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Finances & Money

Breaking News: We’ve paid off our car loan early!

June 9, 2007
By Clever Dude
- Leave a Comment

Just a couple days ago, I mentioned that we had about $3,300 left to pay on our car loan, and that we would pay it off over the next 2 months.

Well, I jumped the gun.

I was looking through our budget and saw that I could pay the credit card loan off completely right now. The loan was a low 1.99% interest, and yes, I could have earned 5.05% in my HSBC account, but darnit, I wanted that loan GONE!

We cashed out our eTrade CD late last month, and I was dragging my feet on moving the money to our savings. My logical side said “move it and earn more interest than I would save by paying off the loan”. But, my emotional side (yes, I have one), said “that car can be yours and you can get rid of that debt hanging over your head RIGHT NOW!”

It just goes to show that logic doesn’t always rule in personal finance, and sometimes you just have to get that weight off your shoulders.

So, what’s next? I’ll clue you in later. 🙂

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About Clever Dude

Clever Dude founded CleverDude.com in June 2006 while working as a technical analyst in the Washington, D.C. area. A Penn State graduate, he built the site as a side project alongside a white-collar career that included earning a master’s degree and multiple promotions.

In five years he wrote nearly 1,300 articles on personal finance and life lessons drawn from his own experience. The blog grew from a hobby into a recognized early voice in the personal-finance community and generated meaningful revenue. He sold the site in 2010, continued as a guest contributor through 2015, and returned in 2023 after further career advances, paying off his home, and extensive travel.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. MoneyNing says

    June 9, 2007 at 12:24 am

    Good for you my firend! Now is the time to get rid of your debt scale!

    Don’t worry about the 5.05% vs 1.99% thing. With taxes, you are looking at something like 1.5% or something difference, so it turns out to be $50 bucks a year?

    $50 is definitely worth it for the piece of mind, since it will energize you to do other money making things.

    Reply
  2. Christina Rogers says

    June 9, 2007 at 1:11 am

    Hi “Clever Dude”,

    Great blog! Nothing better than paying off those forever nagging loans! Anyway, I found your site thru reviewme.com and was wondering if you would be interested in exchanging a review and link for a year’s membership at my site?

    I own a family website service at http://familydetails.com. Please let me know if you’re interested.

    Thanks,

    Christina Rogers

    Reply
  3. Dan says

    June 9, 2007 at 7:47 am

    CONGRATS! Getting rid of Credit Card debit is a great feeling.

    I know that sometimes not having the debt is much more important than the growth some where else.

    Reply
  4. J2R says

    June 9, 2007 at 12:01 pm

    I currently have 2 car loans. I do enough money to pay one of them off sitting in a money market account. The reason I haven’t done it yet is because I wanted an emergency fund.
    But I’m really considering paying off one of the cars just for the feeling of freedom. (At least partially, since I’ll still have one remaining)

    Reply
  5. Lulu says

    June 9, 2007 at 4:26 pm

    I am going to do the same thing with one of my loans this month. I have about $400 left on it and that is about one month’s income as a student. I cashed out my little emergency funds and I am going to pay that full amount off this month. Feels good.

    Reply
  6. Patrick says

    June 9, 2007 at 6:48 pm

    Congrats! I’ve paid off low interest debt before just to get rid of it. It feels so good! And when you think about it, you only would have made a few extra dollars. In my opinion, a few dollars is well worth the piece of mind of not owing that debt any longer!

    Reply
  7. NCN says

    June 9, 2007 at 10:51 pm

    You KNOW I’m loving this news! Way to go… I totally agree with your decision you made. Now, on to the next goal! Keep it up,
    NCN

    Reply
  8. Lau says

    June 10, 2007 at 10:54 am

    Congrats on the car loan! It always feels great to be able to scratch one item off of your list of debts.
    I’ll be able to pay our car loan next February as well. 2 whole years before it’s due. I can’t wait!

    Reply
  9. Clever Dude says

    June 10, 2007 at 1:21 pm

    Thanks everyone!

    I should have mentioned that this was a 72 month (6 year) loan that we paid off about 3.5 years early!

    When you account for the negative equity that we rolled into this loan, it was about $25,000 we paid off over 2.5 years!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Weekend Financial Roundup | The Money Mythos says:
    June 9, 2007 at 8:27 pm

    […] Dude paid off his car loan early. Oddly enough, I am in the exact same situation – about $3000 on a 1.9% interest loan. And I have […]

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  2. Oops, forgot to mention this about our Chevy payoff at Clever Dude Personal Finance & Money says:
    June 12, 2007 at 6:32 pm

    […] the way back on the 9th (uh, Saturday), I wrote how I sent off the final check to pay off our Chevy Malibu. However, I forgot to mention some other important, and interesting, […]

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  3. Murphy's Law: Pay off your car, get into an accident at Clever Dude Personal Finance & Money says:
    June 14, 2007 at 7:02 am

    […] 4 days ago, we paid off the last $3,300 on our Chevy Malibu. But what can go wrong, will go […]

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  4. How we dripped our way out of debt at Clever Dude Personal Finance & Money says:
    June 20, 2007 at 7:03 am

    […] After reading NoCreditNeeded’s article titled “Drip, Drip, Drip Your Way Out of Debt“, I got to wondering “How much interest did we save by paying off our Malibu almost 4 years early?” […]

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