Which debt should I pay off first for fastest payoff?

J

JculpMehrkChop

New Member
Can you all help em figure this out? I’m working on 3 debts:
  • $25.2k at 4.96%, $482/month private student loan (PL)
  • $6.75k at 8%, $0 loan against my whole life insurance (I know...WL)
  • $35.6K at 3.15–6.55%, $382/month federal student loans (FL)
  • - $24k at 6.55%, $11.6k at 3.15%
  • - The federal loans are grouped, but I can send extra payments to specific loans and pay them off instead of spreading the extra evenly.
  • And I can put $2000/month as an extra payment.

Snowball says WL -> PL -> FL.
Avalanche says WL -> FL (6.55%) -> PL -> FL (3.15%).
“Domino” (Balance / Payment) says WL -> PL -> FL.
“Cash-Flow” (big-to-small minimum payment) says PL -> FL -> WL.
And ChatGPT says PL -> FL (6.55%) -> WL -> FL (3.15%) because of all the math I make it do (interest rates, APY gains on my HYSAs, extra debt payments) for fastest payoff. It says I’ll be done in 30 months. I have not calculated the timeframes on the other methods.

I want to believe I’m smart enough to figure out the math, but calculating interest per month is hard. I also want to believe ChatGPT, but it constantly messes up the math, and it takes so long for the prompts to load. Any math gurus out there who can figure out my debt order?
 
I use this Google sheet calculator to find the best way for me to pay off my debts. Maybe it can help you too!

... Well, I guess I can't post the link, or my comment gets denied... If you want to DM me, I'd be happy to share it. I'm not affiliated with the Google sheet's creator or anything I've just been using it for 6 years and found it to be really helpful.
 
I went back and forth on this same question while digging out of my own debt here in Ohio. The math nerd in me says avalanche, since paying the highest rate first saves the most interest. But honestly the snowball can win if you need quick wins to stay consistent. I did a hybrid myself: I knocked out my smallest balance first just to prove to myself I could do it, then switched to the highest rate. The plan you will actually stick with beats the perfect math every time.
 
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