10/3: 673.
    FICO TU: pre-filing: 589, After BK Public Record: 563, 9/2: 706.

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      #3
      You could go about it one of two ways. As mentioned, put them in order of the highest interest rate and the other would be putting them in the order of the smallest overall debt. The first makes more financial sense as you will pay less interest. The second (and the way I am doing it) makes more common sense because you get more paid off quicker which can be rolled into the snowball and you get the satisfaction of having one less company to deal with. Not to mention, the feeling of making progress which while some people claim is stupid, is a big thing to me. Feeling like I am making progress means a lot to me.

      Either way, PAY STUFF OFF......that is a no-brainer. Get out of debt while you are living rent free and that way you will be in a much better position to buy another house when the time comes!
      New Orleans: Home to the World Champion Saints, the biggest enviromental disaster and the biggest natural disaster in the history of this nation. Proud to call it home!

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