<prompt> Human: I have two student loans totaling about 39k. 10k at 5 interest and29k at 6.25 Is it better to pay off the smallest faster so I can pay more to the other or should I pay down the larger faster to avoid wasting money on the larger interest rate. I keep trying to figure which one is more financially responsible but cant seem to figure out which makes more sense. Please help. Edit. Thanks for the responses, also another question. Knowing how my mortgage works making two payments a month would it be beneficial to treat my student loan as a mortgage and make biweekly payments?  <response>: People are mentioning the numerical advantage of avalanche and the psychological effect of snowball but ignoring another benefit of snowball:When the first loan is paid off, yes, you can put the extra money toward the second, but more importantly-- YOU DONT HAVE TO. So if you lose your job or something, your emergency fund will cover minimum paymens for a longer period. 