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I would pay off which ever balance has the highest interest rate. I would then look into getting a line of credit with as low rate as possible and use it to pay off whatever remaining debts have a higher interest than that line of credit.

I would pay off whatever has the highest interest rate first. It will save you the most in the end.

I do Dave Ramsey and I would pay off the first two cards and be done with it.

My initial instinct was to pay towards the highest interest rate first, even if its not paying it off completely.
However, I can see why the idea of paying off the two smallest and feeling some sense of "relief" could be beneficial, but only if 1) you will cut up/cancel those cards and not reuse them and 2) you can take the payments you were making on those two and apply it to another card/debt. So for example if payments before paying off look like this:

DH Card - $50/month
Card 1 - $55/month
Card 2 - $75/month
Card 3 - $75/month
Card 4 - $100/month

Pay off DH and Card 1 and start paying that extra $105 towards one of the other cards. So if that is Card 2, you'd be paying $180 per month. Then that would be paid off faster, and then you can apply that $180 to another.

Definitely the highest interest rate. I was going to start putting more toward our car loan next month because it would be nice to pay it off sooner but I realized after logging in some numbers that I would only be saving $98 total over the life of the loan because our rate is so low. So inteastbim putting that extra toward our mortgage payment because although I won't feel it now, paying that extra starting now saves me $22K over the life of the loan (which yes is way longer than the car loan but come on.) Like @Truth Bombs: said, math wins.

The math wins argument is valid if you would be just as disciplined in paying off your debts as the snowball method. But if it just seems like an endless mountain, you'all feel like you'll never pay off all your debts so you get discouraged. The reason Dave's method works is because it motivates you to be more aggressive and pay off your loans faster. My husband and I put ourselves through school and had no family support after we left home for college. That cost what it cost. Today we are both attorneys and DH has an MBA to boot and while we can do math just fine, we do Dave's method because it made us more cut throat and aggressive than if we were going to pay things off based on interest rate. So even though our accountant and planner thought we were nuts about how we were handling our money, we got rid of all and any of our smaller debts first and that jazzed us up to be ruthless enough to eventually pay off my $100K law school loans and pat down $80K of his in 5 years. And we paid for his MBA cash. So while I dunno what I would have saved in interest in the long run using math, I do know it ultimately saved us money because we paid things off so much faster.

@gingerbebe: If you need to trick yourself into being motivated to pay down debt, then you aren't actually changing into a responsible spender. Knowing you are saving as much money as possible in the long run should be motivation enough. That's great you were able to pay off all your debts, pay for your husband's MBA with cash, etc. But if you had paid off in order of interest rate you would have done all those things and had more cash to your name now.

The other advantage of paying off smaller amounts first even if they have a lower interest rate than others is if you cut out that debt. If you pay off the two small CC balances, will you cut up and stop using those cards? Or will you eventually just put money back on them? If you just use them again, the math method of highest rate should be your focus. But if you are serious about trying to get out of debt, a key step is to limit the debt you have.

I think it also depends on the difference in interest rate. If the CC cards are 8% and the next "high" one is 9%, thats pretty marginal and I would just pay off the CC cards to be done with them. But if the difference in rate is CC cards 5% and 25%, then it really would make sense to pay off that higher interest rate (even if you dont completely pay it off)

I would also go with the smallest debt. If you aren't enrolled in a student loan repayment plan (PAYE, REPAYE, IBR, or ICR) you should look into them as your outstanding balance will be forgiven after a certain number of years. We are in a similar boat and the first thing we paid off was my student loans that were not eligible for forgiveness (6.8% interest rate, so a high interest rate but a small loan amount). I always have to warn people to be mindful about consolidating your loans because if you are several years into a repayment plan and do so, it can reset that clock. For some people it is worth it, but just be careful.

Our credit card debt on my card isn't huge so we hope to pay that off over the next few months (it is still lingering from when I was on maternity leave). Next year we hope to pay off one or both car loans.

I have significant student loan debt. I am enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Several years ago we put a big chunk of money toward my loans and very seriously regret it, as the total amount and interest rate are so high that it didn't really make a difference: the balance has barely changed over time. If we had saved that money for a year or two, we could have paid off at least one car loan by now, or invested it. Also consider how this would impact your credit if you decide to buy a new house, for example (having fewer debts to pay off). If your loans are as significant as mine, putting that much money toward them does not make sense even if the interest rate is your highest as you are most likely eligible for an income driven repayment plan. I'm just hoping I can keep my job for the next 6+ years. Thus far I have had 3 positions since grad school and all were non-profit, so if I lose my job (it's grant funded) I would look to join another non-profit to maintain my forgiveness status.

Have you considered talking to a financial advisor? My husband is a certified financial planner (yes, even they can have debt: he just knows how to manage ours well) and works with a lot of medical and dental students, so they have significant student loan debt but are also starting families, buying homes, etc. You might want to consider consulting someone who works in a similar capacity.

@Truth Bombs: As is often the case with you and I, we shall agree to disagree. If you think I'm not being a "responsible spender" because I "tricked myself" into paying off all of my debt and half my husband's debt over 5 years while making the insane sacrifices we made, instead juggling public service loan forgiveness over 10 years, IBR, and various tax deductions over 10-30 years then 🤷‍♀️. Having a mortgage worth of debt that is not a home mortgage does things psychologically to you where you essentially want to treat it LIKE a mortgage. And I didn't want to deal with it for that long. I see it more like I'm clearing the decks to be more responsible and aggressive moving forward, but again, fine, we're both entitled to our thoughts.

@bubblegum: What did you end up doing? If you paid off a CC could you now put your tuition balance on that credit card? Yes its working backwards but hopefully you are close to the end?