My last line was what I thought was the obviousness that I should pay off my friend right away. However, I wrote that before I thought of AES and LFCU loans. Perhaps some numbers are in order:

$1,172 available
—————-
$607.20 – 0% – Landlord
$1,150 – 0% – Investor
$1,293 – 2.48% – AES – $50/mo
$1,467.62 – 13.99% – LFCU – $165/mo

As much as I’d like to get rid of the first two for personal reasons, I’d really, really like to get rid of the LFCU loan for the sake of not having that huge payment anymore. And, you know, it’s a painful reminder of how stupid I’ve been, still paying for a truck I don’t have, and only had for about a month. Mi madre also suggested making an emergency fund out of it, since I still don’t have one of those, but I still don’t really trust myself with one, and I’m pretty satisfied with being over a month ahead on all my payments (even though that’s not money I can spend in an emergency). If anything the whole emergency fund deal really irks me because I know it will set me back so much further from my payoff goals.

my thoughts when reading the conundrum post were two fold….1. people before institutions. paying your old friend would feel so good wouldnt it? but is that the smart financial thing to do, probably not. getting rid of high interest payments would probably be smarter. then i thought 2. what about paying the landlord the 607 then paying your friend the rest? that would feel good too and would renew your old friends faith in your intent to pay. is there any interest accruing on your landlords judgment?

i have a similar dilemma in my own life. i have a small credit card bill thats accruing 20% interest (less than 500 owed) and i have an old, old student loan thats taking like 4% interest. im paying extra on the student loan just because i want to get rid of it. not the best thing to do but i’ll feel relief when its paid off.

at the end of your post you said its pretty clear what you should do. im curious what you came up with.

keep up the good work jake!