Finance - Which to pay first?
 

I have two loans that I pay additional principal on each month; home and car?

Both are at similar interest rates (the car could be a little lower %). Is there one I should focus the additional money I can pay towards principal first? First thought is the home since the terms are longer, but it would also be nice to have the car paid off sooner. Then again the car loses value each month too.

Some months the additional I would pay on the car just goes to the lender's bank and sits in a savings account I had to open (credit union). I figure if there is a major service I have money or I could eventually use that money in their savings account to pay off the loan.

Is there any consensus on which to focus on or just pay some extra on both as I have been doing?

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

I'm not an expert but I would pay the car first. Once its paid off then use what you're saving on the car being paid off to pay even more on the house.

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

It would be nice to have the car paid off. I'd like to buy a 2nd car and was kind of dependent on the 1st being paid. I don't like loans.

I thought since the terms on the mortgage is so long, that the interest would even bigger if I didn't focus on the house as much.

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

I follow Dave Ramsey's advice.

Pay off the smallest loan first. Then apply what you were paying to the remaining balance.

Debt snowball!

https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/get-...-snowball-plan

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

Ok, I think that settles it then. I'll concentrate on the car then.

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

Good choice. Another benefit is that mortgage interest on your home is deductible on your fed taxes whereas car loan interest is not.

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

Paying the additional principal on the car is kind of a pain. I have to transfer the money to the credit union savings account first. I pay the loan from my default bank, but if I do that for additional payments, it does not go to principal. It's not real pain, but I wish they had a better system.

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

The Fed has dropped interest rates 3 times in the past few months. Have you looked into refinancing your mortgage to get a lower rate?

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

Not really. I worry if I refinance to a 20, the amortization schedule may play against me.

I could look into it and see if it really makes sense. I am at an effective rate of 3.8750% currently on my mortgage.

Looking at a mortgage calc, I could do a 15 fixed and pay similar to what I pay now. Something to consider. I will stop by a bank and talk to them. Thanks!

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

The strict financial answer is "Pay off the higher interest rate first".

...but if it were ME? I'd pay off the car loan first. The feeling of "awww yesss it's paid off!" is just too good.

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

The car is at 4.4%. I too would like to get the car paid off and explore a refinance on the home.

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

I dont see this as a completely cut and dried case. The fact that extra payments on the car go into a savings account instead of applying to the principle makes it sound like the way the car load is written there may be a penalty for early payment and the savings account is how they attempt to delay your paying it off first. If that is not the case then debt snowballing applies and the smaller of the two should get the extra payment to get rid of it sooner and then move on to the next larger.

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

I apologize for not be so clear. Within the credit union site which allows me to make principal only payments does not allow me to associate an external bank account. I pay my monthly payment direct from my primary bank to the credit union. If I want a principal only payment, I must do that from within the credit union site; hence transferring money to savings account I needed to open to be a part of the credit union.

Not ideal, but not the end of the world either.

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

Ditto

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

Based on this information then I agree with those saying Dave Ramsey plan. As an avid practitioner of that plan I can say it works very well. About 4 more years and I will be screaming "I AM DEBT FREE"

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

I had a lot of issues due to my loans back in the day. I think one of the most important lessons I got was to not overdo it. I also relied a lot on credit cards and short term loans in order to enjoy my life at the fullest. There was a time though that I struggled a lot and I started reading books. If you have a look at some of the best reads you will realize that the I am a mastermind when it comes to investing.

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

Where do these prison escapees come from? Bots Wanna?

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

Or Indee Ahhh

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

Well an update to this. Car was paid off in November. Was looking to refi to a 15 year on the home, but when I ran the numbers it did not make sense to take on 8K refi charges compared to what I would "save" with a lower interest rate. I just pay more now on a principal only payment which brings me to a similar pay off date as the 15 year without any additional charge to refi.

Re: Finance - Which to pay first?
 

I just seen the thread so I am not able to give retroactive advice. However, paying principal only payments on a longer term loan will benefit you way more. You are smart to add extra payments to your house. Depending on your interest rate and how many years you owe, you could save potentially 6-8 months off principal off the total loan with just one extra payment. Of course, the shorter the term of the loan, as I said, the lesser the benefit. I dug us out of stupid debt in the mid to late nineties. I did stupid x 10, mostly by buying and then trading a new car. Dumbest thing I've ever done. Then in 1999, my wife was hospitalized for 8 days and we had no insurance. She got the mumps from some tyrant a client brought over during a meeting. Her air passage way closed up and she damn near died. All the money we had saved to build a house was lost paying off doctors and setting up a payment plan with hospital after draining our bank account. We were in bad shape by June 1, 1999. But, by some miracle, we still managed to build a house 1 year later simply by working our asses off. We have not had a car payment since 2004 and only owe for the house thanks to loosely following the Dave Ramsey plan. I strongly recommend listening to him and taking his advice. No more car loans for us.