Finance wiz needed: Although interest rates do not exist in leases, customers constantly ask what is the interest rate for the lease. I have a question regrading how to calculate the implied interest rate in order to get the most favorable comparison. For purposes of illustration I will use a $10,000 60 month $1 purchase option lease with 2 advance payments, a lease rate of .02345 which will yield a monthly payment of $234.50. The traditional present value method will give an implied interest rate of 15.687% using Tvalue calculator available here http://tinyurl.com/6gewp4

Can you please help me understand my school loans? Boring numbers and interest rates within. I'm embarrassed that I don't understand this stuff but I guess it's better to ask and learn... I have two loans, a private loan and a Federal loan (which I consolidated several years back from Federal loans with higher interest rates). I have enough money to pay off one in entirety, but I'm not sure which one to do so to save the most money. Loan details below: Private Loan Original principal balance: $12,632 Outstanding principal balance: $5,297 Interest rate: 5.0%