mjhjmtu

Home Mortgage has 18 years left and is at $184,000 principal with a monthly payment of $1135 and an APR of 3.15%

HELOC has $24,000 principal left with a monthly payment of $400 and an APR of 5.5%

I have paid roughly $1260 into our mortgage per month for the past 2 years and I plan to pay $400-500 per month on our HELOC.

We plan on staying in the home for about 8-9 more years, then downsizing. No other credit debt - just monthlies and car payments.

Should I use the $125 extra I have been paying into my mortgage to pay off the HELOC faster, continue to use it to pay off my mortgage faster, or save it for other things?

Thanks in advance

I'll agree with @GOATNine's comment about having an emergency fund of 3-6 months expenses.

If you've done that (and you should if you're home owning and not home renting) they I would put the extra on the HELOC as the interest rate is higher.

However... You mention car payments.

So, this isn't what you asked, but here's what I'd advise:

Stop paying extra on the house and HELOC. Apply the extra money to the car with the lowest loan outstanding.
When that car 1 is paid off, put all the money you were paying extra + car 1's car payment amount as extra against car 2's remaining loan.

When that loan is paid off, apply that big pile of extra money to the HELOC, then apply to the house.

If you want to start a saving a smaller than car payment size amount into a separate bank account as a kitty for replacing the cars (which will go down in value and wear out) that would be fine too.

Pay the loan with the highest interest rate first. If the rate of your car loan is higher than 5.5%, pay it first.

Theoretically, if you can find a reliable investment with rate higher than those of your loan/mortgage, you should invest instead of paying off loans. However, it might be difficult to find such an investment.