Many Loans..which to pay off first?

[rviscio]

I have several different loans/debts and when I have extra money I'm not sure which to put the extra toward. They are as follows

-Mortgage- $79K owed (6% interest)
-Student Loan $36K owed (7.9% interest)
-Equity loan- 16K owed (7.5% interest)
-Credit card $9000 owed (7.9% interest)

Is there one of these I should be focused on paying off? I only have a few hundred dollar extra a month.

Thanks

[maat55]

Pay the minimums on all, then any extra toward the highest interest loan. Or if you want a motivating way to pay them off, start from the smallest to the largest. Judging by your interest rates, the smallest to largest is how I would do it.

[safari]

My advice is to pay off the credit card first. Mortgage/HELOC interest is tax deductible, so your effective interest rate is lower. Student loan interest can be tax deductible, too.

[pearlieq]

The credit card. It's the lowest interest rate and lowest balance. Interest on the other 3 loans is all potentially deductible if you itemize.

[jIM_Ohio]

Credit card (highest interest rate)
then student loans (2nd highest balance)

Then I would split between investing and paying down the house loans (line of credit first).

[InDebtInDC]

Pay the minimum on all accounts. Apply any money left to the CC. After the CC is paid off, continue to pay all the minimum on the other 3 accounts and save as much money as possible.

Then you can decide if you want to pay off your HELOC. It' up to you.

I would not touch that student loan balance until you have paid off all other debt and have met your retirement goals. If you get sick, fired, laid off, or go back to school, you can defer your payments. The same cannot be said about any other type of loans.

At any rate, knock out your CC balance then come back and we'll talk more. RIght now this is the only thing everybody agrees with.

[kilcher]

I suggest not only paying the minimum but paying the minimum PLUS interest. Other than the mortgage your rates are all pretty close. I'd start with the CC with the highest rate, then pay the other CC, then your student loans. If you don't already be sure you set money aside for an emergency fund first!