# I paid off my car! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 17, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-paid-off-my-car/592980 "2011-08-17T01:44:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-paid-off-my-car/592980/21 "2011-08-19T20:40:28Z")
My car gets paid off next month, and my wife’s car was bought for cash. As of next month, the only debt we’ll have is her student loan (which, frankly, we’ll have for a long-ass time). I’m planning on buying a motorcycle in the Spring, which should help us maintain our credit rating. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-paid-off-my-car/592980/22 "2011-08-20T17:19:40Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > We’ve received a settlement check that just arrived the other day. That means we can pay off the loan on **Suburban Plankton** ’s car this month. We managed to pay cash for mine, so we will be joining you soon in having no car payments. > > After the car is paid off, we only have house related loans. A mortgage and a small home equity loan that is next on the chopping block. Does it make sense to pay off the HE loan if it is at a decent rate? If house prices continue to fall then it may not be. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-paid-off-my-car/592980/23 "2011-08-21T10:50:57Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > Does it make sense to pay off the HE loan if it is at a decent rate? If house prices continue to fall then it may not be. If it’s a variable-rate loan, then definitely - rates will, eventually, go up. Even if it is a fix-rate loan: can you do better with that cash, investment-wise, than the savings in interest? Are you _sure_ you can? Especially with today’s volatile markets, I wouldn’t be so sure. OTOH, it’s also good to have a nest-egg, so the poster would want to weigh the options (pay it off, so get rid of a payment but have less cash saved, vs. keep payment but build cash reserves). We’ve got a home equity line of credit and a couple of other bills I want to get paid off; because of rates, the other bills are top priority but that HELOC, well, I’d sure like to be done with it! It’s actually at a lower rate than our mortgage right now (which is fixed-rate) but it’d still be nice to be rid of it. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-paid-off-my-car/592980/24 "2011-08-21T18:50:40Z")
Does anyone else keep reading this as “I paid off my cat”? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-paid-off-my-car/592980/25 "2011-08-21T19:09:31Z")
I just got the title on my car last week. Actually, it probably came in a couple of weeks before, but I only open mail once a month (when paying bills). My vehicle is now four years old, with just under 75,000 miles on it. Once upon a time, that described a car nearly in its grave, especially in northern New England (due to road salt!), but today, I expect to keep the car for another four years – my son is entering college this fall, and I won’t be able to afford anything else! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-paid-off-my-car/592980/26 "2011-08-21T20:29:21Z")
I have 20 months to go on my car. I used one of those loan calculators, and I can get a 35-year-old Cessna Skyhawk for about what I’m paying for my car. (Of course it’s a longer-term loan.) Hm… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-paid-off-my-car/592980.md?page=1)