Pay off car loan first or bank loan?

From an interest standpoint neither of the loans are something I'd rush to pay off due to the sub 3% interest. I'd take the extra cash and invest it.

Is the USAA loan unsecured?

Your monthly payment stays the same in most cases - you just end up paying a few months less. I'd just leave them as is really.

If you begin adding the extra $1000 to either loan, you'll shorten the life of the loan by paying them off early. In turn you'll end up paying less interest in the long term. However, the loans aren't suddenly going to have a lower minimum payment for the remaining months if you make a few payments with the higher amount.

If you're set on paying one of the loans sooner, I'd pay extra on the USAA loan for two reasons: it has a higher rate and it has the lesser remaining amount. This approach only holds true if you aren't upside down on the car. Unless you put down a significant amount when purchasing then this likely isn't the case.

The better uses of the money would be:

1) Fund 3-6 month emergency fund
2) Apply to 401k up to employer match
3) Fund Roth IRA

No offense to you personally, but I love how everyone here has their 401k's and Roth's maxed, yet the National average for retirement savings is $50K.

The polls must not consult with the Money Board prior to publishing results.

As one poster previously stated in another thread, the money board is going to attract mostly posters who are well off or have there stuff together. It's a bravado thing. Whereas, low income or posters bad with money are least likely to post here. I'd say I'm well off but I'm also new to this so I come here for advice occasionally because of who this board attract, I wouldn't want someone bad with money giving advice.

I'll start another thread so as not to continue this hijack.

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neither of the loans are something I'd rush to pay off due to the sub 3% interest. I'd take the extra cash and invest it.

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Same here. That's fairly close to the long-term rate of inflation, there's not much need to pay off early and you might be glad you had the cash at some point. Just make sure you invest it instead of buying meaningless crap.

ETA: Think of it this way - how do you feel about buying a 5 year CD that pays such a paltry rate and locks up your money? I wouldn't be very enthusiastic about that. But that's effectively the same thing as paying off the loan early.

Loan