Financial expert Dave Ramsey's mantra to help you pay off all your debts. And faster.  

We’re almost debt-free. The only things hanging over our heads right now is a house payment and a car loan. Would it be a good idea for us to roll the car note into our home loan so that we could deduct it on our income tax? We owe $ 6,100 on the car and our household income is about $ 55,000 per year.

-- Sylvia

Dave says: I’d rather you pay off your debts.

You guys have all your other debts cleaned up. So, stay focused and knock off these last two big ones.

Remember, getting out of debt takes getting mad. You’ve got to get a little righteous anger going on and make it a passionate, all-out priority. If you do that with $55,000 worth of income you can make a $6,100 car note disappear in a flash!

Besides, in this situation any tax deduction is going to be pretty small. The idea of some golden tax deduction is really just a mind game, lenders play to get you to use their debt, versus someone else’s.

They say you’ll be sophisticated because it’s a tax deduction. But when you do the math it’s barely enough to buy you a night on the town!

A little about Dave:

At 26, he had a net worth of a little over a million dollars. Life couldn't be more perfect. And then he lost it all, thanks to debt. That's when Dave went on a quest to find out how money really works, how he could get control of it, and how he could have confidence in handling it. On our pages, Dave will guide readers on all things related to money.

For more financial advice plus a special offer for our readers, visit www.davesays.org. This column is part of a series of columns by Dave, exclusively for you, dear readers!

Dave's earlier columns:

Who holds the key to your house?
'We are just asset managers for God'
Share a house, save on costs?